Comments on: One Hundred Penguin Books

By: Marina

Marina — Mon, 04 Jul 2011 05:39:53 +0000

A magnificent collection. I have always revered Penguins for their orange spines. I would love to come and spend time with this colourful array of Penguins. Such a treasure trove. And sorry about the interviews … the prospective employers were clearly clueless!

By: Thomas at My Porch

Thomas at My Porch — Mon, 30 Aug 2010 17:45:17 +0000

What a fantastic post and what a fantastic collection. In 1989, on my first trip to the UK I stayed in a B&B in Gloucester that had three full shelves of Penguins in my bedroom. At the time I was a 19-year old American who had never been abroad and I didn’t know anything about these brightly colored beauties. And, even though I was already a voracious reader, I didn’t recognize any of the authors either. Given the turn my reading interests have taken over the past 20 years, I would give anything to have alook at those shelves again to see how many of them ring bells with me now.

By: mirabilis

mirabilis — Mon, 30 Aug 2010 13:22:47 +0000

Synchronicity – the title ‘Mr Fortune please’ in the first picture immediately made me think of Sylvia Townsend Warner and her novel ‘Mr Fortune’s Maggot’ only to see her mentioned in the writing further down. Is Fortune such a common name as to deserve two mentions in book titles? And I wonder what it would take to lift Townsend Warner from her unfair obscurity?

By: mcneill

mcneill — Mon, 30 Aug 2010 11:36:55 +0000

If anyone should be in Glasgow looking for second-hand bookshops, or just trying to avoid an Old Firm match, then can I recommend Thistle Books, not just for the shop but also for the tiny lane on which it finds its home? Otago Lane is a cigarette stub of a side street near the west end, easily-missed, but you can find it by asking locals for Tchai Ovna, the tea shop that nestles just along from the bookshop. There you can sample over a billion varieties of tea from all over the world and some, too, from outer space. In the evenings they often have folk musicians playing live. It's a lovely little nook.

By: Ron Goldstein

Ron Goldstein — Mon, 30 Aug 2010 06:45:32 +0000

Gentle Author

You set me looking through my own bookshelves but, alas, none of my Penguins have survived.

I still have, however, a Pelican Original, one of Penguin’s offshoots, dated 1969, which is “A History of the cost of living” by John Burnett.

Not that I have to tell you, but don’t ever sell those priceless books.

Hooray for Penguin !

Ron

By: Frances

Frances — Mon, 30 Aug 2010 02:55:23 +0000

Well, once again I marvel at the topic of your post. Imagining the travels, and sights and experiences that accompanied the gathering of this Penguin collection is rather wonderful.

Sorry about those interview results, but awfully glad to see those colorful Penguin spines, and to think of all the great reading that rippled from each of the little books. Well, not little in a bad sense, of course!

Best wishes.

By: Chris F

Chris F — Sun, 29 Aug 2010 23:53:11 +0000

I read somewhere (and it might have been on one of your blogs) that Allen Lane never read any of the manuscripts that were submited to him… He simply sniffed them in order to judge their suitability for publishing… Amazing… and what a time saver!