TL; DR Have a free glass of wine or coffee at Backstory today when you buy any Penguin book.* We’ve teamed up to throw a party to celebrate Penguin’s 90th birthday: there’ll be cake, balloons and, of course, lots of great books. We’re open 10am-6pm. See you soon!
IT SOMETIMES FEELS LIKE there are almost as many publishing imprints as there are books. When I’m doing my daily stock reordering mid-afternoon on our computer system, I have to tell apart my Bridge Street (Hachette) from my Borough Press (HarperCollins), my Neon Squid from my Electric Monkey.
Much as most readers might not give Two Hoots (Pan Macmillan), imprints are used by big publishers to signal a new focus on a particular genre or — if you’re being cynical — to give someone a swanky sounding new job in charge of their own empire within a publishing house.
Imprints, divisions (groups of imprints with a giant publisher) and publishing houses themselves mean a great deal to the people who run them, who take an understandable pride in the particular qualities they believe their imprimatur denotes. For the most part, though, the book-browsing public is oblivious to such distinctions. I remember another bookseller and I trying to find the most diplomatic way to answer the boss of an independent publisher who wanted to know if readers would beat a path to books bearing its logo.
There is, however, one big (or should that be emperor?) exception. In the world of book branding, Penguin — and its associated Puffins and Pelicans — reigns supreme. That perky creature on the spine is to books what Hoover is to vacuums or Coke to fizzy drinks.
And on 30th July, the wise old bird turns 90.
Today Penguin Random House is the world’s biggest publisher, with dozens of imprints — many of them its erstwhile competitors — across the globe. Few outside of big business have heard of its ultimate owner, German conglomerate Bertelsmann, but every child bookworm can spot a Puffin, every keen reader a Penguin.
Back in 1935, Penguin’s astonishing success was anything but assured. Although its founder, Allen Lane, came from publishing stock and began working at his uncle’s firm, The Bodley Head, at 16, his new venture radically upended publishing norms.
At a time when most books were only ever published in hardback (first for 7s 6d, or around £35 today), Lane proposed to publish in paperback, at a size that could fit into a pocket or handbag, and at less than a tenth of the price (6d, or just a couple of pounds today).
Unsurprisingly, Penguin ruffled a few feathers. As Jeremy Lewis tells it in The Man Who Changed The Way We Read (published, of course, by Penguin), WH Smith turned up its nose (cheap books? Us?!). They weren’t the only ones. “Many booksellers refused to allow Penguins in their shops,” writes Lewis. “If they condescended to place an order, [they] confined the offending items to a bin on the pavement outside. They complained that the profit margin on sixpence was too small to be worth bothering with, that such small books would fall prey to shoplifters, that they would soon look grubby and tatty…that they would “simply add to the bad stock with which every bookshop was already unpleasantly full”.’
Established publishers and even some authors grumbled that Penguin paperbacks would devalue serious works of fiction and non-fiction, making them a grubby commodity for the (grubby) masses.
Lane was having none of it, taking aim at “the publisher who imagines that the majority of people are stupid, interested only in entertainment that enables them to escape from their environment… It is quite clear that the time has come to wake up to the fact that people want books, that they want good books, and that they are willing, even anxious, to buy them if they are presented to them in a straightforward, intelligent manner at a cheap price.”
And so it proved. Lane’s unlikely saviour was Woolworths, who snapped up 63,500 copies of the launch titles. Others soon followed. Selfridges sold out of their initial 100 copies of each title so quickly that they immediately ordered another 1,000. The Observer (which would not always be such an enthusiastic champion of Penguin titles) declared the books “perfect for seashore, wood, moorland and even the train or aeroplane”. “Every suitcase in the family,” it predicted, would soon be “bursting with treasure”.
Within a year, 3 million Penguins had been sold. Lane was so proud of them that when he married, in 1941, eight cardboard Penguins formed a guard of honour.
Much has changed in the 90 years since. Other publishers cottoned on — many surprisingly late — and started publishing their own paperbacks. Penguin grew and grew, swallowing up not only its rivals but also eventually The Bodley Head. Inflation had its way with book prices; and Penguin was persuaded that hardbacks had their place too. (There’s a certain irony that one of its imprints, specialising in weighty but wallet-lightening hardbacks, is… Allen Lane.)
Still, while cinema, theatre, concert and football tickets have been pushed up and up, paperbacks remain one of the most accessibly priced forms of entertainment. And which of us can argue with putting more books in the hands of more readers?
So join us to celebrate King Penguin. We’ve teamed up with Penguin to offer every customer who buys at least one Penguin title at Backstory today a free glass of wine or coffee.*
Come along and join in the fun. We’ll be open 10am-6pm today.
And for those of you who live further afield or can’t make it in person, you can browse our online collections of some of our favourite Penguins, beautiful clothbound classics and the all-time classic, well, classics. Since we can’t give you a free drink, we’ll give online customers 10% off any Penguins from the collection with the code NICEONEALLEN (valid online only, until the end of Sunday).
Happy birthday, Penguin!
Tom
*One per customer. Coffee or small glass of wine. While stocks last.
Want more Backstory?
Come to one of our author events in the shop almost every week
Request a book to pick up in the shop (we can usually get a book for the next day)
If you’re further afield, order a book from our website
"Within a year, 3 million Penguins had been sold. Lane was so proud of them that when he married, in 1941, eight cardboard Penguins formed a guard of honour." 🐧👍😅
What a wonderful history of Penguin!-- I thoroughly enjoyed it. Hope your b-day bash went well.