Out of curiosity’s sake has anyone else come across these trendy, contemporary Jane Austen editions published by CreateSpace? I’ve seen them a few times on Amazon and I’m not sure what to think of them. I spent some time at their site and found out the publisher is a company of amazon.com but I couldn’t find out much more or find the collection itself. Some were published this year and others published in 2008. What I don’t understand is why they copied the cover of Persuasion for their 2010 edition of Jane Eyre:
I guess the combination of book cover trends – black/white/red color contrasts, Twilight object holding, and luscious lips – sold well. Of course they’ve also used the hair and clasping-hand trends as well as the voluminous ballgown:
I don’t mind these trends especially since the font and images reflect the period. I hate to see classics dated by trends that give no clues to the time or era. Although if modern packaging attracts new readers, it may not be a completely bad idea. Here are some more examples of the traditional-looking updates:
After spending several minutes searching for CreateSpace editions I came across several editions, many truly boring and even ugly. Here is a sampling:
Poor Jane Eyre. 
You drew the short end of the stick at CreateSpace. Thank goodness for copies like this and this. In the case of the above I much prefer the trendiest copycat covers. Do you prefer more traditional cover design for the classics you love or do you welcome the usage of current cover trends to modernize nineteenth-century books?
Isn’t CreateSpace a self-publishing place? So people are self-publishing public domain books. Persuasion & Jane Eyre with the same cover – the little mustache created by the words on the model’s upper lip is unfortunate.
Hm. I’m not usually a huge fan of the modernized covers, particularly the Twilight-inspired ones. *shudder*
The one I like of those you pictured is the Emma on the left with the hand and the hair. That’s quite nice.
I suppose I like a cover that reflects the style of the book, I really don’t like the one with the red rose (what’s next? a trace of blood?)…generally speaking I enjoy when publishers re-print classics with new covers and sometimes I end up buying the new version as well
Janicu, I did read that it was self-publishing. So does that mean these are regular Joes designing covers? Interesting. That would explain some things.
Angie, I so agree with the *shuddering*. The Emma cover is quite nicely understated.
Emily, yes, I despise the rose one. It screams “paranormal”. That’s just wrong.
I usually enjoy new covers, too.
I don’t like Twilight-inspired covers especially when they made reissues with a text that says “Bella and Edward’s favorite novel” or something like that. I think they did that with Wuthering Heights and Romeo and Juliet? Other than that, I think it’s good that they come up with different covers for classics if that attracts more readers.
Lol really? That’s pretty awful.
I’m a purist. I like the old-fashioned covers. I could see how some of these might draw a different audience, but it just doesn’t *feel* right to me. I’m with you, I love those fabulous leather and cloth bound editions tho!