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Introducing the Vintage Collector’s Classics series

Introducing the Vintage Collector’s Classics series

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Some say you should never judge a book by its cover, but those people haven’t seen the Vintage Collector’s Classics. Each of the books in this series has richly coloured cover art, sprayed edges, marbled end papers and a ribbon to mark your page. A welcome addition to any book-lover's bookshelf, these beautiful editions are also the ideal starter set for building your own classics library.

Beautiful as they are, however, these collectable books are more than just nice to look at; their pages are those of timeless stories with the power to make you gasp, giggle or sob, as the best and worst of human nature is laid bare.

The series continues to grow on 3 September 2026, when ten new stories join the collection. The new books broaden the range of the series, bringing together sea voyages, desert islands, fairy-tale darkness, childhood mischief and early science fiction in the same beautifully produced format.

Read on for more information about this series.

New for September 2026

Journeys, quests and strange horizons

Gathering together masterworks that span genres, eras and styles, these editions showcase some of literature’s most memorable voices. The September 2026 additions expand that range further, from Victorian futures and underwater voyages to island adventures, fairy tales and childhood worlds that continue to shape readers’ imaginations.

The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain

Huck Finn is fleeing his dangerous, drunken father; Jim is an enslaved man longing to be reunited with his family. Thrown together by circumstance, they travel down the Mississippi on a log raft, each searching for freedom in a world that has tried to deny it to them. Twain’s great American adventure belongs in the series as a book about moral courage as much as movement: a story of choosing what feels right, even when the society around you insists otherwise.

Moby Dick by Herman Melville

When Ishmael boards the whaling ship Pequod, he enters the orbit of Captain Ahab, whose pursuit of the white whale Moby Dick has become something far darker than a hunt. Melville’s American epic gives the series one of literature’s grandest studies of obsession: vast in scale, salt-lashed in atmosphere, and driven by the terrible force of a captain who will risk everything to annihilate his nemesis. This edition is for readers drawn to quests that become psychological abysses.

Robinson Crusoe by Daniel Defoe

Robinson Crusoe runs away from home to join the navy and is carried through a series of sea adventures before a storm leaves him shipwrecked on a remote desert island. Alone for years, he builds a life out of necessity, ingenuity and endurance — until a single footprint in the sand changes the meaning of solitude. Defoe’s shipwreck classic adds a foundational survival story to the collection: a book for readers fascinated by isolation, self-reliance and the uneasy promise of rescue.

Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson

A treasure map hidden in a pirate’s chest draws young Jim Hawkins away from his parents’ inn and into a Caribbean adventure of danger, mutiny and shifting loyalties. Stevenson’s great pirate novel brings one of the most charismatic figures in adventure fiction to the series: Long John Silver, whose charm and treachery are never easily separated. Read this edition for sea air, buried treasure and the unsettling thrill of discovering that courage and suspicion often have to travel together.

Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea by Jules Verne

Professor Aronnax sets out to destroy what appears to be a menacing sea monster, only to discover that the beast is a submarine: the Nautilus, built by the renegade scientist Captain Nemo. From there, Verne’s adventure plunges beneath the surface of the world, travelling from the South Pole to Atlantis, past deep-sea volcanoes and giant squid. This is a natural addition for readers who want their classics full of invention, danger and the strange glamour of unexplored depths.

The Time Machine by H. G. Wells

Beginning at a Victorian dinner table and travelling into the unimaginable future, The Time Machine carries readers to 802,701 AD, where the gentle Eloi and the menacing Morlocks offer a disturbing vision of what humanity might become. Wells then pushes further still, towards a dying Earth of blood-red beaches, cold winds and near-total stillness. Compact, eerie and intellectually daring, this edition gives the series a classic of speculative fiction that asks whether imagined futures can also be warnings.

