PENNY LIBRARY OF FAMOUS BOOKS (GEORGE NEWNES)
Series Note: There were 177 volumes in this series. A new "number" (i.e. volume) was issued in the Penny Library of Famous Books every week. The size of each volume was Crown Demy-Octavo.
The publisher, George Newnes Limited, was located at 8, 9, 10 and 11, Southampton Street and Exeter Street, Strand, London, W.C.
The Library included many standard literary works (novels and short stories) among its volumes (by authors such as Austen, Bulwer Lytton, Dickens, Hawthorne, Scott, and Thackeray) as well as some fictional works of action, intrigue and adventure (Pirate by Captain Marryat; Wild Adventures in Texas and Other Tales from Blackwood by Anonymous; Around the World in Eighty Days by Jules Verne), horror (History of Caliph Vathek and Anabaptist by William Beckford), and science fiction (The Crack of Doom by Robert Cromie). Most of the Library's authors were British or American but some were from the Continent (e.g. Balzac; Dumas; Hugo; Merimee; Sue). Books by a number of popular middlebrow authors featured in the Library (e.g. Love and Duty by Mrs. Anne Marsh-Caldwell; Windsor Castle by William Harrison Ainsworth; Sicilian Romance by Mrs. Ann Ward Radcliffe).
* * *
Penny Library of Famous Books (George Newnes)
vs.
Penny Poets (W. T. Stead, ed.) and Penny Popular Novels (W. T. Stead, ed.)
It never rains but it pours, and there are to be rival series of penny editions. Mr. Stead's abridgments of the poets [The Penny Poets] and the novelists [Penny Popular Novels] will find a strong competitor in the "Penny Library of Famous Books" which is announced by Sir George Newnes, and which is to consist of "absolutely unabridged editions." Few, we suppose, having the choice would prefer to read the half instead of the whole. The "Penny Library" aims also at the destruction of the "penny dreadful," and the warfare will be watched with sympathy. "The conductors of the 'Penny Library of Famous Books' will," we are told, "demonstrate to the buyers of penny publications that there is a world of delightful reading which may be brought within the compass of their means of expenditure -- which run through the whole range of human emotion, now thrilling the reader with healthy excitement, now irresistibly compelling his laughter or tears -- works which have given immeasurable enjoyment to readers in the past, and have an assured inheritance of popular favour in the ages to come. Of such books no country in the world possesses so splendid and inexhaustible a treasure as England, and it is from that priceless store the contents of this series will be drawn, with only such limitation as is obviously dictated by the purpose sought to be achieved." It is rather curious to note after this declaration that of the four authors who are name, two are Irish, one is American, and only one is English. The books so far announced belong to the domain of fiction. It is a remarkable thing to have a well-printed edition of the "Vicar of Wakefield," with which the series begins, for a penny, and we trust that the new enterprise will be crowned with the success it deserves. But we wish that those who enter upon such undertakings would study the lesson of the cheap series that have been issued in France and Germany, and see if they could not venture a little more out the beaten track. The "Bibliotheque Nationale" and the libraries published by Reclam and Mayer [Meyer -- ED.], to mention only the most widely known, contain a good deal beside the best popular novels. Some of the translations of English books are cheaper than any edition of the original text.
-- "Books and Bookmen", The Guardian, 18 January 1896, p. 9.
Volume Number / Title / Author
1.
Vicar of Wakefield
by Oliver Goldsmith, Oliver
2.
Tales of Adventure, Mystery and Imagination
by Edgar Allen Poe
3.
Suil Dhuv, the Coiner
by Gerald Griffin
4.
Feats on the Fiord
by Harriet Martineau
5.
Scarlet Letter
by Nathaniel Hawthorne
6.
Great Hoggarty Diamond and Major Gahagan
by William Makepeace Thackeray
7.
Hyperion
by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
8.
Peep o' Day or John Doe
by John Banim
10.
Admiral's Daughter
by Mrs. Anne Marsh-Caldwell
11. and 12.
