Always judge a book by it’s cover
The ever disappearing second hand bookstores on Charing Cross Road offer less and less opportunity to find gems of design. Being at Saint Martin’s in the late 80s, afforded me the ability to rummage in these stores for source material and interesting graphics, as we were in a pre ‘Google’ age. Walking by one of the last remaining stores near the site of Shipley’s (the original inspiration for Diagon Alley in Harry Poitter) I came across these lovely books. All are from the imprint KING PENGUIN.
The first Penguin paperbacks were published in 1936, but at first only as an imprint of Bodley Head (of Vigo Street) with the books originally distributed from the crypt of the Holy Trinity Church Marylebone. Only paperback editions were published until the “King Penguin” series debuted in 1939.