I need help finding a classics collection!

[Skadi]

For Christmas, I'd really like to get our family a nice collection of the classics (both children and adult classics). I'm not talking gold leaf pages and leather covers, just something that looks nice with themed covers, ykim?

 

My searches on Amazon have only yielded two options:

 

1. Puffin Children's Classics. The box set includes 16 books and is only $3.60 per book. Not bad, but is this really my only option? Plus, Oliver Twist is abridged (we generally don't buy abridged).

 

2. For adult classics, there's the Penguin hardcovers like this (there are more in the "Customers also bought..." line on that page). But they aren't sold as a group (unless I want to pay much more than their cost individually, go figure), it's about $14 per book, and the cover art might be a little too modern for me.

 

Surely there must be more sets out there. Can anyone point me in the right direction?

[Melissa in Australia]

I got a set of Britannica Great Books on eBay fairly cheep, I paid $120 for the whole set, they were still wrapped in plastic. They come up all the time.