OK, it's an aside but if you're not humming that tune by now, there must be something wrong with you.
Regardless of that, the real purpose for this post is, as Ace Jet's back in Penguin mode, to repeat that if you're in any way interested in those modest little paperbacks, you could do a lot worse than join the club. A years membership will cost you just sixteen of the Queen's pounds and you'll get two issues of the Society's excellent magazine (pictured above) and, this year, a copy of Penguin by Illustrators, sister publication to the ace Penguin by Designers.
The next issue of The Penguin Collector promises, "a major piece by Colin Forbes on the revolution in graphic design in London in the early 1960s with the formation of the Design and Art Direction Association (D&AD). He talks of his association with other designers, such as Derek Birdsall, George Mayhew, Dennis Bailey, Romek Marber, and of Alan Fletcher and Bob Gill with whom he later went into partnership. Penguin, in the form of Germano Facetti and others, played no small part in their development by commissioning many cover designs from the firm."
I'm a huge fan of vintage penguin books, my wife brought me the membership for Xmas. My current collection must be up to about 300 books mostly the green or orange colors, but with a smattering of blues, browns and yellows. Mostly picked up from relatives back in blighty or from ebay auctions, although the exchange rate is making ebay and book shipping pretty prohibitive these days. Most people think I'm insane when I explain that I don't really buy them to read, but more for the design and the collecting (once day when I retire I will sit down and read all of them I'm sure). If you're a collector, I'm just putting together a pet project site where collectors can catalog and manage their collections, include the ability to upload cover photos or scans (or just use an existing upload). I want to launch with just my collection to get the ball rolling, but I need a good weekend or two to do the scanning. I'll touch back when it goes live and let you know the url.
Posted by: JP | 21 January 2008 at 06:07 PM
Yes. Good. Very nice.
Posted by: Daniel | 19 April 2012 at 03:21 PM