For your viewing pleasure I’ve gather 95 Anne of Green Gables covers published over the last 107 years (avoiding adaptations, ebooks, and audiobooks).
What I don’t understand are the ones where Anne doesn’t have red hair or freckles!
These three tie for most sensational:
These nine are my favourites:
Finally, here is the cover I grew up with:
Does this make you want to pick up an L.M. Montgomery novel?
(I just finished re-reading Pat of Silver Bush and Mistress Pat. You might argue that they’re overly sentimental and descriptive, but Judy Plum’s kitchen sounds like a lovely place to have a “liddle bite” before bed!)
(All images from Goodreads.)
Update: The Bantam cover has been changed from 1983 to 1987. (29-10-2015)
I love this! Before I saw that you pointed it out, I was going to remark on the second one from 2013, where Anne looks completely wrong.
Yes, I don’t know what people were thinking for some of these covers!
Growing up, we had the first one picture from ’92. It’s been too long since I’ve read L.M. Montgomery. 🙂
You and I grew up with the same cover – and since my grandma got me the same book two Christmases in a row, and then I got it from an aunt the next year, I’ve seen a lot of it! (And I still have a couple of copies of it.)
I can’t fault them for getting me so many copies, even by accident. Clearly they knew that Anne and I were kindred spirits and just HAD to meet.
One of the tragedies of life is that, as dearly as I love Anne, she will never know or love me. That’s always made me sad.
Your relatives clearly knew you well!
Have you felt a connection to other LMM characters? When I was 12 I first read The Story Girl and The Golden Road, the copies my mom got for Christmas when she was 12 in the early 1970s, and I reread them often. I haven’t read the Emily series in years, so perhaps they should be next on my list.
This is such a neat post! As I scrolled through, I recognized several covers…irm pretty sure I’ve read a few different copies of the book from our public library! I adore Anne — and yes, this is making me want to rush to the library and check out all of the books about her so I can enjoy life in Avonlea all over again!
It’s fun to read the Anne books as they correspond to your life stage (e.g. Anne of the Island when you’re in college/university).
I also love the cover from 1977…it’s so seventy-ish but still keeping with the necessary elements of what Anne is all about.
I’ve owned several of the covers in the top few rows! I’ve been canning applesauce and salsa this week, and remembering the pickles and preserves my mom and grandmothers used to make. I’ve have never encountered their pumpkin preserves west of New Brunswick, but they feature in Anne of Windy Poplars, so canning season always brings that Anne book to mind.
It would be interesting to make a list of all the food in the Anne books! I just finished a memoir called Voracious (by Cara Nicoletti), which includes recipes inspired by literature. The recipe for Anne of Green Gables was chocolate-covered caramels.
Hi! It is great to see so many covers in one place. I was wondering about the 1983 cover with Megan Follows though – the movie came out in 1985, so I think the year is wrong. Thanks for sharing!
Thanks for your comment, Bernadeta. I’ve been looking into it and I wonder if you meant the 1993 Puffin cover?
No, I meant the one with Megan Follows which initially was listed as 1983. But I am very confused right now as Amazon has it as 1983 too. The movie came out in December of 1985 in Canada and I do not think it was even being filmed in 1983… Not sure about it.
I’m sorry, I didn’t realize I’d actually changed the date. I’m going to leave it at 1983 until I find out more. My thought is that it is a painting and not really Megan Follows. I wish I could find a clearer image. Can you send me the Amazon link?
Here you can see the whole set – it is Megan for sure.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/ANNE-OF-GREEN-GABLES-BOOK-SET-1987-BANTAM-CLASSIC-EDITION-BOOKS-1-3-/252132814827?hash=item3ab4496feb:g:XDYAAOSwT5tWGZHV
It seems it might be 1987. Amazon might be wrong.
Thanks. I see now that Goodreads has the same cover for a 1983 edition (Seal) and a 1987 edition (Bantam). Seems like 1987 must be correct. I’ll change the date!
No problem! I am happy you were able to find the correct date. I collect LMM books and one of my favorite ones, except for the first edition (later impression) one is this one from 2014 (limited to 1908 copies):
http://www.eastonpress.com/prod/912/ANNE-OF-GREEN-GABLES_2927?origin=pla&unique_id=2927&gdftrk=gdfV23800_a_7c2304_a_7c10291_a_7c2927&gclid=Cj0KEQjwqsyxBRCIxtminsmwkMABEiQAzL34PXxIhNRAMuO2I1Gl0vWjxvWhsmVy2__ebctoIT86AW0aArIp8P8HAQ
Neat! Thanks for sharing. I would love to become a serious book collector some day.
How come the Emily Trology is never mentioned?
I haven’t read the Emily books in many years, but maybe I’ll write a post about them sometime.