I’ve always found the conservative, “pin-striped suit” covers of the 1950s – the so-called vertical grid – a bit solemn, … More

Penguin’s predecessors Before the so-called paperback revolution the most successful publisher of English language paperbacks was Tauchnitz Editions. Based in … More

Penguin regular Derek Birdsall was given the immense task in 1972 of art directing new covers for an entire category, … More

Margery Allingham was a popular writer of detective fiction in the mid-century decades. She was one of the four “Queens … More

Starting in the late 1960s, Penguin released twelve C.P. Snow novels in a new edition, with cover art by David … More

Penguin’s illustrative book covers From 1968, the Penguin art director for general books was David Pelham, an accomplished illustrator. He … More

Shakespeare covers In 1967 the English illustrator David Gentleman was commissioned by Penguin to produce the cover art for a … More

Simple ingredients create a modernist effect Penguin Modern Stories was a quarterly series published from 1969 to 1972 presenting short … More

How the Penguin Classics grid was made Penguin Classics began in 1946 as a result of the massive and unexpected … More

In 2007-8 Penguin released a series of classic adventure novels from the Victorian and Edwardian eras. Released as Red Classics … More

Pocket Penguins – a 70th year celebration At every major anniversary of Penguin’s founding in 1935 the company has celebrated … More

How cover design was freed from monotonous typography This handsome cover, designed by John Curtis, gets a lot of impact … More

Historic journeys in England and Englishness English Journeys is a series of twenty elegantly designed paperbacks that celebrate the English … More

Graphic use of photographs brought style to book covers Penguin Modern Poets is a series of 27 poetry books published … More

How Australia’s Sun Books started in the 1960s Sun Books was a new Australian paperback enterprise that was launched in … More

Dramatic covers for a radical decade. In the early 1960s a series of political crises filled the front pages: apartheid … More

Forceful covers in a time of war. In late 1937 Penguin launched a new imprint to help the public make … More

The vivid covers of Penguin’s biggest competitor What was Penguin’s main competition in the British paperback market during the so-called … More

On March 30, Romek Marber died at the great age of 94. He had a long and admired career in … More

Penguin’s design renaissance In 1998, Penguin awoke from decades of slumber to regain its reputation for good cover design. One … More

     Covers by Germano Facetti, 1972 and Martin Bassett, 1973 In the 1960s and 70s, Pelican books, Penguin’s non-fiction arm, … More