Pretty Pages

This past winter I came across a gorgeous set of Penguin Classics books at my local Chapters Indigo bookstore. I was actually looking for an add-on to a Valentine's Day gift, and these caught my eye. I was spellbound by the beautifully designed book covers. They were so prettily merchandised on a table top, looking like little jewels. I could not stop looking at them and wanted to snap up the whole set then and there. I must have spent a good 10 minutes peering at each book cover. Unfortunately, funds were severely limited and I had to take in last glances and walk on by.

These were designed by Coralie Bickford-Smith, a book cover designer at Penguin UK. The titles included in this beautifully designed series include:

Madame Bovary

Great Expectations

Wuthering Heights

Sense and Sensibility

Cranford

Tess of the D’Urbervilles

Pride and Prejudice

Crime and Punishment

Jane Eyre

The Picture of Dorian Gray

My train ride home was interesting. I attempted to get on with my day and began thinking of the usual chores and errands for the week; laundry, dishes, ironing...books. Groceries, dentist, dry cleaner...BOOKS! By they time I had arrived home, I found myself still enamoured (more like obsessed) with these books. Sure, I already own several of the titles, but I just had to have these. This set had to grace the shelves of my library. I had enough will power to delay the purchase for a while. However, about a month later, I had searched online and was pleased to see that Chapters still had all but one title in stock. I happily ordered the lot and simply picked up the the outstanding title at a later date. I am now on the hunt for bookplates worthy enough to ahere to the inside cover of each book

Lovely, aren't they? I am happy to have made this purchase when I did, as these have been sold out for a while now. Is it a tad excessive to now own multiple copies of Wuthering Heights, Jane Eyre and Sense and Sensibility? I think not.