Penguin Clothbound Classics

Part of Penguin's beautiful hardback Clothbound Classics series, designed by the award-winning Coralie Bickford-Smith, these delectable and collectible editions are bound in high-quality colourful, tactile cloth with foil stamped into the design.

Throughout April, we have an exclusive offer on Penguin Clothbound Classics. Buy two books and choose a third title in the range (of equal or lesser value) for free! Plus, customers who take advantage of the 3 for 2 deal will also receive a free journal with purchase, while stocks last.

This offer is available in Readings shops until 30 April 2024. Not available online. Offer valid on in-stock items only, while stocks last. Not valid with any other offer.

Cover image for The Brothers Karamazov

The Brothers Karamazov

Fyodor Dostoyevsky, David McDuff (trans.)

A deep, complex examination of the crucial philosophical questions of human existence, from one of the world's most renowned novelists, now in the beautifully designed Penguin Clothbound series.

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Cover image for Lolita

Lolita

Vladimir Nabokov

Vladimir Nabakov's shocking masterpiece, now in a beautifully designed clothbound edition

In stock at 8 shops, ships in 3-4 daysIn stock at 8 shops

Cover image for Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde

Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde

Robert Louis Stevenson

Robert Louis Stevenson's immortal tale of personality and evil, now in a wonderful new clothbound edition

In stock at 7 shops, ships in 3-4 daysIn stock at 7 shops

Cover image for The Master and Margarita

The Master and Margarita

Mikhail Bulgakov, Richard Pevear (trans.), Larissa Volokhonsky (trans.)

Mikhail Bulgakov's devilish salute to artistic freedom, now in a beautiful clothbound edition

In stock at 7 shops, ships in 3-4 daysIn stock at 7 shops

Cover image for The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman

The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman

Laurence Sterne

One of the greatest novels ever written, now in a wonderful new clothbound edition

In stock at 5 shops, ships in 3-4 daysIn stock at 5 shops

Cover image for The Turn of the Screw and Other Ghost Stories

The Turn of the Screw and Other Ghost Stories

Henry James

A chilling collection of Henry James’s finest ghost stories, now in a wonderful Clothbound Classics edition

In stock at 7 shops, ships in 3-4 daysIn stock at 7 shops

Cover image for The Outsider

The Outsider

Albert Camus, Sandra Smith (trans.)

Albert Camus’ existentialist masterpiece, now in a wonderful new Clothbound Classics edition

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Cover image for On the Road

On the Road

Jack Kerouac

Jack Kerouac’s Great American Novel, now in a delightful new Clothbound Classics edition

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Cover image for Ulysses

Ulysses

James Joyce

Celebrating 100 Years of Joyce’s masterpiece With a new introduction by Anne Enright Set entirely on one day, 16 June 1904, Ulysses follows Leopold Bloom and Stephen Daedalus as they…

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Cover image for The Little Prince: And Letter to a Hostage

The Little Prince: And Letter to a Hostage

Antoine de Saint-Exupery

In The Little Prince, a small boy leaves the tiny planet on which he lives alone, on a trip to Earth, where he is introduced to the vagaries of adult…

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Cover image for The Lonely Londoners

The Lonely Londoners

Sam Selvon

At Waterloo Station, hopeful new arrivals from the West Indies step off the boat train, ready to start afresh in 1950s London. There, homesick Moses Aloetta, who has already lived…

In stock at 3 shops, ships in 3-4 daysIn stock at 3 shops

Cover image for Monkey King: Journey to the West

Monkey King: Journey to the West

Wu Ch'eng-en, Julia Lovell (trans.)

One of the world's greatest fantasy novels and a rollicking classic of Chinese literature, in a sparkling new translation and published in a Clothbound Classics edition.

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Cover image for Animal Farm

Animal Farm

George Orwell

Orwell’s peerless satire, in Penguin Clothbound Classics for the first time

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Cover image for Nineteen Eighty-Four

Nineteen Eighty-Four

George Orwell

In his engrossing dystopian novel 1984, Orwell created the world of Big Brother, doublethink, thoughtcrime, Newspeak, Room 101, 2 + 2 = 5, and the memory hole. 1984 is…

In stock at 8 shops, ships in 3-4 daysIn stock at 8 shops

Cover image for The Aeneid

The Aeneid

Virgil, David West (trans.)

