Do you know about Grolier Classics? (crosspost)

[Sara in WA]

We have a neat old (1950s) set of the Grolier Classics and I see they are condensed versions of many classics, such as Paradise Lost, Crime and Punishment, The Confessions of Saint Augustine and so on.

 

On one hand I'd rather have the complete text, yet I don't want to have "seller's regret" if it's worth keeping.

 

What do you know about Grolier Classics? Would you keep them? Thanks!

[ConnieB]

I wouldn't buy these.......I'm not a fan of Grolier as a publisher to begin with and I don't personally like condensed versions of most things. If the author had originally wanted it that way they would have done so. There are a very select few where that doesn't apply for me, but mostly I want to read it as the author intended. Same goes for movies...drives me nuts when they make major changes (not little things, but leaving out characters, introducing others, leaving out entire chapters).

 

 

Check your local library to see if they have some of these available so that you can check if the condensing is acceptable to you. As I recall these have been "reissued" not too long ago (in the last decade) so they may have a different copyright date, but look it up by Title and Publisher and see what you find. Of course, the reissues can sometimes make a bad book worse too, and I don't recall whether there was reported to be changes or not. As I recall it was something that was sold at the big warehouse stores like Sams or Costco.

[Sara in WA]

ConnieB - Thank you for your input. I think my dad passed these on to us. They look nice on the book shelf, but I think that might be about it. I agree, if we're going to read a book - let's read the whole book!