Related to the last, here are three covers from the short-lived Penguin Illustrated Classics imprint
Related to the last, here are three covers from the short-lived Penguin Illustrated Classics imprint. This enterprising endeavour was Penguin’s first foray into publishing classic fiction and also into illustrating their books. The illustrations commissioned were all executed on wood, so that they could be printed using the same press and paper stock as the text – Penguin’s remit was to provide affordable books, so printing on expensive art paper would not have been viable. The covers used a vertical variant of the standard Penguin livery featuring suitably chiselled titling in the newly-designed Monotype Albertus. Ironically, Albertus would become strongly associated with publishers Faber and Faber in the coming years when its designer, Berthold Wolpe, went to work for Penguin’s rival. Some books in the series (such as Robinson Crusoe and Pride and Prejudice) were split over two volumes, while others (like Sterne’s A Sentimental Journey, beautifully illustrated by the great Gwen Raverat) were noticeably brief. Unfortunately the imprint only lasted for a single run before it was halted by the outbreak of war. The series was largely superseded by the advent of the revolutionary Penguin Classics imprint in 1946. -- source link
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