Finding older books

September 23, 2008 5:02 PM

Penguin Classics -- I HATE the new cover design. Do you know any good places where I might be able to find older versions (with the parchment colored background and the black rectangle on the front)?

I know about abebooks and half.com and alibris -- my problem is I'm not always able to ascertain what the real book's cover looks like or if the image is just a placeholder. Any ideas welcome. Thanks.

posted by jfwlucy to writing & language (8 comments total)

Your profile doesn't mention your location, but, generally, how about a used-book store?
posted by box at 5:13 PM on September 23, 2008

Yeah, used-book stores are the way to go (plus, bookstores need your support, they're being squeezed out of business by the online competition).
posted by languagehat at 5:14 PM on September 23, 2008

I'm not sure which covers you mean, and I think it might help if you specify which part of the world you're in. I know this from when I volunteered in an Oxfam bookshop, all versions of Penguins went out on the shelves, except for the 'iconic' covers, which are collectors items, and got sorted into the 'us volunteers don't want to take a bet on whether this is worth money or not' pile which would be sorted by someone with more responsibilty than us. So if you are in the UK and looking for covers that aren't the 'iconic' ones, try a charity shop, they'll be on the shelves.
posted by Helga-woo at 5:19 PM on September 23, 2008

Used bookstores that sell by mail like the Strand in New York City should be able to select books for you based on cover if you call them directly.
posted by Jahaza at 8:42 PM on September 23, 2008

duh...ABEbooks.com
posted by docmccoy at 11:18 PM on September 23, 2008

sorry, didn't read the second paragraph, my bad :)
posted by docmccoy at 11:19 PM on September 23, 2008

you probably have to contact each individual seller listing the books on those sites. it's a shame more of them don't use actual pix of the actual book.
posted by docmccoy at 11:21 PM on September 23, 2008

Powells has one of the biggest used-book collections on the planet. They are my goto source for UK-version covers of the old Thomas Covenant books.
posted by nomisxid at 8:51 AM on September 24, 2008