Childhood classics and enchanted worlds

Anne of Green Gables by L. M. Montgomery

Anne Shirley arrives at Green Gables with red hair, a fierce temper, a hunger for beauty and an imagination far too large to be contained by other people’s expectations. She loves her friend Diana and dresses with puff sleeves, while loathing her orphan status, her hair and Gilbert Blythe’s teasing. Montgomery’s beloved classic earns its place in the series through Anne herself: flawed, funny, dramatic, affectionate and impossible to forget. This is a collector’s edition for readers who never outgrow vivid heroines.

Fairy Tales by Hans Christian Andersen

Hans Christian Andersen’s Fairy Tales brings together stories whose magic is never merely decorative. Drawing on folk tale traditions, Andersen created works full of darkness, power and meaning, including ‘The Little Mermaid’, ‘The Ugly Duckling’ and ‘The Emperor’s New Clothes’. These are tales that have become part of Western culture and literature, but their familiarity should not soften their strangeness. This edition is ideal for readers who want fairy tales in their original, unsettling richness.

Peter Pan by J. M. Barrie

When the nursery window opens and Peter Pan arrives with Tinker Bell, Wendy, Michael and John are carried from their beds into Neverland. There they meet mermaids, fairies, the Lost Boys, Tiger Lily and the pirates led by Captain Hook. Barrie’s magical classic is often remembered as the story of the boy who never grew up, but its lasting appeal lies in the tension between enchantment and danger. This edition is for readers returning to childhood with adult eyes.

The Wind in the Willows by Kenneth Grahame

Mole abandons his spring-cleaning for the sunshine and discovers the river, the pleasure of boats and the companionship of Rat, Badger and Toad. Kenneth Grahame’s beloved classic brings a gentler kind of adventure to the series: one rooted in friendship, seasons, homecoming and the comic chaos of Toad’s enthusiasms. It is an ideal choice for readers who want a beautiful edition of a story that feels pastoral, eccentric and warmly alive without ever losing its sense of mischief.

The Austens

Jane Austen remains one of literature's most beloved and influential voices, her novels cherished for their sharp humour, sparkling dialogue and deep understanding of social dynamics. Our editions of Emma, Pride and Prejudice, Sense and Sensibility, Persuasion, Mansfield Park and Northanger Abbey celebrate her most enduring works in beautifully crafted volumes designed for lifelong readers and admirers alike.

Jane Austen Vintage Collector's Classics Bundle

Get all six books for £96 (RRP £114)

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Emma by Jane Austen

Of course Emma Wodehouse believes she knows best how to manage the lives and love interests of her nearest and dearest. Is she not the cleverest, most accomplished and elegant young woman in the neighbourhood, mistress of her household and all she surveys? But as she attempts to weave a romantic web to trap the perfect husband for her friend Harriet, Emma becomes hopelessly entangled herself, discovering that nobody’s heart can be so easily managed – least of all, her own.

Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen

Poor Mr and Mrs Bennet have five daughters, all in need of good husbands. Luckily for them, into the neighbourhood come two rich young men: one of them good-natured Mr Bingley, who quickly falls for the eldest Bennet daughter Jane. But Jane’s free-spirited sister Lizzie is certain that the haughty Mr Darcy is the last man in the world she could ever marry. The Bennet sisters are swept up a whirl of social visits, balls, proposals and misunderstandings, and Lizzie and Darcy learn that when it comes to romance, first impressions are often wrong.

Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen

Two sister are united by grief after their father dies and they are forced from their beloved home. Marianne is ruled by her passionate heart and freely expresses her every feeling, while Elinor prefers to keep all that tightly under wraps. The young women each meet a man who might just be their soul mate, but through the heartache and scandal that ensues, they discover their best comfort and guide in each other.

Persuasion by Jane Austen

When Anne Elliot was young she was forced, by cautious friends and proud relations, to reject the love of the dashing Captain Wentworth. Eight years later, when the Captain crosses her path again he is worse than a stranger. But Anne is eight years older and wiser; she knows her own mind and her heart has not changed – is Captain Wentworth’s love just as constant?

Mansfield Park by Jane Austen

Poor Fanny Price lives on the charity of her rich relations at Mansfield Park, and none of them let her forget it. She looks on as her cousins flirt and flaunt, playing their parts in a gossipy game of marriage, money and power. Through it all, Fanny follows her own path with a quiet steady faithfulness that will shine out at last, winning her the love and admiration she deserves.

