# Best Edition of Classics **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [September 19, 2009, 4:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-edition-of-classics/510716 "2009-09-19T16:10:29Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Qin\_Shi\_Huangdi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/f04885/32.png) [@Qin\_Shi\_Huangdi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qin_Shi_Huangdi)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2009, 4:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-edition-of-classics/510716/1 "2009-09-19T16:10:29Z")
What is the best edition of classics? Is it the Penguin, Signet, Oxford, Barnes & Noble, or what? ---
**Author:** ![Busy\_Scissors](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/d78d45/32.png) [@Busy\_Scissors](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Busy_Scissors)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2009, 5:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-edition-of-classics/510716/2 "2009-09-19T17:16:14Z")
The text will generally be the same across publishers so you’ll be reading the same book. There are some exceptions where more than one version of the text exists - _Ulysses_ is an example where the canonical version has a somewhat convoluted history. These sort of books are relatively rare AFAIK. So it comes down to whether you like supporting text to go around the novel - numbered endnotes, an introduction _etc._ I quite like Penguin’s approach which uses a brief intro, some history of the author and then numbered endnotes in the novel’s text that explain terminology and include some light critical analysis. You’re free to ignore the endnotes of course - some people find them distracting. I find all this sort of stuff helpful for the more involved Classics, or for non-English lit that I am less familiar with. If it’s a foreign language novel then the translation can make a huge difference, but this will clearly be stated on the book. The more popular classics will have the same translation available across publishers. ---
**Author:** ![Qin\_Shi\_Huangdi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/f04885/32.png) [@Qin\_Shi\_Huangdi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qin_Shi_Huangdi)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2009, 5:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-edition-of-classics/510716/3 "2009-09-19T17:20:45Z")
Speaking of Penguin Classics I’ve noticed that the Penguin edition of _East of Eden_ by John Steinbeck _doesn’t_ have any footnotes. ---
**Author:** ![Mahaloth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mahaloth/32/1079_2.png) [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2009, 5:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-edition-of-classics/510716/4 "2009-09-19T17:34:57Z")
I may be old fashioned, but I still really like the Constance Garnett translation of Brothers Karamazov. I know it gets bashed, but to me, it was very powerful and a great translation. ---
**Author:** ![Ronald\_C.Semone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/cc9497/32.png) [@Ronald\_C.Semone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ronald_C.Semone)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2009, 5:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-edition-of-classics/510716/5 "2009-09-19T17:56:28Z")
I’m still partial to the ones I grew up with and which are a source of a lot of my knowledge of books I haven’t otherwise read: Classics Illustrated comic books. ---
**Author:** ![Night\_so\_be\_it](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/b2d939/32.png) [@Night\_so\_be\_it](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Night_so_be_it)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2009, 6:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-edition-of-classics/510716/6 "2009-09-19T18:02:36Z")
Penguin are generally pretty good. Vintage are good also, though I’m not too keen on the red spines. This may be simple coincidence, but Vintage seem to have some of the stronger translations, i.e. Edith Grossman with Don Quixote and Pevear/Volokhonsky with War & Peace, Brothers Karamazov etc., though they have their critics I find them pretty solid. Oxford are a strong option, they seem considerably cheaper than Penguin and of only a slightly lesser quality. ---
**Author:** ![Horatio\_Hellpop](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e5b9ba/32.png) [@Horatio\_Hellpop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horatio_Hellpop)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2009, 1:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-edition-of-classics/510716/7 "2009-09-20T01:50:36Z")
As for actual editions, regardless of current publisher: The third edition of Frankenstein is cinsidered the definitive one, although I prefer the first.