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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.
Did you find this review helpful?
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We Love Translations
Another site with a similar goal! She's done more of the French and Russian lit we have yet to do!
41 Items found Print
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20,000 Leagues Under the Sea
by Jules Verne, Translated by Lewis Page Mercier, edited by Allen Grove
from Chartwell Books
for 7th-Adult
in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)
$6.00 (1 in stock)
20,000 Leagues Under the Sea
Windermere Readers #19
by Jules Verne, translated by Philip Schuyler Allen with a frontispiece by Milo Winter
1956 printing from Rand McNally
for 10th-Adult
in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
$8.00 (2 in stock)
Alice in Wonderland (adapted)
by Lewis Carroll (original text), illustrated by Greg Hildebrandt
from Unicorn Publishing House
for Preschool-2nd grade
in Picture Books (Location: PICTURE)
All-in-One Curriculum Pilgrim's Progress
by John Bunyan
from Answers in Genesis
for 6th-Adult
in British Literature Curriculum (Location: LITCUR-BRI)
$26.00 (1 in stock)
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)
Camelot
by Jane Yolen
First Edition from Philomel Books
for 6th-9th grade
in Fantasy Fiction (Location: FIC-FAN)
$4.00 (2 in stock)
Carlo Collodi's Pinocchio (adapted)
by Marianna Mayer (translator and adapter), illustrated by Gerald McDermott
from Four Winds Press
for 1st-3rd grade
in Fantasy Fiction (Location: FIC-FAN)
$5.00 (1 in stock)
Child's Garden of Verses
by Robert Louis Stevenson, illustrated by Tasha Tudor
from Simon and Schuster
Poetry for 1st-5th grade
in Poetry for Children (Location: POET-CHIL)
$16.99 $11.60 (1 in stock)
Child's Garden of Verses
by Robert Louis Stevenson, illustrated by Eulalie
from Platt and Munk Publishers
in Poetry for Children (Location: POET-CHIL)
$8.00 (1 in stock)
Child's Garden of Verses
by Robert Louis Stevenson, illustrated by Cooper Edens
from Chronicle Books
for 1st-5th grade
in Poetry for Children (Location: POET-CHIL)
$10.00 (1 in stock)
Child's Garden of Verses
Arcadia
by Robert Louis Stevenson, illustrated by Charles Robinson
from Princess House Books
Poetry for 1st-5th grade
in Poetry for Children (Location: POET-CHIL)
$9.00 (1 in stock)
Child's Garden of Verses
by Robert Louis Stevenson
from Macmillan
for 1st-5th grade
in Poetry for Children (Location: POET-CHIL)
$5.00 (1 in stock)
Child's Garden of Verses
by Robert Louis Stevenson, illustrated by Jessie Willcox Smith
from Weathervane Books
for 2nd-5th grade
in Poetry for Children (Location: POET-CHIL)
$6.40 (1 in stock)
Child's Garden of Verses
by Robert Louis Stevenson, illustrated by Eulalie
Popular Edition from Platt and Munk Publishers
in Vintage Poetry (Location: VIN-POET)
$6.40 (1 in stock)
Child's Garden of Verses - A Poetry Pop-Up Book
by Robert Louis Stevenson, illustrated by Martin & Alice Provensen
from Golden Books
for Preschool-1st grade
in Poetry for Children (Location: POET-CHIL)
$7.00 (1 in stock)
Gilgamesh the Hero
by Geraldine McCaughrean
from Eerdmans
for 4th-8th grade
$17.00 $9.60 (1 in stock)
Illustrated Encyclopedia of Arthurian Legends
by Ronan Coghlan
from Barnes & Noble
for 8th-Adult
in Middle Ages (Location: HISW-MID)
$15.00 (1 in stock)
King Arthur and His Knights
Windermere Readers #18
by Philip Schuyler Allen, illustrated by Mead Schaeffer & John R. Neill
1954 Edition, 2nd printing from Rand McNally
for 5th-8th grade
in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
$9.60 (1 in stock)
Leaves From a Child's Garden of Verses
by Robert Louis Stevenson, Illustrated by Donna Green
