Optical properties of anthracene molecules in phenanthrene crystals with anthracene concentration of 0.03% to 8.4% were investigated and compared with those in fluorene crystals. In contrast to fluorene system where two kinds of dimers, one of which is accompanied by lattice relaxation, are observed, it was found that only one kind of dimers without lattice relaxation are observed in phenanthrene system. Also in aggregates of anthracene in higher concentration samples, the luminescence is a ‘free exciton’‐type in phenanthrene crystals in contrast to a ‘self‐trapped exciton’‐type in fluorene crystals. With reference to the variation of the magnitude of exciton–phonon coupling constant on nearest neighbour distance of molecules known for bulk crystals of aromatic molecules, the difference is attributed to longer inter molecular distance between anthracene molecules in phenanthrene matrix in comparison to those in fluorene matrix (© 2011 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)