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, lacking the cheerful quality of the original horizontal grid from 1935. Perhaps it felt right in the austere postwar years but in the increasingly visual culture of the late ’50s with its television, advertising and colour magazines it came to look staid and lifeless.

Designed by the great Jan Tschichold in 1948 and launched on the public in 1952 the vertical grid became the image of Penguin’s contemporary fiction throughout the fifties.

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Origins

Tschichold with his assistant, Erik Ellegaard Frederiksen, designed the new layout. The original drawings are held in the Penguin archive in Bristol (Angel Pavement below left) and they show that the new 1948 grid was always intended to accomodate illustrations. 

Phil Baines, in his book Penguin By Design, speculates that an inspiration for Tschichold may have been the short-lived Penguin Illustrated Classics series of 1938 which had both a vertical grid and a cover illustration (Poe above right).

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The vertical grid usually contained a drawing or woodcut in the centre panel – the example below of October Island is typical. The grid still dominated, which satisfied production head Hans Schmoller, and it preserved “Penguinness” in the face of American-style competitors like the new Pan Books. (below right).

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The Illustrations

The illustrators for the new covers were chosen from a pool of skilled freelancers, some already established and some just out of the art schools. The payments were not high but it was a source of income for a studio. 

Erwin Fabian’s drawing of a bomb neatly aligns with the title and author giving the illustration breathing space on the cover. In contrast, John Griffiths’ expansive illustration spreads beyond the limits of the white centre panel, except, uncomfortably, at the top.

Human interest illustrations were common on the covers.

Film tie-ins became a popular form of publishing from the 1950s, an advertising advantage to both the film company and the book publisher. John Braine’s 1957 book was already a best-seller when the film, starring Laurence Harvey was released. As a Penguin it was reprinted seven times.

Though not labelled as such, these two titles are dressed in the colour of the former Travel and Adventure series.

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