When it comes to covers,
publishers are notoriously promiscuous and inconsistent. Penguin have set
records in this respect that are bound to stand the test of time. I’ve had a
lot of fun compiling the following (no doubt far from complete) collections of
covers; most of them seem to have been extremely selective in the first place.
I have arranged them roughly in
chronological order. I stress “roughly” because it is very difficult, if not
indeed impossible, to determine when they were used for the first time and for
how long they remained in use. The years given for each set are by necessity
approximate.
1st series: 1940s/50s.
The classic Penguin design: simplicity
and elegance. Plain but not ugly, quite unlike many monstrosities from later
years.
2nd series: 1950s.
Are these supposed to be
improvements?
3rd series: 1963-?
Simple but, when you hold the
book in your hand, surprisingly handsome design.
4th series: 1967-?
Audaciously garish and
misleading covers. Up at the Villa
and especially Catalina are utterly preposterous.
5th series: late 1960s to 1980s?
Horrendous collages! I wonder
if Birdsall and Peccinotti, who are credited as cover designers, ever read a
single word of the books they marred. As luck would have it, the ugliest series
is also the longest.
6th series: 1970/80s?
Inferior versions of the
covers in the next series.
7th series: 1990s.
Penguin Twentieth Century
Classics. Great idea to put Graham Sutherland’s justly famous portrait and
Gerald Kelly’s much more obscure (but, in my opinion, equally fine) work on the
covers of Maugham’s two most personal books, The Summing Up and A Writer’s
Notebook respectively. The rest is appallingly nondescript.
8th series: 1990/2000s.
Penguin Classics. It’s amusing
to see an indifferent potboiler like The
Magician included here, while The
Painted Veil, Cakes and Ale and The Razor’s Edge are omitted. The ways
of publishers are inscrutable. And both covers of Of Human Bondage are unspeakable!
Mavericks.
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