Packard and Co. (Chicago, IL, US)
Series dates: 1941-1958
Size: 4.75″ x 7.5″
Hendricks House
Series dates: 1942-1980
Size: 4.75″ x 7.5″
Farrar Straus (New York, US)
Series dates: 1946-1949
Hendricks House (Putney, VT, US)
Series dates: 1964-1990
Updated 3/12/2025
The series name University Classics has been used at least three times over the 19th century.
The University Publishing Company of Lincoln, Nebraska, published a series of classics aimed at the high school and college market as the University Classics from 1923-1935, reaching at least 16 titles.
In 1939 Appleby & Company of Greenwich, CT published about 15-20 titles in both paper and hardbound versions. Some were issued as a set in a box. This iteration of the University Classics does not seem to have been reprinted after the initial titles in 1939.
The University Classics series name was reused a third time for a series initially published by Packard and Company of Chicago, IL, beginning in 1941.
The series was eventually under the general editorship of Walter Hendricks, who taught English at the Armour Institute of Technology (now the Illinois Institute of Technology) and later founded Marlboro College in Vermont. Hendricks had started Hendricks House Publishers in the 1930s in Chicago (where he employed his students). Titles from the University Classics appear under both Packard and Company or Hendricks House imprint from 1942 onwards. Paper shortages during WW2 led to a rationing of paper to publishers. It’s possible that Hendricks began publishing University Classics under his Hendricks House imprint using paper his firm was allocated, to increase the number of copies available during this era.
It appears that 8 titles total were published in the University Classics between 1941 and 1947, variously by Packard and Hendricks House.
1941
The Prince, and Other Works, by Niccolò Machiavelli. Allan H. Gilbert, ed.
1942
The Complete Poems of John Donne. Roger E Bennett, ed.
1943
Selected Writings and Speeches of Abraham Lincoln. T. Harry Williams, ed.
1945
Longinus On the Sublime: an English Translation. Benedict Einarson (translator), Elder Olson (Introduction)
1946
Famous Utopias of the Renaissance, by Frederic R. White
Looking backward, 2000-1887, by Edward Bellamy. Frederic R. White, ed.
The Praise of Folly, by Desiderius Erasmus. Leonard F. Dean, ed.
1947
Walden, and Selected Essays, by Henry David Thoreau
The jacket on this 1942 copy of The Complete Poems of John Donne is illustrated and seems to be mimicking the Modern Library (including the .95 cent price and promotion – “The World’s Greatest Books” as compared to the Modern Library’s “The Best of the World’s Best Books”). The front jacket flap indicates the books are available by subscription.
The back of the jacket includes details of the first three volumes in the series an order blank on the jacket flap.
Bindings are cloth with simple gold stamping.
In 1948 Hendricks House was acquired by Farrar Straus (New York, US) and Farrar Straus took over publishing the University Classics as part of their education/college publishing efforts. Walter Hendricks remained involved with the series at least through the 1950s and both the Packard and Hendricks House imprints (sometimes also with Farrar Straus indicated) are used for reprints of the eight titles.
A jacket from the book Famous Utopias, a 1948 third printing (first 1946) of what was originally a Packard & Co. title. The price is up to $1.25. A summary of the book is on the front jacket flap. Titles are on the jacket back, and an advertisement for the series on the rear flap. The logo remains the same from the earlier series published by Packard. Click for detail.
Bindings are sturdy cloth with the book title and series name.
Half title page indicates the series name.
The title page indicates Hendricks House – Farrar, Straus as the publisher.
The copyright page includes the copyright still held by Packard and Co. and the printing date (February 1948).
A few of the University Classics titles were reprinted between 1964 and 1990 by what seems to be an independent Hendricks House publisher located in Putney, Vermont.
