Orange you glad you can read a Penguin?

Piqued by Penguins proceeding from my previous post? Here's some Penguins in my collection, books which bring not only delight and entertainment to a bullish reader but also brilliant and bright flashes of orange to any self-respective bookshelf. In other word, these are a few of my favorite Penguins:


I've said before, I'll say again: I believe P. G. Wodehouse is the finest writer in English literature of the twentieth century. Even if you scoff and scold at my admittedly bull-headed opinion, you can't deny that his books are among the most fun! They're fun to add to my large Wodehouse collection, too, especially since so many of them are in Penguin editions!


One of the prides of my Wodehouse collection is this Penguin paperback reprint of The Inimitable Jeeves: a title that was among one of the first Wodehouses I ever read and bought. I still have that edition with its faded orange spine and delightful Ionicus cover illustration, but when I saw this older Penguin in the classic all-typography format in a used bookstore (now sadly closed) in Gloucester Road in London, I just had to have it. The Inimitable Jeeves is top of the top: it features one of the finest comics stories of literature, "The Great Sermon Handicap."


More London bookshopping, but slightly more recent: I survey a tray of assorted used Penguins of differing vintage at the Waterloo Bridge Book Fair on the South Bank of the Thames. Irony alert: the whole purpose of me going to this open air book stall was to look for Penguin editions of Graham Greene, and I didn't find one. Until I later examined my photo more carefully...and realized there had been one right at my hooftips, in the lower right hand corner. If it'd been a real Penguin it'a bit me.


For the sixtieth anniversary of the firm, Penguin issued "The Penguin 60s": a large collection of slim, tiny paperbacks featuring a short story or two or a brief excerpt from a book to commemorate and celebrate their long history and range of authors and titles. These all cost 60 pence (99 cents in the US) which, to a bull who is very careful with his dimes, was very good value for money. I didn't collect the whole set (I never did get the Grant Naylor Red Dwarf one!), and several other series in this format were published over the following few years. The perfect stocking stuffer or gift for your friends who have short attention spans.


Penguins about Penguins are the best Penguins at all! I've already written in-depth in my last post about the delightful Penguin Special, but I also recommend Penguin by Design, a colorful picture history of Penguin's unparalleled book designs and groundbreaking advances in typography: a beautiful and informative book. We as comic book fans swear allegiance to DC or Make Mine Marvel, but in the world of trade books, it's seldom that you can express a love and admiration for a publishing company rather than simply its authors. Penguin is one of those grand firms that always made me want to work in publishing. Thank you, Allen Lane, for being an inspiration to this little stuffed bull!