Classic

Photograph by Kate Bolton, courtesy of Amazon.com

I'm sure most of you have heard that Amazon.com is selling a set of the complete Penguin Classics collection. (A steal at $7,989.50, and free shipping!)

In case you were curious (I know I was), Amazon customer Kate Bolton sent in a picture of what the set will look like after it takes over a wall of your library.

You'll notice the occasional green spine, as well as the two volumes standing out just above and to the right of the easy chair (Robert Fagles' translations of the Iliad and the Odyssey), and the row of books on the second to last shelf on the far right with the white tops (the Pelican Shakespeare). Penguin is in the middle of redesigning its entire line of classics, and, as you can tell, they're not quite done yet.

I, for one, will certainly miss the old puke-green Penguin Twentieth Century classics, but it seems to me that if I were to spend eight thousand dollars on a showpiece complete collection, I'd like them to be a bit more visually unified.

Perhaps by the time I can afford it, they'll have completed the redesign.