Penguin Series Design
August 5, 2024 4:04 AM Subscribe
Oh thank you! What a trip: so many remembered covers. I'm a simple chap so concepts like the golden ratio and The Marber Grid whoosh over my head but the colour of the spines provided continuity after they started gussying up the front cover. Upstairs I've got 3 wooden fish boxes packed with [orange, green, blue] penguins. Oddly comforting in an I-got-stuff sort of way.
posted by BobTheScientist at 5:21 AM on August 5 [1 favorite]
posted by BobTheScientist at 5:21 AM on August 5 [1 favorite]
I like the Penguin Waughs
I'm looking at my bookshelves now and I have three sets of Penguin editions of Waugh's novels, all slightly incomplete but something that I search for whenever I'm in a charity shop or second-hand bookshop. There are the 1970s editions by Bentley, Farrell and Burnett that I definitely do have the softest spot for. Then there's the 90s style of Modern Classic edition with the mint-green spines. They use some really striking photos for their covers, like this edition of Brideshead Revisited. And I've also got lots of the 2000s variant on the Modern Classic too, with the silver spines - like this great image on the front of Scoop.
posted by greycap at 6:10 AM on August 5 [3 favorites]
I'm looking at my bookshelves now and I have three sets of Penguin editions of Waugh's novels, all slightly incomplete but something that I search for whenever I'm in a charity shop or second-hand bookshop. There are the 1970s editions by Bentley, Farrell and Burnett that I definitely do have the softest spot for. Then there's the 90s style of Modern Classic edition with the mint-green spines. They use some really striking photos for their covers, like this edition of Brideshead Revisited. And I've also got lots of the 2000s variant on the Modern Classic too, with the silver spines - like this great image on the front of Scoop.
posted by greycap at 6:10 AM on August 5 [3 favorites]
Oh cool! A podcast I love (and have recommended here several times) is doing a series on the Green Penguin mysteries. You can see the first two here if you are so interested.
A recent souvenir from a Paris trip was a copy of Busman's Honeymoon from Shakespeare and Co. with this wonderful cover on it. Thanks to BobTheScientist I now know a bit more about Marber.
posted by PussKillian at 6:43 AM on August 5 [2 favorites]
A recent souvenir from a Paris trip was a copy of Busman's Honeymoon from Shakespeare and Co. with this wonderful cover on it. Thanks to BobTheScientist I now know a bit more about Marber.
posted by PussKillian at 6:43 AM on August 5 [2 favorites]
Oh my - this is wonderful.
It's a little jarring to me, though, because I (oddly) tend to think of Penguins as just the plain orange covers, none of which are visible on first load of the page - but clicking through to How the Marber grid was made I see there are actually TWO plain grid orange covers, which I hadn't consciously registered even though I own a bunch. (And of course I also own a bunch of the Penguin Classics and the architecture series so I should know well that there are all those other cover designs.)
One of my favorite things to do is go to a library book sale and buy as many Penguins and Pelicans as I can find. They're always a buck or two and I just love having dozens of these books on my shelves (and in my storage boxes, sigh).
This is a delightful site with some wonderful writing and filled with the nerdy enthusiasm that is my favorite thing about the internet.
Bookmarked for extensive later perusal.
Thank you SO MUCH for posting this, cupcakeninja!
posted by kristi at 11:05 AM on August 5 [2 favorites]
It's a little jarring to me, though, because I (oddly) tend to think of Penguins as just the plain orange covers, none of which are visible on first load of the page - but clicking through to How the Marber grid was made I see there are actually TWO plain grid orange covers, which I hadn't consciously registered even though I own a bunch. (And of course I also own a bunch of the Penguin Classics and the architecture series so I should know well that there are all those other cover designs.)
One of my favorite things to do is go to a library book sale and buy as many Penguins and Pelicans as I can find. They're always a buck or two and I just love having dozens of these books on my shelves (and in my storage boxes, sigh).
This is a delightful site with some wonderful writing and filled with the nerdy enthusiasm that is my favorite thing about the internet.
Bookmarked for extensive later perusal.
Thank you SO MUCH for posting this, cupcakeninja!
posted by kristi at 11:05 AM on August 5 [2 favorites]
And oh my goodness, these are absolutely gorgeous: David Pearson’s Great Loves. Wow.
posted by kristi at 12:10 PM on August 5 [3 favorites]
posted by kristi at 12:10 PM on August 5 [3 favorites]
This is really great! I remember reading this edition of the Odyssey back in high school, circa 1986.
posted by dnash at 5:57 PM on August 5 [2 favorites]
posted by dnash at 5:57 PM on August 5 [2 favorites]
Mod note: [We've added this very nice find to the sidebar and Best Of blog!]
posted by taz (staff) at 2:27 AM on August 11 [1 favorite]
posted by taz (staff) at 2:27 AM on August 11 [1 favorite]
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posted by GenjiandProust at 4:09 AM on August 5 [1 favorite]