>buy Signet or Wordsworth because they're dirt cheap but somewhat durable and sometimes hit with their covers>Buy first editions or other pricier variants because you wish to pay more money for better cover and qualityPenguin classics and vintage are in the middle in terms of price, have the shittiest covers, and always get broken spines and bad page quality. Why do we allow them to be the market leaders still?
the worst part about penguin classics is that they put all the footnotes at the very end of the book, no matter the length of the work.
>>25290865Penguin is the default edition for normies, therefore the second hand market is overflowing with them, making them cheap.The old ones are amazing. Organized by colour and thematic, they are more sturdy and they look better.
Get a library card
>>25290865oxford world classics don't immediately start melting when you open the book
Penguin covers have the best designs by far and the print quality is decent. For cost/performance penguin is the best. Sorry I know it’s normie shit but literally no mainstream publisher comes close to penguin
>>25290871>footnotes>end of the book
idk why people claim the price as a plus for penguin, who the fuck is paying 20$ for a paperback
>>25290896True, Oxford books are nicer than penguin, but if your books are melting upon reading it’s a skill issue, can’t imagine anyone with >80iq not being able to handle a book without it falling apart
>>25290905Have you tried not being poor? I live in Asia where everything has to be imported and even here penguin paperbacks are like $10 brand new
>>25290906nigger penguin classics are already damaged on the store shelfs just from touching other books, quit being dense.
>>25290907>penguin paperbacks are like $10 brand newYou're lying.
>>25290865penguin was one of the first publishers that really pushed for books that were affordable for the wider public.
>>2529094790 years ago. Now buying hardbacks is cheaper than buying a penguin.
>>25290865>>25290882this, i quite like the old black-and-yellows and the teals. arguably the golden age of the paperback. vintage contemporaries published their beautifully surreal series during this time as well (picrel). the black-and-whites was the beginning of the end, and now the new blacks are utterly cucked.
the penguin series really does betoken an older, better idea for a literate society. it's sad to see the state both these publications and the public have fallen to. i suppose that's what you get with mass migration of slave labor however.
>>25290871those are called endnotes, stemtard
>>25290921he's not and youre mad kek
>>25290865The only thing important about a book is the knowledge contained inside, quality of the construction only matters as far as it helps or hinders access to this knowledge. Caring what a book looks like is feminine af.
>>25290921Checked Amazog just now and most penguin copies of Dickens are $10 or less, and Bleak House was $12.
>>25290865>Wordsworth>durableAnectodal, but the only book that's ever literally fallen apart in my hands was a Wordsworth Classic of Daniel Deronda where around 150 pages in the middle straight up slid out into my lap.
>>25290921it 100% depends on the book. There are some on my amazon wishlist that are <$10, some are $20+. Idk what determines the price but isn't just length.
>>25290882i have some of the old penguins from when i was a kid, much better than the new, the covers and pages have taken on an appealing patina somehow
anyone who recommends wordsworths or dovers certainly has not had the presence of god revealed unto their immortal soul
>>25291228Old Dovers are good.
>>25290998You better get out of here.
I have the wordsworth paperback of Chapman's homer, it's a massive brick containing the Iliad and the Odyssey and the binding is good. It was like 3 bucks. Can't be beat there.
rare soulful pinguino
>>25290865you know why
>>25291428i kneel
>>25290865Modern Library hardcovers with jackets are a pretty common sight at used booksales around me. For classics, I find they're a great bang-for-buck
>caring more about the aesthetics of the book than the text
>>25291571Every copy of every book has the text, but only some books are pleasing to read because they're printed well
>>25290906True geniuses sweat profusely.
>>25290865Penguin is cheaper than wordsworth where I am
>wanna get The Divine Comedy and Don Quixote>only affordable option where I live is wordsworth>Motteux translation>Cary translationfuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu
>>25290882Put them the right way up you fucking faggot
>>25290865I've collected loads of Penguin paperbacks, retros and new editions, and have never had a single problem with any of them. Even books I've read numerous times do not show any significant signs of wear; and I buy most of them secondhand as well. Besides all this, I have unusually clammy hands for an Englishman, yet that has never marked or worn away at any of my Penguin covers. I think what we have here, along with other examples of /lit/izens seething at Penguins, is pure thirdworlder projection. If you manhandle a paperback with careless, dirty, sweaty brown hands, then of course the paperback will wear away quickly. But if you read it in a sophisticated manner, and maintain basic hygine practices in your day to day life, a Penguin paperback is a relaible companion.
>>25294726Forgot to reply to >>25290896
Are you by any chance American? I had the misfortune of purchasing a US printed penguin and it was notably poor quality and the paper smelled like sulphur.Perhaps I got unlucky, I've never had another to compare it to, but I suspect that out of the UK, the quality depends on whoever prints them for you.
>>25294438They don't fit, I don't know why.
>>25290865I like its Master and Margarita
>>25295069very nice collection anon. impressive
