Book Porn: Penguin Drop Cap Classics

I'm coming 'round to the idea of a Kindle, but only because I think it'll mean that I read more. I'm not ready to give up my book-buying habit and I still want to buy beautiful editions of my favourite books. Especially these (not yet released, but waaaaay too exciting to keep quiet about) Penguin Drop Cap editions.

Penguin Drop Caps will be a series of 26 editions (check out more covers over on Imprint), each one designed by San Francisco designer Jessica Hische. She's the lady behind the Daily Drop Caps blog, where she illustrates a new capital letter each day. The blog has been going since 2009 but the Penguin designs are all original works art directed by Paul Buckley, and they're gorgeous.

They're not all being launched at once, and it looks like we're going to have to wait until the end of November before they're out. But you can pre-order some of them from Amazon, for about £12. I've got my eyes on Great Expectations and Madame Bovary, but I worry that once I've bought one I'll have to buy the whole alphabet.

These are so shiny that even the Amazon listings don't have images on yet. These are going to fly of the shelves so if you want them, you're going to have to be quick. I could download all of these classic onto a Kindle in super speedy time, but I might just be patient and stick it out. I think these are worth the wait.