Penguin Books Celebrates Ninety Years of Publishing today, 30th July 2025
Penguin Books celebrates its 90th anniversary today, 30th July 2025, which means, of course, that the Penguin story began in 1935.
When Allen Lane, with his brothers Richard and John, co-launched Penguin in 1935, it sparked a paperback revolution in the UK. Allen's aim was to make quality literature available to the masses for no more than the cost of a packet of cigarettes. Within a year, three million Penguins had made their way into readers' homes. Initially, these inexpensive paperback books were sold for sixpence, through Woolworths and other stores, making them accessible to everyone.
The du Mauriers, published by Penguin in 1949
Fiction was a major draw, but Penguins were available in several genres, each with its own colour code. The colour schemes included orange and white for general fiction, green and white for crime fiction, cerise and white for travel and adventure, dark blue and white for biography, yellow and white for miscellaneous, red and white for drama, purple and white for essays and belles lettres and grey and white for world affairs. Allen Lane actively resisted the introduction of cover images for several years. Some recent publications of literature from that time have duplicated the original look.
Rebecca, published by Penguin in 1962
Of interest to us at the Daphne du Maurier website is the fact that Daphne du Maurier's biography about her ancestors, The du Mauriers, was one of the earliest dark blue and white biographies published by Penguin in 1949.
Penguin were also the first company to produce Daphne's works in paperback, starting in 1962, with novels including Jamaica Inn, Rebecca, Frenchman's Creek and My Cousin Rachel, then continuing with more novels, short story collections, Vanishing Cornwall, Gerald, and The Infernal World of Branwell Brontë.
Vanishing Cornwall, published by Penguin in 1972
As we fast forward 90 years, the Penguin mission, to make books for everyone, remains the same. As Penguin celebrate their 90th anniversary, this is what they have to say:
To mark its milestone anniversary in 2025, the publisher's new Penguin Archive series draws from its expansive archive with 90 short books.
Curated by 16 Penguin Classics editors, the series takes readers through nine decades of literature, spanning authors from Jane Austen to Wang Xiaobo and settings ranging from ancient battlefields to haunted graveyards, all the way to outer space.
Each title in the series comes with a simple but striking cover design that also riffs on Penguin's heritage. "For this year's birthday, we wanted to create a love letter from Penguin Classics to Penguin Books", says art director Jim Stoddart. "We wanted to celebrate Penguin as a whole – i.e. Penguin since its inception in 1935 – and to not just celebrate the quality and range of authors published by Penguin but also to mark 90 years of Penguin's book design."
Ann Willmore, July 2025.