In 1973, Pelican books began a new series that ultimately led to eight volumes, containing the complete writings of Karl Marx. They were published in association with New Left Review under the editorship of the leftist translator Quintin Hoare. This was a notable event in publishing history since corrections were made to earlier translations, and one volume, Grundrisse, was published in English for the first time.
The art director David Pelham chose the English designer David King to do the covers. He was really the only choice since he was a collector of Soviet era printing material and in his graphic design practice worked in a style heavily influenced by Russian Constructivism. I hardly need go into the influence Marx had on twentieth century communism in Russia.
“While the choice of photographic portraits of Marx for the main image might seem conventional, King embraces the concept with total conviction and extracts every scintilla of impact. The likenesses could hardly be any bolder, or the thinker’s presence more monumental”. Rick Poyner
Working at the Sunday Times Magazine from 1965 to 1975, King developed a journalistic, documentary approach to layouts with historical images. It evolved into a collage method, inspired in part by Constructivist collage from the 1920s and 30s (see below).
The Penguin Marx covers are collages that include, apart from Marx himself, handwritten correspondence, fragments of period German and American newspapers, book title-pieces, additional photographs of Marx and his family, and a membership card for the International Working Men’s Association from 1864.
David King, Designer and Collector
David King began his collection of Soviet era print, books, posters and artefacts in 1970 when he made his first trip to Russia. It grew to a gargantuan scale, taking over his Islington home and becoming, supposedly, the world’s largest collection of Soviet visual material outside of Russia.
Red Star Over Russia: a visual history of of the Soviet Union from 1917 to the death of Stalin. Posters, Photographs and Graphics from the David King Collection. This impressive book used King’s own collection which was displayed in an accompanying exhibition at the Tate Gallery. Since his death, the collection is being sorted and archived and will become part of the Tate’s own collection.
“It has taken me four decades to assemble the 250,000 artefacts in the collection and two more years to plan, design and write this book.
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Some of the information in this article comes from Eye no.48, 2003 and the website David King-Designer
PENGUIN SERIES DESIGN 