Virgil’s Aeneid, inspired by Homer and the inspiration for Dante and Milton, is an immortal poem that sits at the heart of Western life and culture.

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Cover image for Around the World in Eighty Days

Around the World in Eighty Days

Jules Verne

An eccentric English gentleman and his manservant pack a carpet bag with two woolen shirts, three pairs of stockings, and 20,000 pounds, and travel around the world in 80 days…

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Cover image for Mrs Dalloway

Mrs Dalloway

Virginia Woolf

Virginia Woolf’s stream of consciousness modernist masterpiece.

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Cover image for Grimm Tales: For Young and Old

Grimm Tales: For Young and Old

Philip Pullman

From the quests and romance of classics such as Rapunzel , Snow White and Cinderella to the danger and wit of such lesser-known tales as The Three Snake Leaves…

In stock at 6 shops, ships in 3-4 daysIn stock at 6 shops

Cover image for Sanditon

Sanditon

Jane Austen

One of Jane Austen’s final uncompleted novels, started in the January the year she died. Perhaps Austen’s most original work, stepping away from the mystique of the country estates. This…

In stock at 5 shops, ships in 3-4 daysIn stock at 5 shops

Cover image for Tales from 1,001 Nights

Tales from 1,001 Nights

An enchanting clothbound edition of the essential tales drawn from the acclaimed translation of The Arabian Nights

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Cover image for Jude the Obscure

Jude the Obscure

Thomas Hardy

This is the story of a young country workman obsessed by his ambition to become an Oxford student, interwoven with his fraught relationships with two women.

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Cover image for The War of the Worlds

The War of the Worlds

H. G. Wells

One of the most influential science-fiction novels, Wells’ classic touches on interplanetary travel, evolutionary theory, British imperialism, and the fears and prejudices of Victorian times.

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Cover image for The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes

The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes

Arthur Conan Doyle

A beautiful clothbound edition featuring some of the famous detective’s most famous cases.

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Cover image for The Mayor of Casterbridge

The Mayor of Casterbridge

Thomas Hardy

A stunning clothbound edition of The Mayor of Casterbridge, a haunting study of guilt and lost love.

In stock at 4 shops, ships in 3-4 daysIn stock at 4 shops

Cover image for Crime and Punishment

Crime and Punishment

Fyodor Dostoyevsky, David McDuff (trans.)

Raskolnikov, a destitute and desperate former student, commits a random murder, imagining himself to be a great man far above moral law. But as he embarks on a cat-and-mouse game…

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Cover image for The Penguin Book of Christmas Stories

The Penguin Book of Christmas Stories

Jessica Harrison (ed.)

The ultimate festive anthology of the best Christmas stories of all time, selected from around the world

Available to order, ships in 3-5 daysAvailable to order

Cover image for Don Quixote

Don Quixote

Miguel de Cervantes, John Rutherford (trans.)

Cervantes’ great classic of the comedic adventures of a noble man who decides to become a knight to revive chivalry and serve his nation.

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Cover image for Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea

Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea

Jules Verne, David Coward (trans.)

In this thrilling adventure tale by the ‘Father of Science Fiction’, three men embark on an epic journey under the sea with the mysterious Captain Nemo aboard his submarine the…

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Cover image for Orlando

Orlando

Virginia Woolf

A gorgeous clothbound edition of Woolf’s fantastical and dazzlingly playful novel

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Cover image for Brideshead Revisited

Brideshead Revisited

Evelyn Waugh

Charles Ryder, a lonely student at Oxford, is captivated by the outrageous and exquisitely beautiful Sebastian Flyte. Invited to Brideshead, Sebastian’s magnificent family home, Charles welcomes the attentions of its…

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Cover image for A Confederacy of Dunces

A Confederacy of Dunces

John Kennedy Toole

The ordinary folk of New Orleans seem to think he is unhinged as well. Ignatius ignores them as he heaves his vast bulk through the city’s fleshpots in a noble…

In stock at 5 shops, ships in 3-4 daysIn stock at 5 shops

Cover image for The Day of the Triffids

The Day of the Triffids

John Wyndham

Divided by blindness and societal breakdown, humanity is at the mercy of the carniverous Triffids.

