THE STORY OF PENGUIN CLASSICS
Before 1946 . . . “Classics” are mainly the domain of academics and students; readable editions for everyone else are almost unheard of. This all changes when a little-known classicist, E. V. Rieu, presents Penguin founder Allen Lane with the translation of Homer’s Odyssey that he has been working on in his spare time.
1946 Penguin Classics debuts with The Odyssey, which promptly sells three million copies. Suddenly, classics are no longer for the privileged few.
1950s Rieu, now series editor, turns to professional writers for the best modern, readable translations, including Dorothy L. Sayers’s Inferno and Robert Graves’s unexpurgated Twelve Caesars.
1960s The Classics are given the distinctive black covers that have remained a constant throughout the life of the series. Rieu retires in 1964, hailing the Penguin Classics list as “the greatest educative force of the twentieth century.”
1970s A new generation of translators swells the Penguin Classics ranks, introducing readers of English to classics of world literature from more than twenty languages. The list grows to encompass more history, philosophy, science, religion, and politics.
1980s The Penguin American Library launches with titles such as Uncle Tom’s Cabin and joins forces with Penguin Classics to provide the most comprehensive library of world literature available from any paperback publisher.
1990s The launch of Penguin Audiobooks brings the classics to a listening audience for the first time, and in 1999 the worldwide launch of the Penguin Classics Web site extends their reach to the global online community.
The 21st Century Penguin Classics are completely redesigned for the first time in nearly twenty years. This world-famous series now consists of more than 1,300 titles, making the widest range of the best books ever written available to millions—and constantly redefining what makes a “classic.”
The Odyssey continues . . .
The best books ever written
PENGUIN 
CLASSICS
SINCE 1946