Brief comparison of editions of the Norton Anthology of Poetry

On the How To Read A Book DVD, Charles Van Doren chose as one of his Desert Island Books “the best and the biggest” anthology of lyric poetry he could find. He was probably referring to the Norton Anthology of Poetry. If you look at the reviews for this book, you’ll see that some readers indicate a preference for the 3rd edition over the current 5th edition, which has 800 more pages.

Here is a handy comparison of the editions available.

	1970 (1st ed) Hardcover 1231 pages 10.3 x 6.3 x 2.4 inches 3.6 pounds 0393099164 Editors: Eastman, Allison, Barrows, Blake, Carr, English
	1975 (2nd ed) Hardcover 1344 pages 9.5 x 5.6 x 1.9 inches 2.8 pounds 0393092402 Editors: Allison, Barrows, Blake, Carr, Eastman, English
	1983 (3rd ed) Paperback 1452 pages 8.8 x 5.5 x 2.1 inches 2.8 pounds 0393952428 Editors: Allison, Barrows, Blake, Carr, Eastman, English
	1996 (4th ed) Paperback 1998 pages 9.3 x 5.7 x 2.4 inches 3.8 pounds 0393968200 Editors: Ferguson, Salter, Stallworthy
	2004 (5th ed) Paperback 2256 pages 9.1 x 5.9 x 1.6 inches 3.2 pounds 0393979202 Editors: Ferguson, Salter, Stallworthy