The Bookseller.com

20th November 2008

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Penguin launches 'enhanced' e-book classics

13.03.08 Benedicte Page

Penguin Group (USA) is to launch an e-book of Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice with multiple added features as the first title in its Penguin enhanced e-books classics list. The e-book, coming in May, will feature a filmography, reviews from the novel's original publication, a chronology of Austen's life and times, recipes, rules of social etiquette and period dancing, and illustrations of fashion, home decor and architecture.

The publisher says it will offer "a wonderful e-book reading experience". Nine further classics titles, including Wuthering Heights, Frankenstein and Great Expectations, will follow in the autumn, with plans "underway" to launch the list in the UK.

John Makinson, chair and c.e.o. of the Penguin Group, said: "The e-book is gaining acceptance as an alternative to the printed text and we are keen to test the possibilities of the electronic format. Penguin Classics is a great place to start. We shall invite readers beyond the pages of these much-loved books, offering additional background, context and insight into the work."

Benedicte Page Penguin classics e-books