from Vermillion, Inc
for Preschool-1st grade
in Poetry for Children (Location: POET-CHIL)
$4.80 (1 in stock)
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)
$4.00 (1 in stock)
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)
$9.60 (1 in stock)
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)
$16.00 (1 in stock)
Omnibus IV - Text with CD-ROM (old)
by Gene Edward Veith, Doug Wilson & G. Tyler Fischer
2nd edition from Veritas Press
for 9th-12th grade
in Veritas Press Omnibus (old editions) (Location: OHIS-OMN)
$60.00 (1 in stock)
Parzival
by Katherine Paterson
First Edition, First Printing from Lodestar Books
for 10th-Adult
in Action & Adventure Stories (Location: FIC-ADV)
$6.40 (1 in stock)
Pilgrim's Progress (retold)
by John Bunyan (retold by Gary D. Schmidt)
from Eerdmans
Christian Prose Epic/Allegory for 5th-8th grade
in Action & Adventure Stories (Location: FIC-ADV)
$11.20 (1 in stock)
Pinocchio
by Carlo Collodi, translated by M. A. Murray and illustrated by Roberto Innocenti
from Creative Editions
Fantasy for 3rd-8th grade
in Fantasy Fiction (Location: FIC-FAN)
$15.00 (1 in stock)
Pinocchio / Adventures of Robin Hood
by C. Collodi, retold by Allen Chaffee and illustrated by Lois Lenski; Robin Hood retold by Eleanor Graham Vance and illustrated by Jay Hyde Barnum
from Random House
for Preschool-2nd grade
in Vintage Picture Books (Location: VIN-PIC)
$6.40 (1 in stock)
Pinocchio's Quest
by Robert Rogland
from Christian Liberty Press
for 6th grade
in CLP Phonics & Reading (Location: REA-CLP)
$16.75 $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
by Jane Carruth, Illustrated by Chris Higham
from Award Publications, Limited
for 3rd-6th grade
in Oversized Picture Books (Location: PIC-OVER)
$8.00 (1 in stock)
Robin Hood
by Carola Oman, illustrated by S. Van Abbé
1984 Reprint from J. M. Dent & Sons Ltd.
for 5th-8th grade
in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
$16.00 (1 in stock)
Robin Hood (adapted)
by J. Walker McSpadden (original text), illustrated by Greg Hildebrandt
from Unicorn Publishing House
for 2nd-5th grade
in Picture Books (Location: PICTURE)
Robinson Crusoe
Focus on the Family's Classic Collection
by Daniel Defoe, Introduction and Afterword by Joe L. Wheeler
from Focus on the Family
for 10th-Adult
in 18th Century Literature (Location: LIT5-18)
$4.80 (1 in stock)
Seven Voyages of Sinbad the Sailor
by John Yeoman (reteller), illustrated by Quentin Blake
from Margaret K. McElderry Books
for 3rd-6th grade
$6.40 (1 in stock)
Squire's Tale
by Gerald Morris
from Houghton Mifflin
for 4th-6th grade
in Action & Adventure Stories (Location: FIC-ADV)
$5.00 (1 in stock)
Tales of King Arthur
by Daniel and Ronne Randall
from Armadillo Books
for 3rd-6th grade
$4.80 (1 in stock)
Treasure Island
Scribner Illustrated Classics
by Robert Louis Stevenson, illustrated by N.C. Wyeth
Deluxe from Atheneum
for 5th-9th grade
in Action & Adventure Stories (Location: FIC-ADV)
$14.40 (1 in stock)
Treasure Island
by Robert Louis Stevenson, illustrated by John Lawrence
from Candlewick Press
Action/Adventure for 5th-9th grade
in Action & Adventure Stories (Location: FIC-ADV)
$9.60 (1 in stock)
Treasure Island
Macmillan Classics
by Robert Louis Stevenson, illustrated by John Falter
from Macmillan
for 4th-8th grade
in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
$8.00 (1 in stock)
Tristram
by Edwin Arlington Robinson
from Macmillan
for 9th-Adult
in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
$6.00 (1 in stock)
Wind in the Willows
by Kenneth Grahame, illustrated by James Lynch
from The Folio Society
Humorous Animal Fantasy for 4th-8th grade
in Fantasy Fiction (Location: FIC-FAN)
$20.00 (1 in stock)
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