Inspired by the sudden success of Penguin, Pocket Books was launched in 1939 and became the first of the major…
Peter Bentley, illustrator
In 1972-73, Penguin published a set of novels by Anthony Burgess, author of A Clockwork Orange. Their covers were illustrated…
Pulp Fiction
What was pulp fiction? Literally, it was a genre of fiction printed on cheap wood-pulp paper and sold cheaply, and…
Denise York’s Simenons
In 1964-65 Penguin published two sets of ten Georges Simenon novels. Penguin and Simenon have had a long association dating…
Pelican Concepts
The late period of Pelican covers in the 1970s achieved a simplicity and refinement that is a lesson in concise…
Alan Aldridge Crimes
Alan Aldridge is famed for his brilliant career as one of Britain’s great postwar illustrators. But where did he start?…
Hard-Boiled Penguins
This striking Penguin Crime series from the 1970s celebrates the Raymond Chandler detective novels of the 1940s. Featuring the L.A.…
The Australian Specials
Australian Specials reflect the Pelican Spirit Since 2012 Penguin Australia has been reviving an old and trusted name: Penguin Specials.…
The good taste of Great Food
Great Food is a series of twenty slim paperbacks containing historical writings about food and cooking. They were published in…
Penguin becomes Signet
Alan Lane, co-founder of Penguin, never liked his American offshoot, Penguin Inc.. He disapproved of its bold covers and mass…
Pelican becomes Mentor
Pelicans first appeared in 1937 when Penguin Books wanted to expand their lists into the non-fiction market. British Pelicans sported…
Making the Modern Classics Modern
The Modern Classics are born The Modern Classics series was started in 1961, partly as a response to the enormous…
The First Illustrated Covers
I’ve always found the conservative, “pin-striped suit” covers of the 1950s – the so-called vertical grid – a bit solemn,…
Some origins of the paperback
Penguin’s predecessors Before the so-called paperback revolution the most successful publisher of English language paperbacks was Tauchnitz Editions. Based in…
The Penguin Classics
Despite its fame as a literary classic, Homer’s Odyssey, the great epic poem about Odysseus and his return from the…
Derek Birdsall’s Education
Penguin regular Derek Birdsall was given the immense task in 1972 of art directing new covers for an entire category,…
Mystery profiles
Margery Allingham was a popular writer of detective fiction in the mid-century decades. She was one of the four “Queens…
Snow White Covers
Starting in the late 1960s, Penguin released twelve C.P. Snow novels in a new edition, with cover art by David…
Retro Deco for Evelyn Waugh
Penguin’s illustrative book covers From 1968, the Penguin art director for general books was David Pelham, an accomplished illustrator. He…
Shakespeare, Gentleman
Shakespeare covers In 1967 the English illustrator David Gentleman was commissioned by Penguin to produce the cover art for a…
David Pelham’s airbrushed sci-fi
Airbrush art for science fiction classics Penguin art director David Pelham loved JG Ballard’s novels for their “heartless depiction of…
The very modern Modern Stories
Simple ingredients create a modernist effect Penguin Modern Stories was a quarterly series published from 1969 to 1972 presenting short…
A classic design for the Classics
How the Penguin Classics grid was made Penguin Classics began in 1946 as a result of the massive and unexpected…
Adventures in Retro Design
In 2007-8 Penguin released a series of classic adventure novels from the Victorian and Edwardian eras. Released as Red Classics…
70 years, 70 books, 70 artists, 70 quid.
Pocket Penguins – a 70th year celebration At every major anniversary of Penguin’s founding in 1935 the company has celebrated…
John Curtis was a bridge
How cover design was freed from monotonous typography This handsome cover, designed by John Curtis, gets a lot of impact…
English Journeys
Historic journeys in England and Englishness English Journeys is a series of twenty elegantly designed paperbacks that celebrate the English…
Poetic covers for modern poets
Graphic use of photographs brought style to book covers Penguin Modern Poets is a series of 27 poetry books published…
The Australian Sun rises
How Australia’s Sun Books started in the 1960s Sun Books was a new Australian paperback enterprise that was launched in…
Digital Shakespeare
Shakespeare gets a digital makeover One of the most unusual cover series of recent years is the set of forty…
Patterns of African History
How Penguin designed the African Library In the 1950s and 60s, oppression by colonial administrations and movements toward independence made…
The radical Sixties Specials
Dramatic covers for a radical decade. In the early 1960s a series of political crises filled the front pages: apartheid…
Penguin’s wartime Specials
Forceful covers in a time of war. In late 1937 Penguin launched a new imprint to help the public make…
The First Years of Pan
The vivid covers of Penguin’s biggest competitor What was Penguin’s main competition in the British paperback market during the so-called…
Romek Marber – Penguin illustrator
Romek Marber’s collage and experimental photography In 1961, Romek Marber was chosen as the designer of a new cover grid…
How the Marber grid was made
The construction of the Marber grid The Marber grid – this is so wonderful I don’t even know how to…
Erwin Fabian, Penguin Illustrator
Artist’s long life included illustrating Penguin covers In January this year the Melbourne artist Erwin Fabian died at the great…
Günter Grass, author and artist
During the 1970s Penguin published five books by the esteemed German author Günter Grass. These books were produced during the…
Joanna and the Modern Classics
“In those days, any self-respecting teenage bookworm went to school with a Penguin Modern Classic tucked in a blazer pocket”…
Milton Glaser has died
Milton Glaser, influential star of design and illustration and co-founder of New York’s famous Push Pin Studios in 1954, has…
PENGUIN SERIES DESIGN 