Ben Brace.
by Frederick Chamier
14.
Peg Woffington
by Charles Reade
14.
Deformed and Professional Visits of the Black Doctor
by Mrs. Anne Marsh-Caldwell
15. and 16.
Stories of Waterloo
by W. H. (William Hamilton) Maxwell
17.
Crack of Doom
by Robert Cromie
18.
Pirate
by Captain Frederick Marryat
19. and 20.
Nick of The Woods
by Robert Montgomery Bird
21.
Christie Johnstone
by Charles Reade
22.
Barney O'Reirdon and Other Irish Legends and Stories
by Samuel Lover
23. and 24.
Rifle Rangers
by Captain Mayne Reid
25.
Mrs Caudle's Curtain Lectures
by Jerrold Douglas
26.
Some Tough Yarns by the Old Sailor
by H. M. (Henry Matthew) Barker
27. and 28.
Sense and Sensibility
by Jane Austen
29.
Wild Adventures in Texas and Other Tales from Blackwood
by Anonymous
30.
Popanilla
by Benjamin Disraeli
31. and 32.
Crohoore of the Bill Hook
by Michael Banim
33.
Black Dwarf
by Sir Walter Scott
34.
Sketches of Young Gentlemen, etc.
by Charles Dickens
35. and 36.
Plant Hunters
by Captain Mayne Reid
38.
Phelim O'Toole's Courtship; Ned M'Keown, etc.
by William Carleton
39. and 40.
Massacre of St. Bartholomew
by Prosper Merimee
41.
Love and Duty
by Mrs. Anne Marsh-Caldwell
42. and 43.
Robber of the Rhine
by Leitch Ritchie
44.
Half Sir
by Gerald Griffin
45. and 46.
Cliff Climbers
by Captain Mayne Reid
49. and 50.
Christmas Books [Christmas Carol, Chimes, Cricket on Hearth, Battle of Life]
by Charles Dickens
51. and 52.
Old St Paul's
by William Harrison Ainsworth
53.
Old St Paul's (conclusion) and Haunted Man
by William Harrison Ainsworth
by Charles Dickens
54.
Man and Money
by Emile Souvestre
55.
Money-Seekers and Other Tales
by Mrs. Catherine Crowe
56. and 57.
Rienzi: Last of the Roman Tribunes
by Edward Bulwer Lytton
58.
Gentlemen in Black
by Anonymous
59.
Vendetta and Other Tales
by Honore de Balzac
60. and 61.
Harry Lorrequer
by Charles James Lever
62.
Conclusion of Harry Lorrequer and Renounced Treasure and Other Tales
by Charles James Lever
63.
Silver Ship of Mexico
by J. H. (Joseph Holt) Ingraham
64.
Memoir of a Mother-in-Law
by George R. Sims
65. and 66.
Marchioness of Brinvilliers
by Albert Smith
67.
Father's Curse: From Highways and Byways
by Thomas Colley Grattan
68.
Black Tulip
by Alexandre Dumas
69. and 70.
Tokeah; or White Rose
by Charles (George) Sealsfield
71.
Colomba: A Corsican Story
by Prosper Merimee
72.
Three Cutters and Mosaic Masters
by Captain Frederick Marryat
by George Sand
73. and 74.
Windsor Castle
by William Harrison Ainsworth
75.
Price of Blood
by Friedrich Gerstacker
76.
Game of Life
by Leitch Ritchie
77. and 78.
Hunchback of Notre Dame
by Victor Hugo
79.
John Manesty
by Doctor William Maginn
81. and 82.
Last Days of Pompeii
by Edward Bulwer Lytton
83.
Fetches
by John Banim
84.
Forester's Daughter
by Paul Feval
85. and 86.
Talisman
by Sir Walter Scott
87.
Dark Lady of Doona
by W. H. (William Hamilton) Maxwell
88.
Missing Diamonds; and Haunted Marsh
by Emmanuel Gonzales
by George Sand
89. and 90.
