Classic Comparisons

Right away, we should point out that many of the versions listed in these pages are not consistently available here at Exodus. But even if they say "out of stock" the listings still have value! Many of them offer reviews, samples, links to internet versions, and much more. Please let us know if you have questions about anything here!

Once upon a time there was an old blind man with a harp. His name was Homer, and he spoke Greek, and he was really good at composing long poems about the adventures of Greek heroes. He never wrote anything down because that's just not how things were done back then, but other people did, and what Homer sang and they wrote we call The Iliad and The Odyssey.

Much more recently, you (or someone like you) stood in a bookstore and wondered why there were twelve thousand versions of these two relatively short books. Were there sequels? Did people other than Homer come up with the same stories? Or are there just different covers for one or two versions?

It's easy to resolve the problem by simply buying the least expensive copy. And it isn't just the works of Homer that present us with similar decisions: there are multiple editions of Virgil, Dante, The Epic of Gilgamesh, Cervantes' Don Quixote, etc. Does it matter which one you pick? Is cheapest always best?

Well, to quote a great philosopher, the price don't enter into it. The main reason there are so many versions of these books is because there are so many translations, and there are so many translations because foreign or ancient languages can be interpreted in so many ways. Choosing the best one can be exceedingly difficult, as each translation has its own strengths and weaknesses, and one size almost never fits all. With books written and published in English, there might be a wide selection of editions due to editorial changes or a variety of illustrators. Some books have had a number of retellings for children, and our goal is to familiarize you with which ones might best suit your needs.

That's why we've developed the Classic Comparisons pages. The issue here isn't to prove which version is the best—it's to help you figure out which version may become your favorite. Each page includes an original introduction to the text itself, links for further reading and activities online, an exclusive overview, kids' versions, and occasional extras. In the case of translation or editorial differences, we offer a side-by-side comparison chart of several versions, and if it's all about the illustrations, our pages will offer samples of the artwork. 

We started this section with an original dozen titles, but have several more in the works. Please be patient with us as several of those pages are still under construction! We hope you'll find these helpful, and that you'll learn as much from them as we did in making them.

Review by C. Hollis Crossman
C. Hollis Crossman used to be a child. Now he's a husband and father who loves church, good food, and weird stuff. He might be a mythical creature, but he's definitely not a centaur. Read more of his reviews here.
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110 Items found Print
Active Filters: 9th grade (Ages 14-15), Hardcover
20,000 Leagues Under the Sea
Illustrated Junior Library Series 4
by Jules Verne, translated by Anthony Bonner and illustrated by Stephen Armes
from Grosset & Dunlap
Science Fiction for 5th-10th grade
in Science Fiction (Location: FIC-SCI)
20,000 Leagues Under the Sea
Sterling Classics
by Jules Verne, translated by Lewis Page Mercier and illustrated by Scott McKowen
from Sterling Publishing Co.
for 5th-10th grade
in Science Fiction (Location: FIC-SCI)
20,000 Leagues Under the Sea
Books of Wonder
by Jules Verne, translated by Anthony Bonner and illustrated by Leo & Diane Dillon
from HarperCollins
Science Fiction for 5th-10th grade
in Science Fiction (Location: FIC-SCI)
Adventures of Robin Hood
Reader's Digest World's Best Reading
by Paul Creswick, illustrated by N. C. Wyeth
1991 Edition from Reader's Digest
for 6th-12th grade
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
$8.00 (3 in stock)
Aladdin and Other Tales from the Arabian Nights
by Anonymous, illustrated by William Heath Robinson
from Everyman's Library
for 6th-9th grade
$17.95 $10.00 (2 in stock)
Annotated Christmas Carol
by Charles Dickens
from W. W. Norton and Co.
for 6th-Adult
in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)
Arabian Nights
Scribner Illustrated Classics
by Kate Douglas Wiggin and Nora A. Smith, editors, illustrated by Maxfield Parrish
from Charles Scribner's Sons
Eastern Fairy Tales for 9th-Adult
in Medieval Literature (Location: LIT2-MED)
Arabian Nights
International Collectors Library
by Sir Richard Burton, illustrated by Steele Savage
from International Collectors Library
for 9th-Adult
in Medieval Literature (Location: LIT2-MED)
Arabian Nights
Calla Editions
by Rene Bull (Illustrator)
Reprint from Dover Publications
for 4th-9th grade
Arabian Nights
Children's Classics
by Rene Bull, illustrator
from Dilithium Press, Ltd.
