Comments on: The First Hundred Penguin Books

By: Nick D

Nick D — Tue, 12 Jan 2016 18:52:53 +0000

How lovely. I’ve read many of your blogs over the years, it’s nice to hear some of your personal
experiences from the past.

By: j.j

j.j — Tue, 12 Jan 2016 11:35:30 +0000

moved by Lynne Perrella’s remarks as I often visited Rodgers Book Barn in the mid 1970s to mid-1980s, often by hitchiking or by moped from a neighbouring state. At a time when many book barns in those parts were rather stodgy, she was unique for her excellent taste in literature – and her low prices – and of course her interesting backround [John Cowper Powys lived in Hillsdale, too, once upon a time]

By: j.j

j.j — Tue, 12 Jan 2016 11:26:25 +0000

a very poignant posting, which made me think of Walter Benjamin’s essay “Unpacking My Library”, specifically these lines: “…Collectors are people with a tactical instinct; their experience teaches them that when they capture a strange city, the smallest antique shop can be a fortress, the most remote stationery store a key position. How many cities have revealed themselves to me in the marches I undertook in the pursuit of books….”

By: Flora

Flora — Sun, 10 Jan 2016 17:14:03 +0000

How wonderful! I must admit to a bit of envy. When I went to college I discovered that the penguin meant interesting reading. At 66 I still thrill to see one on the shelf at used bookstores. And I am happy that they are publishing still.

By: Robert Brown

Robert Brown — Sun, 10 Jan 2016 09:44:32 +0000

The most difficult to find used to be no. 58, The Poisoned Chocolates Case!

By: gabrielle

gabrielle — Sun, 10 Jan 2016 06:59:05 +0000

Beautiful story. Beautiful collection.
I’m fascinated that you ‘find yourself living in Spitalfields’.
It seems to me an ideal place for you to have settled, if indeed you have.

By: Suzy

Suzy — Sat, 09 Jan 2016 20:56:29 +0000

This was definitely one of my all time favourite posts. I’ve never forgotten it and in fact was reminded of it just recently when perusing the many penguin books at Waterloo bridge book market. A great story indeed.

Thanks too to Lynne Perrella and the recommendation for Roger’s Book Barn. I have friends in Peekskill so should I visit any time soon, I’ll surely pay a visit to Hillsdale!

Thank you TGA!

By: s berris

s berris — Sat, 09 Jan 2016 13:30:19 +0000

I trust you are a member of the Penguin Collectors Society! Where would your older readers be today without growing up with Penguin books to educate and entertain us. I too am trying to assemble the first 100 Puffins, but the out of the way, and often damp basement corners of second hand bookshops are fast disappearing. I have added a lot in the past from Sarah Key’s Haunted Bookshop, which for years I called the Magic Bookshop, but they are less easy to find now. I have just been dipping into Puffin’s “A Woman among Savages” about Mary Kingsley’s travels in West Africa,; she appears in the Penguins 80 list. do you remember when you found your last of the 100?
Thanks, Sarah Berris

By: Lee martin

Lee martin — Sat, 09 Jan 2016 12:28:04 +0000

Thank you for sharing your lovely collection of penguin books and the accompanying story of your travels etc

By: Caroline Murray

Caroline Murray — Sat, 09 Jan 2016 11:28:52 +0000

Something that hadn’t occurred to me (after 37 years in publishing!): at what point did a book designer somewhere decide that we should start tilting our heads to the right instead of the left to read a book’s spine?