A book you finish reading is not the same book it was before you read it.David Mitchell
Today we’re introducing Holloway Classics. The first two books in this series are available today, free with a Holloway account:
In our mission to build the future of the book, we also want to celebrate the past. Over the course of the summer, we’ll release new classics every week—from Florence Nightingale to Frederick Douglass, Adam Smith to Jane Austen—breathing new life into books that have stood the test of time.
We sourced the text of many titles from Project Gutenberg, a non-profit devoted to digitizing books in the public domain, and we’ll share profits with Gutenberg if we ever sell any of these books.
In the Holloway Reader, these texts are now searchable and shareable, with bookmarks, comments, and introductory context about the author and work. We’ve also added images that enhance the reading experience, in some cases classic illustrations, and in others, relevant vintage photographs from the time period of the author, or art from the culture the book explores. There is poetry as it was meant to be presented. All of this helps you get deeper into a great book, learn more, and share what you love.
Book covers bring life to books in ways that black letters typeset on paper or screens can’t. When Penguin created their Clothbound hardcover series, they paid homage to the vibrant history of the book. To bring new attention to these classic books, we hired Order, led by Hamish Smyth, to design the covers. Hamish has a history of taking work from the past and updating it for the present with his work at Standards Manual. (They’re so cool. Buy them). It was Order’s brilliant idea to let the covers speak for the content and quality of the books, by highlighting a few great lines from the text itself—if you’re in a hurry, you can judge these books by their covers.
We’ll be releasing more Classics soon, but you can browse our catalog.
We’d also like to hear from you. What Classics would you like to see on Holloway? Let us know!