for 4th-9th grade
Arabian Nights
Scribner Illustrated Classics
by Kate Douglas Wiggin and Nora A. Smith, editors, illustrated by Maxfield Parrish
from Charles Scribner's Sons
Eastern Fairy Tales for 9th-Adult
in Scribner Illustrated Classics (Location: FIC-SCRIB)
$29.99
Arabian Nights
by Amabel Williams-Ellis, illustrated by Pauline Baynes
from Blackie & Son LTD.
for 9th-Adult
Arabian Nights
by Kate Douglas Wiggin and Nora A. Smith, editors, illustrated by Maxfield Parrish
from Book-of-the-Month Club
Eastern Fairy Tales for 9th-Adult
Arabian Nights
by W. H. D. Rouse, illustrated by Walter Paget
from E.P. Dutton & Co.
for 7th-Adult
in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
Arabian Nights Entertainments
by Louis Rhead
from Harper & Brothers
for 9th-Adult
in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
Arthur - The Seeing Stone
by Kevin Crossley-Holland
from Arthur A. Levine Books
for 9th-12th grade
in Action & Adventure Stories (Location: FIC-ADV)
Arthur At the Crossing Places
by Kevin Crossley-Holland
from Arthur A. Levine Books
for 9th-12th grade
in Action & Adventure Stories (Location: FIC-ADV)
Arthur, King of the Middle March
by Kevin Crossley-Holland
Third Printing from Arthur A. Levine Books
for 9th-12th grade
in Action & Adventure Stories (Location: FIC-ADV)
Authoress of the Odyssey
by Samuel Butler, introduction by David Grene
from University of Chicago
for 8th-10th grade
in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
$8.00 (1 in stock)
Beowulf: A Translation and Commentary
by Anonymous (translation by J. R. R. Tolkien)
from Houghton Mifflin
for 9th-Adult
in Medieval Literature (Location: LIT2-MED)
$30.00
Boy's King Arthur
by Sidney Lanier (illustrated by N.C. Wyeth)
from Charles Scribner's Sons
for 6th-10th grade
in Action & Adventure Stories (Location: FIC-ADV)
Camelot
by Jane Yolen
First Edition from Philomel Books
for 6th-9th grade
in Fantasy Fiction (Location: FIC-FAN)
$5.00 (2 in stock)
Canterbury Tales
by A. Kent & Constance Hieatt, illustrated by Gustaf Tenggren
from Golden Press
for 5th-9th grade
Christmas Carol
by Charles Dickens, illustrated by Arthur Rackham
from Gramercy Books
for 8th-Adult
in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)
$9.00 (1 in stock)
Christmas Carol
Sterling Classics
by Charles Dickens, illustrated by Scott McKowen
Unabridged from Sterling Publishing Co.
Fantasy for 6th-10th grade
in Fantasy Fiction (Location: FIC-FAN)
Christmas Carol
by Charles Dickens
from Bantam Books
for 6th-10th grade
in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)
$3.95
Christmas Carol
by Charles Dickens, illustrated by Everett Shinn
from Harry N. Abrams, Inc.
for 9th-Adult
in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)
Christmas Carol
by Charles Dickens, illustrated by Greg Hildebrandt
Unabridged from Simon and Schuster
Fantasy for 6th-10th grade
in Fantasy Fiction (Location: FIC-FAN)
Christmas Carol
by Charles Dickens, illustrated by John Leech
from J. G. Ferguson Publishing Co.