Northanger Abbey by Jane Austen

Catherine Morland is in training to be the heroine of her own gothic novel, and encouraged by her friend Isabella, she looks for romance and mystery wherever she goes. Trouble is, her mysteries have quite innocent explanations, and the romances turn out to be only foolish flirtation. But surely, when a young lady is to be a heroine, something will happen to throw a hero in her way?

The Gothics

Creepy houses that loom out of the mist; desperate men hiding shocking secrets; and perhaps even a monster or two: these are the hallmarks of the gothic novel. The Vintage Collector's Classics series features five must-read books in the genre, guaranteed to keep you turning the pages through moonlit nights.

Vintage Collector's Classics Gothics bundle

Vintage Collector's Classics: The Gothics

Get all five books for £80 (RRP £94.95)

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Frankenstein by Mary Shelley

Brilliant young scientist Victor Frankenstein makes an extraordinary discovery – the secret to life itself. Working relentlessly and secretively, stealing body parts from graves in the dead of night, he assembles something akin to a human body. But as soon as his dreadful creation first opens its eyes, Victor realises his terrible mistake. He flees, but his monster will follow him to the ends of the earth, leaving death and ruin in its wake.

The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde

Dorian Gray is a beautiful, rich, elegant young man. He is also selfish, debauched and careless with other people’s lives and hearts. Though he seems ageless, he was not always this way. The secret to Dorian’s everlasting youth and hollow heart lies in a portrait, painted by one of his most fervent admirers and hidden in an attic room. Will Dorian ever have the will to confront the hideous truth it reveals?

Dracula by Bram Stoker

Mina is troubled: she has not heard from her fiancé Jonathan for weeks since he travelled to the castle of his client, a mysterious Romanian count. The sultry summer nights seem to be affecting her friend Lucy, who appears paler and weaker with every passing morning – and what could be the cause of the strange marks on her neck? Soon, Mina will learn the horrifying truth, and must draw on all her courage and determination in the fight against an undying, malevolent force that hungers for her blood.

The Fall of the House of Usher and Other Stories by Edgar Allan Poe

Prepare to be thrilled and appalled in equal measure as you dive into this collection of the best short stories by the master of gothic horror, Edgar Allan Poe. In Poe’s world, the distinction between reality and nightmare stretches and blurs: gruesome truths seep through the floorboards, guilty hearts beat as loud as a ticking clock, vengeance is an inexorable, shapeshifting force, and the dead never truly stay dead.

Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde and Other Stories by Robert Louis Stevenson

Dr Jekyll’s friends are puzzled by the respectable physician’s erratic behaviour – he indulges strange scientific theories, keeps odd hours, and refuses visitors... And why is he seemingly protecting and supporting the wicked habits of the vicious Mr Hyde, a man who inspires instant loathing at first sight? As Mr Hyde turns murderous, the net closes around Dr Jeykll, and at the end a man lies dead – but who has survived this last frantic struggle between good and evil: Jekyll, or Hyde?

More iconic stories in the series

Gathering together masterworks that span genres, eras and styles, these editions showcase some of literature's most memorable voices. Alongside the novels already in the collection, the series now includes political fable, modernist experiment, poetry, childhood classics, science fiction and stories of renewal.

Vintage Collector's Classics collection

Sumptuous design meets the highest quality production. Buy 3 for £48.

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Dark secrets, moors and mysteries

The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes by Arthur Conan Doyle

Who do they turn to when royal jewels go missing, when sinister threats arrive in the post, or lives are menaced by hidden criminal forces? There is only one man in all England with the tenacity, the unnerving eye for detail, and the towering intellect capable of untangling the threads of these inexplicable mysteries. The game’s afoot! Join Dr Watson and the incomparable Sherlock Holmes on some of their most enduring and satisfying adventures.

