All ten Illustrated Classics were published on the same day, May 20, 1938. The series can be thought of as a prototype for the famed Penguin Classics, which appeared nearly a decade later; by selecting works that were out of copyright, Allen Lane could allocate the cost of royalties over to the illustrators, who used woodcut printing.
The series, sadly, fared poorly. As the war approached, interest turned away from the distant past toward practical information, like guides and specials. Additionally, the ambition of the illustrations was failed by the cheap quality of the paper. The series was discontinued, making this one of the most difficult sets to complete in quality condition.
| # | Title | Author |
|---|---|---|
| C1 | Pride and Prejudice | Jane Austen |
| C2 | A Sentimental Journey | Laurence Sterne |
| C3 | Tales of Mystery and Imagination | Edgar Allen Poe |
| C4 | Walden | Henry David Thoreau |
| C5 | Selected Poems | Robert Browning |
| C6 | Robinson Crusoe (1) | Daniel Defoe |
| C7 | Robinson Crusoe (2) | Daniel Defoe |
| C8 | Typee | Herman Melville |
| C9 | The Story of My Heart | Richard Jefferies |
| C10 | Gulliver’s Travels | Jonathan Swift |
The Penguin Checklist Project 