Mysteries of the Heaths
by Frederic Soulie
91.
Gold Finders of California; and Shawn Dhuv (? Griffin)
by Captain Mayne Reid
92. and 93.
Rory O'More
by Samuel Lover
94.
History of Caliph Vathek and Anabaptist
by William Beckford
95. and 96.
Guy Fawkes
97.
Demon Pilot and Other Tales
by W.H.G. (William Henry Giles) Kingston
98.
Samuel the Jeweller: Tale of Sixteenth Century and Helen
By Anonymous
99. and 100.
Fardorougha the Miser
by William Carleton
101.
Fireside Stories; and Inundation
by Thomas Ingoldsby
102.
The Rose and the Ring; and Corsican Brothers
by Alexandre Dumas
by William Makepeace Thackeray
103. and 104.
For God and the Czar!
by J.E. (Joyce Emmerson) Muddock
105.
Soldier's Fortune
by Mrs. Anne Marsh-Caldwell
106.
Eight Mysteries
by Alexandre Dumas
107. and 108.
Hard Times
by Charles Dickens
109.
Calderon the Courtier; and Count Ludwig (from The Picnic Papers)
by Edward Bulwer Lytton
110. and 111.
Ivanhoe
by Sir Walter Scott
112.
Bit o' Writin; and Esther (from The Picnic Papers)
by Michael Banim
by Horace Smith
113. and 114.
Madame Blue Beard
by Eugene Sue
115.
Chronicles of Clovernook
by Jerrold Douglas
116. and 117.
Phantom Ship
By Captain Frederick Marryat
118.
Castle Sombras and Other Tales
by Herbert Greenhough Smith
119. and 120.
Night and Morning
121.
Luck of Roaring Camp
by Bret Harte
122. and 123.
Hunter's Feast
by Captain Mayne Reid
124. and 125.
Feudal Crimes
by Paul Duplessis
126.
Celebrated Jumping Frog
by Mark Twain
127. and 128.
Round the World in Eighty Days
by Jules Verne
129.
Dozen Pair of Wedding Gloves
by Anonymous
130. and 131.
Rookwood
by William Harrison Ainsworth
132, 133. and 134.
Westward Ho!
by Charles Kingsley
135.
Hearts of Gold and Hearts of Steel
by Henry Herman
136. and 137.
Mary Barton
by Mrs. Elizabeth Cleghorn Gaskell
138.
Enthusiast
by Carl Spindler
139. and 140.
Saucy Arethusa
by Captain Frederick Chamier
141.
Lover Upon Trial
by Lady Augusta Louisa Lyons (Long)
142. and 143.
Rachel and Aixa, or Hebrew and Moorish Maidens
by Emmanuel Gonzales, Emmanuel
144.
Some Exciting Adventures
by William Patrick Kelly
145. and 146.
Miser's Daughter
by William Harrison Ainsworth
147.
Anaconda
by M. G. (Matthew Gregory) Lewis
148. and 149.
Richard Savage
by Charles Whitehead
151. and 152.
Richelieu
by G. P. R. (George Payne Rainsford) James
153., 154. and 155.
Three Musketeers
by Alexandre Dumas
156., 157. and 158.
Twenty Years After
by Alexandre Dumas
159.
Cavalier and Roundhead
by Alfred Armitage ?
160., 161. and 162.
Tower of London
by William Harrison Ainsworth
163.
Dead Guest
by Heinrich Zschokke
164. and 165.
Adventures and Piracies of Captain Singleton
by Daniel Defoe
166.
Sicilian Romance
by Mrs. Ann Ward Radcliffe
167. and 168.
Vicomte de Bragelonne
by Alexandre Dumas
171.
Renegade; or Moors in France
by Charles Victor Prevot, Vicomte d'Arlincourt
172., 173., 174., 175., 176. and 177.
Religious stories of one Charles M. Sheldon, a popular American pastor: Richard Bruce, or Life that Now Is
by Charles M. Sheldon
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Author: David Paul Wagner
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