The Hound of the Baskervilles by Arthur Conan Doyle

The moors around Baskerville Hall are haunted, according to local legend, by a supernatural hound that preys on the Baskerville family. When Sir Charles Baskerville is found dead, with the footprint of a large animal nearby, the old curse seems to have returned. Sherlock Holmes and Dr Watson must sift superstition from fact before the new heir is placed in mortal danger. One of Conan Doyle’s most atmospheric Holmes mysteries, this is a natural choice for readers drawn to fog, fear and finely worked detection.

Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë

When a man seeks shelter from a stormy night on the moors at the strange, lonely house called Wuthering Heights, his sleep is disturbed by a ghostly voice outside his window, crying to be let in. And so he hears the tragic tale of the house's inhabitants: of the doomed, unbreakable bond between Cathy and Heathcliff, united in their passion but driven apart by pride and jealousy, and how their tormented love affair has echoed through the generations of their family, enduring even after death.

Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë

Seen through the eyes of her vindictive aunt or cruel schoolmaster, little Jane Eyre seems a plain, obstinate child, given to strange fits of rage. They cannot guess at the keen imagination and vivid inner life that sustain her throughout her unhappy childhood. When Jane takes up the post of governess at Thornfield Hall and meets the brooding, unpredictable Mr Rochester, he recognises her as a kindred soul, and the pair fall deeply in love. But there are dark secrets hidden at Thornfield; strange cries wake Jane in the dead of night, and before long her independent spirit and passionate nature are put to the greatest test.

Great Expectations by Charles Dickens

When Pip is a boy he meets three people who will change his life: one dark night he is drawn into a desperate criminal’s flight across the desolate marshes; in a crumbling mansion, he plays cards with a beautiful girl, watched by an old woman with a broken heart. From these fateful beginnings a twisted web of mystery grows, to be shattered at last by shocking revelations that shake Pip’s world all over again.

The Woman in White by Wilkie Collins

Marian and Laura’s quiet life is thrown into danger when Laura marries Sir Percival Glyde, a man whose secrets seem bound up with the strange appearances of a young woman dressed entirely in white. With Count Fosco hovering nearby, charismatic and sinister, Marian and Walter must turn detective to protect Laura from a deadly plot. Wilkie Collins’s Victorian mystery brings conspiracy, menace and theatrical suspense to the series, making it ideal for readers who like their classics shadowy, intricate and unsettling.

Power, injustice and imagined futures

Animal Farm by George Orwell

At Manor Farm, the animals overthrow their drunken owner, Mr Jones, imagining a new life of equality and freedom. But the revolution is soon redirected by the pigs, with Napoleon and Snowball taking control and replacing one form of tyranny with another. Orwell’s fable is compact, funny, savage and urgent: a classic that belongs beside 1984 in the series, offering readers another of his unforgettable warnings about power, language and the ease with which ideals can be corrupted.

A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens

What if you were forced to confront the life you’ve led? The past that shaped you, the choices you’re making now, and the future waiting if nothing changes. A Christmas Carol tells the story of a man whose greed has walled him off from the world, until one extraordinary night gives him the chance to open that door. This timeless festive ghost story will help any world-weary reader rediscover the power of generosity, connection, and second chances, perfect for a warming Christmas read.

Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens

Oliver is an orphan alone on the dangerous streets of London, fleeing poverty and hardship before falling in with a criminal gang that refuses to let him go. Dickens’s novel moves through the capital’s underworld, giving voice to children and adults pushed to the margins of society. This edition adds one of Dickens’s most enduring stories of vulnerability, exploitation and survival to the collection, ideal for readers who want a classic alive with social conscience as well as narrative force.

1984 by George Orwell

Big Brother watches over his society of workers who toil day by day against unseen enemies, their lives and minds bent into constant service to The Party. War is peace, freedom is slavery and ignorance is strength. Winston Smith feels alone in his hunger for truth and liberty until he falls in love, finding a kindred spirit in Julia, and starts to look for a way to rebel. But Big Brother is always watching…

The War of the Worlds by H. G. Wells

When a mysterious cylinder lands in Woking, curious crowds gather to see what has arrived. Then the aliens emerge, armed with technology far beyond humanity’s own, and begin their conquest of Earth. As society disintegrates, the narrator crosses the devastated landscape in search of his wife. Wells’s original alien invasion story sits naturally alongside The Time Machine, giving the series another foundational work of science fiction: urgent, eerie and still alive to fears of destruction, survival and human fragility.

