This was a series of books produced in the 70’s by Pendulum Press. They were comic book versions of classics, done in the style that I always think of as soap opera-serious: severe black and white line drawings meant to communicate reality, accompanied by typed, not printed, dialogue.
In 1984, their parent company Academic Industries released the whole collection–including a sub-series of biographies–as a giant 100-volume or so set of tiny paperbacks.
My older brother got it for me, and that was my introduction to the world of literature. (In fact, I remember him keeping the Beatles biography for himself, and it was searching for that part of the set that finally led me to finding this info online now–so thanks!) Man, I loved those books. Many of them I read until they literally fell apart (the glue in their small spines, alas, was not strong).
These little comics were not dumbed down “Classics Illustrated” titles–they were mature and serious (or at least they felt so to elementary me). I feel like reading them legitimately prepared me to understand the original classics as I got older. Believe it or not, they truly were educational and fun.
At some point, I felt that such a set was childish and they were given away, but I’d love to have them again now. I wish my own children had access to these. I’ve checked, and nobody seems to have a set of them, not eBay, not any vendor–no more than just a handful at a time. It was a beautiful set, but it wasn’t built to last, I guess.
Isn’t this what Google Books is for? Where are they?
I also had this set as a youngster, and look back in them with fondness. Pretty sure I begged my mom to order them off of a TV ad. I am now searching for the full listing of titles in numerical order, but coming up empty. Do you have access to such a list? Thank you!
I received this set as well, although mine wasn’t the complete set, 50 books perhaps, my parents got it for me. It came with narrated double sided cassettes that were a word for word narration complete with sound effects.. I don’t remember what happened to the tapes, perhaps they were thrown out at some point. It’s too bad someone didn’t convert them to CD. I would be interested in finding out who did the narration and track this down, I would love to have it again. Perhaps finding out who contracted the narration would help. I would be interested in finding out some specs on the project, although I can’t find anything online.
I actually still have a set.
Alisa, is there a table of contents? Could you take a photo of it? I’ve not been able to track down a complete list of the titles included in the set. Thank you.
I, too, would be interested in a table of contents.
CLASSICS
C 1 Black Beauty
C 2 The Call of the Wild
C 3 Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde
C 4 Dracula
C 5 Frankenstein
C 6 Huckleberry Finn
C 7 Moby Dick
C 8 The Red Badge of Courage
C 9 The Time Machine
C10 Tom Sawyer
C11 Treasure Island
C12 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea
C13 The Great Adventures of Sherlock Holmes
C14 Gulliver’s Travels
C15 The Hunchback of Notre Dame
C16 The Invisible Man
C17 Journey to the Center of the Earth
C18 Kidnapped
C19 The Mysterious Island
C20 The Scarlet Letter
C21 The Story of My Life
C22 A Tale of Two Cities
C23 The Three Musketeers
C24 The War of the Worlds
C25 Around the World in Eighty Days
C26 Captains Courageous
C27 A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court
C28 The Hound of the Baskervilles
C29 The House of the Seven Gables
C30 Jane Eyre
C31 The Last of the Mohicans
C32 The Best of 0. Henry
C33 The Best of Poe
C34 Two Years Before the Mast
C35 White Fang
C36 Wuthering Heights
C37 Ben Hur
C38 A Christmas Carol
C39 The Food of the Gods
C40 Ivanhoe
C41 The Man in the Iron Mask
C42 The Prince and the Pauper
C43 The Prisoner of Zenda
C44 The Return of the Native
C45 Robinson Crusoe
C46 The Scarlet Pimpernel
C47 The Sea Wolf
C48 The Swiss Family Robinson
C49 Billy Budd
C50 Crime and Punishment
C51 Don Quixote
C52 Great Expectations
C53 Heidi
C54 The llliad
C55 Lord Jim
C56 The Mutiny on Board H.M.S. Bounty
C57 The Odyssey
C58 Oliver Twist
C59 Pride and Prejudice
C60 The Turn of the Screw
Shakesspeare
S 1 As You Like It
S 2 Hamlet
S 3 Julius Caesar
S 4 King Lear
S 5 Macbeth
S 6 The Merchant of Venice
S 7 A Midsummer Night’s Dream
S 8 Othello
S 9 Romeo and Juliet
S10 The Taming of the Shrew
S11 The Tempest
S12 Twelfth Night
Biographies
B 1 Charles Lindbergh
B 2 Amelia Earhart
B 3 Houdini
B 4 Walt Disney
B 5 Davy Crockett
B 6 Daniel Boone
B 7 Elvis Presley
B 8 The Beatles
B 9 Benjamin Franklin
B10 Martin Luther King, Jr.