for 9th-Adult
in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)
Christmas Carol
by Charles Dickens, illustrated by Roberto Innocenti
Unabridged from Stewart, Tabori, & Chang
Fantasy for 6th-10th grade
in Fantasy Fiction (Location: FIC-FAN)
$12.00 (1 in stock)
Christmas Carol
by Charles Dickens, illustrated by Trina Schart Hyman
Unabridged from Holiday House
Fantasy for 6th-10th grade
in Fantasy Fiction (Location: FIC-FAN)
Christmas Carol
by Charles Dickens, illustrated by P.J. Lynch
Unabridged from Candlewick Press
Fantasy for 6th-10th grade
in Fantasy Fiction (Location: FIC-FAN)
$19.99
Christmas Carol
by Charles Dickens, illustrated by Robert Ingpen
Unabridged from Palazzo Editions Limited
Fantasy for 6th-10th grade
in Fantasy Fiction (Location: FIC-FAN)
$24.99
Christmas Carol
Macmillan Classics
by Charles Dickens, illustrated by John Groth
from Macmillan
Fantasy for 6th-10th grade
in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
Christmas Carol
by Charles Dickens; illustrated by Julian Brazelton
from Pocket Books
for 9th-Adult
in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
Christmas Carol
by Charles Dickens, illustrated by Robert Ball
from Macmillan
Fantasy for 6th-10th grade
in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
Christmas Carol
by Charles Dickens, illustrated by Maraja
from Grosset & Dunlap
Fantasy for 6th-10th grade
in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
Christmas Carol and Other Christmas Books
by Charles Dickens, introduction by Margaret Atwood
from Everyman's Library
for 8th-Adult
in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)
Christmas Carol and Other Christmas Stories
by Charles Dickens, illustrated by Arthur Rackham
from Dilithium Press, Ltd.
for 5th-Adult
in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)
Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court
Reader's Digest World's Best Reading
by Mark Twain
from Reader's Digest
Social Satire/Comedy for 9th-Adult
in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)
Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court
by Mark Twain
from International Collectors Library
Social Satire/Comedy for 8th-10th grade
in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)
Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court
Signet Classics
by Mark Twain
from New American Library
Social Satire/Humor for 8th-10th grade
in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court
by Mark Twain, illustrated by Honore Guilbeau
from Heritage Press
Social Satire/Comedy for 8th-10th grade
in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
Coronation Edition of the Faerie Queene
by Edmund Spenser, illustrated by John Austen and Agnes Miller Parker
from Heritage Press
for 7th-Adult
in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
Dickens: Five Christmas Novels
by Charles Dickens, illustrated by Reginald B. Birch
from Heritage Press
for 8th-Adult
in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)
ECL: 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea
Educator Classic Library #2
by Jules Verne, translated by Lewis Page Mercier and illustrated by Don Irwin
Complete and Unabridged Edition from Classic Press
in Educator Classic Library (Location: VIN-ECL)
ECL: Merry Adventures of Robin Hood
Educator Classic Library #9
by Howard Pyle, illustrated by Don Irwin
Complete and Unabridged Edition from Classic Press
in Educator Classic Library (Location: VIN-ECL)
Eyewitness Classics: Robinson Crusoe (adapted & annotated)
by Daniel Defoe
from DK Publishing
for 6th-12th grade
in Adapted or Abridged (Location: SER-ABR)
Fairy Tales from the Arabian Nights
Dent & Dutton Illustrated Series
by E. Dixon, illustrated by Joan Kiddell-Monroe
from E.P. Dutton & Co.
for 9th-Adult
in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
Iliad and the Odyssey (retold)
by Jane Werner Watson, illustrated by Alice & Martin Provensen
from Golden Books
for 5th-9th grade
Illustrated Encyclopedia of Arthurian Legends
by Ronan Coghlan
from Barnes & Noble
for 8th-Adult
in Middle Ages (Location: HISW-MID)
$15.00 (2 in stock)
Illustrators of the Wind in the Willows
from McFarland & Co.
for 7th-Adult
King Arthur
by Sidney Lanier
from Charles Scribner's Sons
for 6th-10th grade
in Scribner Illustrated Classics (Location: FIC-SCRIB)
$29.99
King Arthur and His Knights
Junior Deluxe Editions
by Henry Frith, illustrated by Henry C. Pitz
from Nelson Doubleday, Inc.
Fairy Tales, Fables, & Legends for 7th-10th grade
in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
King Arthur and His Knights
by Sir James Knowles, illustrated by Louis Rhead and other artists
from Dilithium Press, Ltd.
for 5th-10th grade
in Action & Adventure Stories (Location: FIC-ADV)
King Arthur and His Knights
World Landmark #5
by Mabel Louise Robinson
from Random House
for 5th-9th grade
in World Landmark Books (Location: VIN-LAN)
Man Who Saved Robinson Crusoe
by James Poling
from W. W. Norton and Co.
for 7th-Adult
in Vintage History & Biographies (Location: VIN-HIS)
Merlin's Mistake
by Robert Newman, illustrated by Richard Lebenson
First Edition from Atheneum
for 6th-9th grade
in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
$5.00 (1 in stock)
Merry Adventures of Robin Hood
Sterling Classics
by Howard Pyle, illustrated by Scott McKowen
Unabridged from Sterling Publishing Co.
