Black Classics – A Miscellany

This will be the final entry on the Penguin “Black Classics”. There may be a few more floating around in my book collection, but the bulk of them have now been displayed.

First – Chinese & Japanese Literature

1963 Edition A detail of a Chinese silk painting of 8th to 10th C with the young Buddha practising archery	1972 Edition Detail from Ch’ing Ming Shang Ho Tu the famous scroll depicting a city of Cathay. Attributed to Chiang Tse-tuan

1973 Edition – detail of the Shotoku Taishi E-den by Munezane (Heian period)

Spanish & Portuguese Literature

1963 Edition A Zapotec figure from Monte Alban	1964 Edition A detail of a Spanish manuscript

1973 Edition
A Portuguese Caravelle rounding the Cape of Good Hope from the Atlas of Guillaume le Testu 1556.

Pirates

1969 Edition
Detail from “Battle at Sea” by Jan Peeters

Nietzche & Machiavelli

1971 Edition Detail from an etching of Nietzche by Hans Old	1964 Edition A bust of Machiavelli

I will be moving on to Pelicans in the next entry.

Black Classics – Old English, Old Norse and Mediaeval Literature

When I attended the University of Melbourne in the 1960s I enrolled in a course of Middle English. The lecturer for this course was a delightful old scholar called Professor Ian Maxwell who also ran a course in Old Icelandic and hosted a discussion group for enthusiasts of Old Norse. In the Middle English course we had to read books like The Canterbury Tales and Sir Gawain and the Green Knight in the original. Although I only studied Middle English for one year, I did develop an interest in early English literature, hence these books in my Black Classics collection. Needless to say, they have been gathering dust for many years.

1964 Edition Detail from Medieval Illuminated Manuscript	1966 Edition Detail of the Franks Casket
1969 Edition Detail from L’Apparition du St Graal in a 15thC manuscript	1973 Edition King Arthur – a detail from a French manuscript

Two editions of Beowulf…

1963 Edition A prose translation by David Wright Cover – a helmet from Sutton Hoo treasure	1973 Edition A verse translation by Michael Alexander Cover – detail of enlarged escutcheon on the rim of the large hanging bowl from Sutton Hoo

1963 Edition
Detail from a 14thC manuscript of the Conquest of Constantinople

1981 Edition The Voyage of St Brendan, Bede’s Life of St Cuthbert & Eddius’s Life of Wilfrid Cover – Athelstan presenting the Book to St Cuthbert from Bede	1971 Edition Detail of an illumination from the Book of Durrow

Norse Sagas

1966 Edition Detail from Baldishot Tapestry	1965 Edition Axehead from the grave of a Viking chief

Medieval German Literature

1965 Edition Detail from the Hundeshagen Codex, the only surviving Nibelung manuscript with illustrations	1965 Edition Also contains The Tristan of Thomas Detail of a woodcut in an early edition of Tristan

Next – the last of the Black Classics – a miscellany

Black Classics – Romans & Greeks

This entry will cover Black Classics of Roman and Greek classic works.

Romans first…

1972 Edition A detail from a bust of Cicero	1972 Edition Detail from Trajan’s Column
1965 Edition Part of 2nd Century Mosaic	1971 Edition Designed by Germano Facetti Market Scenes from Esquilino frescoes

The Greeks…

1964 Edition – Mask from Mycene known as the "Mask of Agamemnon"

1971 Edition Detail of Greek Relief depicting Prometheus	1964 Edition A Maenad taken from an Athenian cup of the 5th Century	1963 Edition Portion of a Mosaic

Next – more “Black Classics”

Black Classics – French Novels

Penguin and other publishers during the 1960s/70s are to be commended for the range of literature they published. There’s nothing like that bravery in publishing these days.

Tonight I present French literature…

1972 Edition Cover designed by Germano Facetti - detail from a nude by Toulouse Lautrec	1968 Edition Detail from “Under the Lamplight by Edouard Vuillard
1969 Edition The Cemetery of Pere Lachaise from an anonymous painting	1967 Edition Detail of “Young Girl at the Mirror” by Jean Raoux

1965 Edition – A portrait by Pierre-Paul Prud’hon

1971 Edition - Detail of “Le Comte de Montesquiou” by G Baldini

Next - more “Black Classics”

Penguin Black Classics – Russian Novels

Continuing on with the Penguin “Black Classics” series, tonight I present the Russians.

Firstly, Dostoyevsky.

1969 Edition Pierre Blancher in Cheval’s film of Crime & Punishment	1967 Edition Lithograph by Pierre Barbier
1967 Edition The Student by Larochenko	1967 Edition Drawing by Repine

1960 Edition – old style Penguin Classic

Tolstoy

1967 Edition Natasha’s First Ball by Leonid Pasternak	1967 Edition Death of Prince Andrei by Leonid Pasternak

1965 Edition – Lithograph of the Marble Palace St Petersburg

Turgenev & Gorky

1967 Edition Detail from The Aristocrat At Breakfast by P. A. Fedotov	1967 Edition Russian engraving from 19th Century popular song sheet

1966 Edition – Detail from a 19th Century Russian lithograph

Next – more “Black Classics”

Penguin "Black Classics"

During the 1960s to 1970s Penguin Books released the series of black covered classics. In the 1950s the covers were much simpler though of uniform design.

The “Black Classics” however all have wonderfully appropriate works of art on the front cover, for instance all the Ibsen Plays in the series are graced with cover art by Edvard Munch.

1964 Edition Detail of portrait of Ibsen	1973 Edition Detail of "The RedVineyard"

1974 Edition – Detail of “The Sick Child” by Munch

1973 Edition Detail of a lithograph by Munch	1974 Edition Detail of "Agony" by Munch

I have quite a good collection of the Penguin “Black Classics”, most of them acquired in the 1960s. There was, I remember, a small bookshop in an inner Melbourne suburb, which sold Penguin seconds (i.e. slightly shop soiled) at ridiculously cheap prices. Also I was lucky to have a friend who worked for Penguin. Penguin employees had access to a “pig” bin of seconds and were able to take their pick of them. My friend gave me boxes of these, so I have many books that appear very interesting, but remain unread. They now appear to have become collector’s items.

Next – more “Black Classics”