Tuesday 7 September 2010

Postcards from Penguin One Hundred Book Covers In One Box - Allen Lane

Postcards from Penguin
One Hundred Book Covers
In One Box

Allen Lane

Penguin
ISBN 9780141044668


Some of my fondest memories are of time spent haunting used bookstores searching for good reads. One thing that always drew my attention was the distinctive covers of Penguin books; I always knew they would be good books at a great price. This collection states: "In 1935 Allen Lane stood on a platform at Exeter railway station, looking for a good book for the journey to London. His disappointment at the poor range of paperbacks on offer led him to found Penguin Books. The quality paperback had arrived."

Declaring that 'good design is no more expensive than bad', Lane was adamant that his Penguin paperbacks should cost no more than a packet of cigarettes, but that they should always look distinctive. Those distinctive covers are known around the world. This collection was walking through a history of my own love of books. I had read 27 of the 100 books in this collection and 23 of them with these covers. It is a wonderful collection for any booklover.

2 comments:

Nikki in Niagara said...

Oh, how wonderful! What to do with the cards, though? They can't just be hidden away in a box!

I buy those old penguins whenever I see 'em!

Steven R. McEvoy said...

You can mail them as post cards, use them as gift tags, make a collage ... So many possible uses.