Childhood, imagination and enchanted places

Little Women by Louisa May Alcott

Jo March is so disappointed that she isn’t a boy – if she were, she could join her father, fighting in the Civil War, or fulfil her dream of becoming a great writer. Jo can’t understand why her sister Meg longs for fine dresses she can’t afford, and dreams only of a happy marriage. Kind-hearted Beth wants everyone to be happy, but she cannot share Jo’s passion for adventure. And then there’s Amy, who shows talent as a painter, but is totally infuriating, as younger sisters so often are. But as each of the March sisters comes of age and finds her own path, their sisterly bond and mutual love will help steer them through all of life’s storms.

Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll

How often, when we’re bored of work or study, are our thoughts whisked away down rabbit-holes of invention or weird flights of fancy? But you can guarantee these head trips won’t ever compare to the elusive games, confusing creatures and total nonsense that inhabit the mind-palace of young Alice: the original and strangest day-dreamer.

The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett

Mary Lennox arrives at Misselthwaite Manor pale, spoilt, contrary and horribly lonely. Then she hears of a garden in the grounds that has been locked and hidden for years. With the help of a friendly robin, Mary finds the key and discovers a place that seems almost magical. Frances Hodgson Burnett’s childhood classic is a story of loneliness, curiosity and renewal, making this edition a fitting companion to the series’ other books about young lives transformed by imagination and courage.

Love, selfhood and private lives

The Enchanted April by Elizabeth Von Arnim

Cowed and neglected by their husbands, Mrs Wilkins and Mrs Arbuthnot make a daring plan: they will go on holiday. Leaving rainy London for the Mediterranean, they find beauty, warmth and leisure in a flower-filled paradise, joined by Lady Caroline and Mrs Fisher, each escaping burdens of her own. The Enchanted April brings light, wit and transformation to the series: a classic for readers who want a story about rest, friendship and the possibility of beginning again.

Mrs Dalloway by Virgina Woolf

Clarissa Dalloway is preparing to give a party. Across the course of a single day, as she readies her house, memory rises around her and she reconsiders the choices that have shaped her life. Woolf’s novel turns ordinary movement through London into something luminous and searching, attentive to the private rhythms of thought as much as the public pulse of the city. This edition is for readers drawn to modernist classics, interior life and fiction that finds revelation in the everyday.

Orlando by Virgina Woolf

Orlando begins life as a passionate young nobleman in the world of Queen Elizabeth’s court. By the novel’s close, three centuries have passed and Orlando has become a modern woman of thirty-six. Woolf’s playful, boundary-pushing classic moves across history, gender, love and identity with wit and freedom. It is a vivid companion to Mrs Dalloway in the series: less quiet, more fantastical, but equally interested in how a life is shaped by time, society and desire.

Sonnets by William Shakespeare

Shakespeare’s sonnets speak across the centuries in poems of love, jealousy, longing, beauty, bitterness and time. Some appear to address a young man, others a woman, while the questions of who they were written for — and why — remain part of their mystery. This edition adds poetry to the Vintage Collector’s Classics series, giving readers a beautiful volume of some of the most enduring poems in English: intimate, intense and still startlingly alive.

Introducing the Vintage Collector’s Classics series

New for September 2026

Journeys, quests and strange horizons

Childhood classics and enchanted worlds

The Austens

Jane Austen Vintage Collector's Classics Bundle

The Gothics

Vintage Collector's Classics: The Gothics

More iconic stories in the series

Vintage Collector's Classics collection

Dark secrets, moors and mysteries

Power, injustice and imagined futures

Childhood, imagination and enchanted places

Love, selfhood and private lives

Are you a Gothic or Romantic?

Quiz: How many classics have you read?

A guide to Gothic literature

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