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Cover image for Naked Lunch: The Restored Text

Naked Lunch: The Restored Text

William S. Burroughs

Presents a surreal novel. It is based on orgiastic wasteland of drugs, depravity, political plots, paranoia, sadistic medical experiments and endless, gnawing addiction. It also features authors notes on the…

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Cover image for Wide Sargasso Sea

Wide Sargasso Sea

Jean Rhys

A gorgeous clothbound edition of Jean Rhys’s great masterpiece of desire and madness in the Caribbean

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Cover image for Villette

Villette

Charlotte Bronte

Drawing on her own deeply unhappy experiences as a governess in Brussels, Charlotte Bronte’s last and most autobiographical novel is a powerfully moving study of isolation and the pain of…

In stock at 8 shops, ships in 3-4 daysIn stock at 8 shops

Cover image for The Tenant of Wildfell Hall

The Tenant of Wildfell Hall

Anne Bronte

Anne Bronte’s powerful novel is an exploration of a woman’s struggle for creative freedom and domestic independence

In stock at 7 shops, ships in 3-4 daysIn stock at 7 shops

Cover image for War and Peace

War and Peace

Leo Tolstoy, Anthony Briggs (trans.)

At a glittering society party in St Petersburg in 1805, conversations are dominated by the prospect of war. Terror swiftly engulfs the country as Napoleon’s army marches on Russia, and…

In stock at 7 shops, ships in 3-4 daysIn stock at 7 shops

Cover image for The Travels

The Travels

Marco Polo, Nigel Cliff (trans.)

Marco Polo voyages began in 1271 with a visit to China, after which he served the Kublai Khan on numerous diplomatic missions. This translation gives an account of his travels…

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Cover image for The Iliad

The Iliad

Homer, E. V. Rieu (trans.), Peter Jones (trans.), D. C. H. Rieu (trans.)

Centres on the critical events in the last year of the Trojan War, which lead to Achilleus’ killing of Hektor and determine the fate of Troy.

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Cover image for The Portrait of a Lady

The Portrait of a Lady

Henry James

When Isabel Archer, a beautiful, spirited American, is brought to Europe by her wealthy aunt Touchett, it is expected that she will soon marry. But Isabel, resolved to enjoy her…

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Cover image for Love and Freindship: And Other Youthful Writings

Love and Freindship: And Other Youthful Writings

Jane Austen

Jane Austen’s brilliant, hilarious - and often outrageous - early stories, sketches and pieces of nonsense, in a beautiful Penguin Classics clothbound edition.

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Cover image for Madame Bovary

Madame Bovary

Gustave Flaubert, Geoffrey Wall (trans.)

A powerful nineteenth-century French classic depicting the moral degeneration of a weak-willed woman.

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Cover image for The Pearl

The Pearl

John Steinbeck

Written with haunting and lyrical simplicity, The Pearl sets the values of the civilized world against those of the primitive and finds them tragically inadequate.

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Cover image for David Copperfield

David Copperfield

Charles Dickens

Recounts author’s experiences from childhood to the discovery of his vocation as a successful novelist. This book draws openly and revealingly on author’s own life.

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Cover image for Paradise Lost

Paradise Lost

John Milton

In Paradise Lost Milton produced a poem of epic scale, conjuring up a vast, awe-inspiring cosmos and ranging across huge tracts of space and time.

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Cover image for The Jungle Books

The Jungle Books

Rudyard Kipling

With The Jungle Books Rudyard Kipling drew on ancient beast fables, Buddhist philosophy and memories of his Anglo-Indian childhood to create a rich, symbolic portrait of man and nature, and…

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Cover image for Metamorphoses

Metamorphoses

Ovid

Beginning with the creation of the world and ending with the deification of Augustus, this book interweaves many of the best-known myths and legends of Ancient Greece and Rome, including…

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Cover image for Anna Karenina

Anna Karenina

Leo Tolstoy

Anna Karenina seems to have everything - beauty, wealth, popularity and an adored son. But she feels that her life is empty until the moment she encounters the impetuous officer…

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