Best brand of "classics"?

[misterlit]

What company puts out the best editions of classic books?

[Dark Muse]

Well the ones I typicaly read the most are Penguin, Signet, and Wordsworth, those are just usually the brands they most commonly have at the book shops I go to

[misterlit]

I like the Barnes and noble classics (mostly for the price) but they seem to do a good job nonetheless? *Especially when there hardcovers are $5) But I am wondering if they are the best really?

[armenian]

ive heard bad things about penguin

[JBI]

It's a toss up between Oxford and Penguin. Penguin cannot be beat for availability, and price, whereas Oxford has far more scholarly publications, and often, more specialized books.

[EAP]

The SFBC classics.

[Virgil]

I tend to like Penguin. You don't mention Nortons. I prefer Nortons over all of them.

[Nossa]

I like Penguin and Wordsworth. They're more available in bookstores here, and for affordable prices. If I have to choose I'll go for Penguin though.

[John Goodman]

Penguin are well made for their price (cheaper than most) and generally have attractive covers with quality introductions.

[ben.!]

I like Penguin classics for their aesthetic qualities on my bookshelf. I know they say to never judge a book by its cover, but Penguin classics put classics in awesome covers. The text is also easier to read than most, plus in some of the books they have interesting illustrations and other little knick-knacks like an easy-to-understand notes page or fascinating introductions and background pieces.

[aeroport]

I've consistently gone Penguin for a while now, but I'm starting to have an appreciation for Oxford WC as well. Also, the (unlisted) Modern Library.

[misterlit]

I think that I will switch to Penguin soon b/c they are nicer and seem to have
editions that are full and entire. The Barnes and Noble copies are nice but what you pay for is what you get. Penguin seems to be really good. Their copies of books are usually much larger and longer and better done overall. Anyone else agree?

[eyemaker]

I have more Penguin books compare to my few Wordsworth and Signet collection..

[blairwitch]

FABER AND FABER ...very good collection of contemporary classics

[JBI]

FABER AND FABER ...very good collection of contemporary classics

Anyone else see the oxymoron?

[miyagisan]

Penguin Classics look GREAT and some of them are annotated. However, the physical quality is not so good.

The new series of Barnes & Noble classics all have notes, which is awesome for me as an English lit major. They're cheaply made (not sure how they'll hold up in the long run compared to Penguins) and don't look as good as Penguins, but they're super cheap and I think overall they're the best deal.

[misterlit]

Still the B&N editions are cheap :)

[trilltrill]

I have really good experiences with OWC's introductions.
And the new Penguin Popular Classics (the green ones) are truly great: they look awful, but they are super-cheap (I'd say almost for free), at least in my country.

[Etienne]

In general I find that the French editions are better (Gallimard, for example, has no equal), however English have a lot of cheap editions which are very much lacking on the French side...

[JBI]

In general I find that the French editions are better (Gallimard, for example, has no equal), however English have a lot of cheap editions which are very much lacking on the French side...

For original language publications no doubt native publishers are better. I find the same with my Garzanti copies of books I picked up in Italy - the scholarship is far greater, as is the selection. Of course though, the problem is that this is restricted, and those editions aren't translated. It is nearly impossible to get any real contemporary scholarship in foreign language books of any value in translated copies, whereas it is very common in the original language editions.

[Etienne]

For original language publications no doubt native publishers are better. I find the same with my Garzanti copies of books I picked up in Italy - the scholarship is far greater, as is the selection. Of course though, the problem is that this is restricted, and those editions aren't translated. It is nearly impossible to get any real contemporary scholarship in foreign language books of any value in translated copies, whereas it is very common in the original language editions.

Well I didn't mean French editions of French books are better than their English translations editions, but that in general Gallimard is a far greater edition than any edition I've seen in English.

For example, I don't think that there is anything such as La Bibliothèque de la Pléiade which is probably the most prestigious edition, both in terms of translation, scholarship and materially. They are pretty much the reference in the French literary world.

[Nico87]

Everyman's Library, hands down.