Great Expectations : Penguin Drop Caps - Charles Dickens

Great Expectations

Penguin Drop Caps

By: Charles Dickens, Jessica Hische (Illustrator)

Hardcover | 6 June 2013 | Edition Number 1

At a Glance

Hardcover


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$45.40

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Now an original series on FX and Hulu starring Olivia Coleman

From A to Z, the Penguin Drop Caps series collects 26 unique hardcovers-featuring cover art by type superstar Jessica Hische


It all begins with a letter. Fall in love with Penguin Drop Caps, a new series of twenty-six collectible and gift-worthy hardcover editions, each with a type cover showcasing a gorgeously illustrated letter of the alphabet by superstar type designer Jessica Hische, whose work has appeared everywhere from Tiffany & Co. to Wes Anderson's film Moonrise Kingdom to Penguin's own bestsellers Committed and Rules of Civility. A collaboration between Jessica Hische and Penguin Art Director Paul Buckley, the series design encompasses foil-stamped paper-over-board cases in a rainbow-hued spectrum across all twenty-six book spines and a decorative stain on all three paper edges. Penguin Drop Caps debuts with an "A" for Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice, a "B" for Charlotte Bronte's Jane Eyre, and a "C" for Willa Cather's My ntonia, and continues with more classics from Penguin.

D is for Dickens. The orphan Pip is destined to become a blacksmith like his brother-in-law Joe. But when Pip meets the beautiful Estella Havisham, he yearns for a gentleman's education in order to woo her. A mysterious legacy answers his ambition, and changes the course of his life, taking him far from the Marshes of youth-far, so he thinks, from his early terrifying encounter with an escaped convict, and his sister's class resentments. In this fictional autobiography, Pip's coming-of-age story becomes representative of the changing social landscape of nineteenth-century England. As Pip's education provides upward social mobility, he must also learn hard lessons about self-delusion and forgiveness, love and loss, and the true nature of his Great Expectations.
Industry Reviews
Winner of the 2012 Fifty Books/Fifty Covers show, organized by Design Observer in association with AIGA and Designers & Books

Winner of the 2014 Type Directors Club Communication Design Award

Praise for Penguin Drop Caps:

"[Penguin Drop Caps] convey a sense of nostalgia for the tactility and aesthetic power of a physical book and for a centuries-old tradition of beautiful lettering."
--Fast Company

"Vibrant, minimalist new typographic covers.... Bonus points for the heartening gender balance of the initial selections."
--Maria Popova, Brain Pickings

"The Penguin Drop Caps series is a great example of the power of design. Why buy these particular classics when there are less expensive, even free editions of Great Expectations? Because they're beautiful objects. Paul Buckley and Jessica Hische's fresh approach to the literary classics reduces the design down to typography and color. Each cover is foil-stamped with a cleverly illustrated letterform that reveals an element of the story. Jane Austen's A (Pride and Prejudice) is formed by opulent peacock feathers and Charlotte Bronte's B (Jane Eyre) is surrounded by flames. The complete set forms a rainbow spectrum prettier than anything else on your bookshelf."
--Rex Bonomelli, The New York Times

"Drool-inducing."
--Flavorwire

"Classic reads in stunning covers--your book club will be dying."
--Redbook

Other Editions and Formats

Paperback

Published: 4th December 2013

Paperback

Published: 1st September 2013

Paperback

Published: 5th April 2013

Paperback

Published: 10th November 2011

Paperback

Published: 10th November 2011

Paperback

Published: 10th November 2011

Paperback

Published: 28th July 2020

Paperback

Published: 1st June 2000

Paperback

Published: 1st October 2020

Paperback

Published: 28th October 2020

Penguin Drop Cap Classics

Moby-Dick : Penguin Drop Caps - Herman Melville
Pride and Prejudice : Penguin Drop Caps - Jane Austen

RRP $55.00

$45.40

17%
OFF
Five Children and it : Penguin Drop Caps - Jessica Hische

RRP $69.99

$47.75

32%
OFF
Jane Eyre : Penguin Drop Caps - Charlotte Bronte
My Antonia : Penguin Drop Caps - Willa Cather
Great Expectations : Penguin Drop Caps - Charles Dickens

RRP $59.99

$45.40

24%
OFF
Madame Bovary : Penguin Drop Caps - Gustave Flaubert

RRP $59.99

$56.25

Middlemarch : Penguin Drop Caps - George Eliot
Leaves of Grass and Selected Poems and Prose : Penguin Drop Caps - Walt Whitman
Joy Luck Club : Penguin Drop Caps - Amy Tan
Cannery Row : Penguin Drop Caps - John Steinbeck
Sky Burial : Penguin Drop Caps - Xinran
Lord of the Flies : Penguin Drop Caps - Jessica  Hische
Siddhartha : Penguin Drop Caps - Hermann Hesse