People Picking Up Penguins Since 1935
Interesting article on Penguin Books, credited here with starting the paperback revolution (and I always thought it was good ol' Pocketbooks from America that held that distinction).
"... [W]hen the first paperbacks came out in the summer of that year (priced at 6d (2½p) or the cost of a packet of cigarettes), the first authors were Ernest Hemingway, André Maurois--and Agatha Christie!
"Famous authors like J B Priestley and George Bernard Shaw gave enthusiastic backing, George Orwell said more guardedly: 'The Penguin Books are splendid value for sixpence, so splendid that if other publishers had any sense they would combine against them and suppress them.'
"Now Orwell's Animal Farm is the best-selling Penguin title of them all.
"... Today ... Penguin is the only book brand recognised globally.
"This fact was graphically driven home to Terry Waite when he was a hostage in Beirut. Terry drew a penguin as a way of asking his captors for some good books to read--and they understood!"
See Penguin Books on Amazon.com.
Technorati Tags:
books, novels, paperbacks, paperback, publishing, publishers, publishing industry, writers, authors, England, Britain, penguins, symbols, history, anniversaries, 1930s, printing, imprints, 1935, George Orwell, Agatha Christie, Hemingway, traditions, literature
"... [W]hen the first paperbacks came out in the summer of that year (priced at 6d (2½p) or the cost of a packet of cigarettes), the first authors were Ernest Hemingway, André Maurois--and Agatha Christie!
"Famous authors like J B Priestley and George Bernard Shaw gave enthusiastic backing, George Orwell said more guardedly: 'The Penguin Books are splendid value for sixpence, so splendid that if other publishers had any sense they would combine against them and suppress them.'
"Now Orwell's Animal Farm is the best-selling Penguin title of them all.
"... Today ... Penguin is the only book brand recognised globally.
"This fact was graphically driven home to Terry Waite when he was a hostage in Beirut. Terry drew a penguin as a way of asking his captors for some good books to read--and they understood!"
See Penguin Books on Amazon.com.
Technorati Tags:
books, novels, paperbacks, paperback, publishing, publishers, publishing industry, writers, authors, England, Britain, penguins, symbols, history, anniversaries, 1930s, printing, imprints, 1935, George Orwell, Agatha Christie, Hemingway, traditions, literature
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