B11 Abraham Lincoln
B12 Franklin D. Roosevelt
B13 George Washington
B14 Thomas Jefferson
B15 Madame Curie
B16 Albert Einstein
B17 Thomas Edison
B18 Alexander Graham Bell
B19 Vince Lombardi
B20 Pele
B21 Babe Ruth
B22 Jackie Robinson
B23 Jim Thorpe
B24 Althea Gibson
I also Have Full Color animated Printouts that were made by Saddleback Illustrated Publishing, and Full dramatized word for word readalongs for all the following books:
20,000 Leagues under the Sea A Christmas Carol
A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthurs Court
A Tale of Two Cities
Around the World in 80 Days
Best of Poe
Black Beauty
Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde
Dracula
Frankenstein
Gullivers Travels
Hamlet
Huckleberry Finn Jane Eyre
Journey to the Center of the Earth
Kidnapped
Moby Dick
Mutiny on Board H.M.S Bounty
Romeo and Juliet
Sherlock Holmes
Swiss Family Robinson
The Call of the Wild
The Hunchback of Notre Dame
The Invisible Man
The Last of a Mohicans
The Man in the Iron Mask
The Mysterious Island
The Prince and the Pauper
The Red Badge of Courage
The Scarlet Letter
The Taming of the Shrew
The Three Musketeers
The Time Machine
Tom Sawyer
Treasure Island
War of the Worlds
The only book I do not have from the collection is the one for the Beatles.
I have a large quanity of extra books, if anyone was interested in getting any to finish a set.
This is awesome — thank you!
Jason, I’d be interesting in buying some of your extra books. Working on the set.
Thank you.
Les Walters
I teach at an elementary school and would love to get 4 sets of these for each of our 4th grade classroom teachers. Do you know how I can purchase them?
Thank You!
The books are still being published Via this company. They are the same as the little pocket classics. They also contain the original audio. You can also find them om Amazon in full color remakes. https://www.sdlback.com/solutions-for-tweens-grades-4-8/classics-shakespeare
Hi, Jason, I’d be interested in possibly getting some of your extra books. How can I get in contact with you? And how much would you ask for each one? Thanks!
Jason I was wondering if you have any left and how much. Please let me know.
I have a collection of 32 of these books in excellent condition. Let me know if you’re interested.
Bob
I would be interested in buying whatever you have left.
my email address is yooperted@gmail.com
I had the base set (no Shakespeare nor biographies) as a kid, and loved them. Believe it’s one reason why I enjoy literature as an adult. I was fortunate enough to come across an almost complete set on ebay a few months ago at a reasonable price….they’ve clearly not been read, and appear to have never been opened. I gifted them to my 10 year old for Christmas, and he really enjoys them. They did a great job with these!
You can occasionally find them on ebay…..I simply set an email alert for related keywords. There are still sets out there in great condition for reasonable prices.
Don
I had these too growing up, LOVED them. They helps give me alive for classic literature and go on a read the real books.
I had been looking for them for 20 years, especially the Don Quixote one.
I finally found it!
Classic Comic Store in the UK has HEAPS of them. Good luck!
I got a boxed set in the 80’s for my children. only the classics would love to get the shakespeare set and the bios set I am giving them to my grandchildren