Penguin Book Publishing: A Leader In Publishing
Back in 1935, Allen Lane had a dream, a dream that would eventually be known as Penguin Book Publishing. He dreamed of selling quality writing in book form as cheaply as a pack of cigarettes. Although, he wanted them sold not only in bookstores, but in corner shops and general stores as well as railway stations. He wanted them made available to everyone, everywhere.
The first paperbacks were sold from the back of a church crypt. Most of them were imprinted with Bodley Head meaning, he was part owner in Penguin Book Publishing Company.
First associated with lurid fiction and poor quality, paperback book publishing was not a profitable business. However, Lane was able to purchase publication rights reasonably for some manuscripts.
The business really took off when in 1936, Woolworth paid for 63,000 books outright confirming the companies worth and allowing Lane to establish Penguin Books as a separate business from Head. Ten months after the companies launch, in July 1935, Penguin books had printed one million books. Designs of the covers, as well as content, at the time were flashy and fleshy. It was important to Lane to have a simple presentation, so he opted for the simple covers, but not so much on the content. The books appearance of three horizontal bands and the upper and lower were color coded for ease of identification. The color codes incorporated: purple and white for essays and belles letters, red and white for travel and adventure, orange and white for general fiction, grey and white for world affairs, blue and white for biographies; and green and white for crime fiction. In 1937, Lane, deciding that education was just as important as entertainment, published George Bernard Shaw’s The Intelligent Women’s Guide to Socialism and Capitalism. Then in 1945, Penguin Book Publishing Company began one of its most important divisions since its opening: Penguin Classics. The first book to be released was a translation of Homer’s Odyssey by E.V. Rieu. A Swiss typographer, Jan Tschichord, invented Penguin Composition Rules, and used them to redesigned nearly 500 Penguin books between 1947 and 1949. This was an entire new set of rules for design principles. This booklet of four page contained typographical instructions for compositors and editors. Adding its name to the London Stock Exchange in April of 1961, Penguin became a fixture, ultimately reducing Lane’s role in the company. He did, however, remain the companies Managing Director, and in this capacity, he pushed for the publication of D.H. Lawrence’s book, Lady Chatterley’s Lover, which temporarily boosted Penguins notoriety. Unpublished at the time in Britain and the predicted obscenities trials not only showed Penguin Book Publishing Company as a brave publisher, it helped the sale of at least 3.5 million copies. Penguin Book Publishing Company was purchased by Pearson Longman in August 1970, only six weeks after the death of Allen Lane. In 2002, Penguin Book Publishing Company announced they were redesigning the entire classics catalog. A leader in publishing, Penguin Book Publishing Company is available in the United Kingdom, India, Australia, New Zealand and Canada.
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