Fairy Tales, Fables, and Legends for 7th-9th grade
in Historical Fiction (Location: FIC-HIF)
Merry Adventures of Robin Hood
Thrushwood Book
by Howard Pyle
from Grosset & Dunlap
Fairy Tales, Fables, and Legends for 7th-9th grade
in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
Merry Adventures of Robin Hood
A Golden Illustrated Classic
by Howard Pyle, illustrated by Benvenuti
from Golden Press
Fairy Tales, Fables, and Legends for 7th-9th grade
in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
Merry Adventures of Robin Hood
by Howard Pyle
from Barnes & Noble
Fairy Tales, Fables, and Legends for 7th-9th grade
in Action & Adventure Stories (Location: FIC-ADV)
Merry Ballads of Robin Hood
by Laurabelle Dietrick, assisted by Joseph Franz-Walsh and illustrated by Edna Reindel
from Macmillan
Songs and Ballads for 7th-Adult
in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
$12.00 (1 in stock)
Merry Ballads of Robin Hood
by Laurabelle Dietrick, assisted by Joseph Franz-Walsh
from Macmillan
Songs and Ballads for 7th-12th grade
in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
Mysterious Island
by Jules Verne, illustrated by N. C. Wyeth
from Charles Scribner's Sons
Science Fiction for 8th-Adult
in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)
North's Plutarch - Two Volume Set
by Plutarch, translated by Thomas North
from Heritage Press
for 7th-Adult
in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
Odyssey (retold)
by Gillian Cross
from Candlewick Press
for 6th-9th grade
$12.00 (1 in stock)
Omnibus IV - Text with CD-ROM
by Gene Edward Veith, Doug Wilson & G. Tyler Fischer
3rd edition from Veritas Press
for 9th-12th grade
in Veritas Press Omnibus (Location: LITCUR-OMN)
$119.00
Omnibus V - Text with CD-ROM
by Gene Edward Veith, Doug Wilson & G. Tyler Fischer
2nd edition from Veritas Press
for 9th-12th grade
in Veritas Press Omnibus (Location: LITCUR-OMN)
Once and Future King
by T. H. White
from ACE Publishing
for 7th-Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
Pilgrim's Progress
by John Bunyan, retold by Cheryl Ford
from Tyndale House
Christian Prose Epic/Allegory for 9th-Adult
in 17th Century Literature (Location: LIT4-17)
Pilgrim's Progress (Read & Reflect with the Classics)
by John Bunyan
from B&H Books
for 8th-12th grade
in 17th Century Literature (Location: LIT4-17)
$7.50 (1 in stock)
Plutarch's Lives Volume I
by Plutarch, translated by John Dryden
from Modern Library
Biography for 9th-Adult
in Ancient Literature (Location: LIT1-ANC)
$20.00 $15.00 (1 in stock)
Robin Hood
Scribner Illustrated Classics
by Paul Creswick, illustrated by N.C. Wyeth
from Atheneum
for 6th-10th grade
in Action & Adventure Stories (Location: FIC-ADV)
Robin Hood
Scribner Illustrated Classics
by Paul Creswick, illustrated by N.C. Wyeth
Reissue from Atheneum
for 6th-10th grade
in Scribner Illustrated Classics (Location: FIC-SCRIB)
$24.99
Robin Hood
by Henry Gilbert, illustrated by Frances Brundage
from Saalfield Publishing Co.
for 5th-9th grade
in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
$6.00 (1 in stock)
Robin Hood
Windermere Series 4
by Edith Heal, introduction by Philip Allen and illustrated by Dan Content
1936 edition from Rand McNally
for 6th-9th grade
in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
Robin Hood
Windermere Series 3
by Edith Heal, introduction by Philip Allen and illustrated by Dan Content
1936 edition from Rand McNally
for 6th-9th grade
in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
Robin Hood and the Men of the Greenwood
by Henry Gilbert, illustrated by Walter Crane
from Bracken Books
for 5th-9th grade
in Action & Adventure Stories (Location: FIC-ADV)
Robinson Crusoe
Sterling Classics
by Daniel Defoe, illustrated by Scott McKowen
from Sterling Publishing Co.
