75 Years of Penguin
The history of Penguin is almost as interesting as the thousands of titles published by this company over the past 75 years. Step back to 1935 when Allen Lane decided that he wanted to turn book borrowers into book buyers and published the first 10 Penguin books. Each one cost just six pence at a time when hard covers were priced at seven or eight shillings. Those 10 books revolutionized publishing by making great literature very affordable, and kicked off Penguin’s long and illustrious history.
In 1939, World War II began and Penguin’s popularity took off. Pre-war Penguin specials such as What Hitler Wants achieved record-breaking sales and troops were eager to carry cheap, light paperbacks in their kit bags. However it wasn’t just soldiers that wanted Penguins. After wartime rationing ended, Penguin kicked its operations into high gear and became the publisher of choice throughout every level of society.
Having firmly established itself as a publishing powerhouse, the company continued to develop during the cultural upheaval of the 1960s. Penguin took chances on risky books, including the first unabridged and uncensored version of D.H. Lawrence’s Lady Chatterley's Lover. It went to a legal battle under the new Obscene Publications Act and publisher eventually triumphed. More controversial books were to follow.
The real legacy of Penguin, however, is not longevity or the broad catalogue, but the amazing number of influential and award-winning books that have been published over the years. Even today, Penguin has its finger on the pulse of readers with megasellers like Three Cups of Tea and Eat, Love, Pray.
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Controversial Penguins
Lady Chatterley's Lover
by D.H. Lawrence
Brought to trial under the Obscene Publications Act for its sex and use of "unprintable words."
The Satanic Verses
by Salman Rushdie
Caused uproar in the Islamic world. The most expensive Penguin paperback sold on AbeBooks was a banned Indian copy signed by Rushdie for $4,931.
Spycatcher
Peter Wright
Written by a former MI5 officer, this critical book riled the British Government.
Denying the Holocaust
Deborah Lipstadt
Lipstadt accused David Irving of denying the Holocaust. Irving sued her and Penguin, and lost.
Love and Consequences
Margaret B. Jones
Margaret Seltzer, aka Margaret B. Jones, wrote a memoir about gang life but it was fabricated.
Much-loved Penguins
The Deep End of the Ocean
by Jacqueline Mitchard
Oprah Winfrey picked this Penguin as her first Book Club selection.
The Secret Life of Bees
by Sue Monk Kidd
This novel is the bestselling paperback in Penguin history.
Eat, Pray, Love
Elizabeth Gilbert
Released on the same day as Three Cups of Tea, this is one of Penguin's bestselling non-fiction titles.
Three Cups of Tea
Greg Mortenson
Another publishing phenomenon of the modern era – word of mouth drove initial sales.
Wolf Totem
Jiang Rong
Won the first ever Man Asian Literacy Prize in 2007.
Pulitzer Prize-Winning Penguins
The Grapes of Wrath
by John Steinbeck
Death of a Salesman
by Arthur Miller
Angle of Repose
Wallace Stegner
Humboldt's Gift
Saul Bellow
Ironweed
William Kennedy
Arab and Jew
by David K. Shipler (non-fiction)
The Stone Diaries
by Carol Shields
Practical Gods
Carl Dennis (poetry)
Ghost Wars
Steve Coll (non-fiction)
March
Geraldine Brooks
National Book Award-winning Penguins
Mr. Sammler's Planet
by Saul Bellow
Gravity's Rainbow
by Thomas Pynchon
White Noise
Don DeLillo
In the Heart of the Sea
Nathaniel Philbrick
Europe Central
William Vollmann
Booker Prize-winning Penguins
The Conservationist
by Nadine Gordimer
The Sea, The Sea
by Iris Murdoch
The Life and Times of Michael K
J.M. Coetzee
The Bone People
Keri Hulme
Paddy Clarke Ha Ha Ha
Roddy Doyle
The Colors of Penguin
More to Discover