for 10th-Adult
in Action & Adventure Stories (Location: FIC-ADV)
Robinson Crusoe
by Daniel Defoe
from Doubleday & Company
for 9th-Adult
in Action & Adventure Stories (Location: FIC-ADV)
Robinson Crusoe
by Daniel Defoe, illustrated by N.C. Wyeth
from Atheneum
for 6th-10th grade
in Scribner Illustrated Classics (Location: FIC-SCRIB)
$24.99
Robinson Crusoe
Macmillan Classics
by Daniel Defoe, illustrated by Federico Castellon
from Macmillan
for 6th-10th grade
in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
Robinson Crusoe
Classics Club
by Daniel Defoe, with illustrations and maps from early editions
from Walter J. Black, Inc.
for 8th-12th grade
in 18th Century Literature (Location: LIT5-18)
Robinson Crusoe (abridged)
by Daniel Defoe, illustrated by N. C. Wyeth
from Atheneum
for 6th-10th grade
in Action & Adventure Stories (Location: FIC-ADV)
Robinson Crusoe (abridged)
Illustrated Junior Library Series 1
by Daniel Defoe, illustrated by Lynd Ward
from Grosset & Dunlap
for 5th-9th grade
in Action & Adventure Stories (Location: FIC-ADV)
Robinson Crusoe - pocket edition
Oxford Pocket Classics
by Daniel Defoe
from Avenel Books
for 6th-10th grade
in Action & Adventure Stories (Location: FIC-ADV)
Romance of King Arthur and His Knights of the Round Table (abridged)
by Sir Thomas Mallory, illustrated by Arthur Rackham
from Weathervane Books
for 7th-12th grade
in Action & Adventure Stories (Location: FIC-ADV)
$12.00 (1 in stock)
Selected Lives and Essays of Plutarch
by Plutarch, translated by Louise Ropes Loomis
from Walter J. Black, Inc.
for 9th-Adult
in Walter J. Black Classics Club (Location: VIN-LITWJB)
Song of Robin Hood
by Anne Malcolmson & Grace Castagnetta, illustrated by Virginia Lee Burton
from Houghton Mifflin
for 2nd-Adult
1948 Caldecott Honor book
in Picture Books (Location: PICTURE)
$22.99
Stories from the Arabian Nights
Junior Deluxe Editions
by Retold by A.E. Housman, illustrated by Girard Goodenow
from Grosset & Dunlap
for 4th-9th grade
Stories from the Arabian Nights
by Laurence Housman, illustrated by Edmund Dulac
from George H. Doran Company
for 9th-Adult
Stories from the Arabian Nights
by Naomi Lewis (reteller), illustrated by Anton Pieck
from Methuen
for 4th-9th grade
Stories from the Arabian Nights
Junior Deluxe Editions
by A.E. Housman (reteller), illustrated by Edmund Dulac
from Grosset & Dunlap
for 4th-9th grade
Stories of King Arthur's Knights Told to the Children
by George MacDonald
from T.C. & E.C. Jack
Fantasy for 4th-9th grade
in Action & Adventure Stories (Location: FIC-ADV)
Stories of Robin Hood & His Merry Men
"In Days of Old" series
by Henry Gilbert, illustrated by Walter Crane
from T.C. & E.C. Jack
for 5th-9th grade
in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
$12.00 (1 in stock)
Story of King Arthur and His Knights
Sterling Classics
by Howard Pyle, illustrated by Scott McKowen
3rd Print from Sterling Publishing Co.
Fairy Tales, Fables, and Legends for 7th-9th grade
in Action & Adventure Stories (Location: FIC-ADV)
Story of King Arthur and His Knights
Howard Pyle's King Arthur series book 1.
by Howard Pyle
from Barnes & Noble
Fairy Tales, Fables, and Legends for 7th-10tth grade
in Action & Adventure Stories (Location: FIC-ADV)
Story of King Arthur and His Knights & The Story of the Champions of the Round Table
by Howard Pyle
3rd Print from Fall River Press
Fairy Tales, Fables, and Legends for 7th-9th grade
in Action & Adventure Stories (Location: FIC-ADV)
$7.00 (1 in stock)
Tales from Chaucer
by Geoffrey Chaucer, retold by Eleanor Farjeon and illustrated by Marjorie Walters
from Charles T. Branford Co.
for 8th-12th grade
in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
12