Penguin science fiction covers past and present

Posted by Cory Doctorow, April 29, 2009 8:40 AM | permalink

The Art of Penguin SF is a beautiful thumbnail gallery of the covers of every (?) science fiction novel published by Penguin UK, starting with the 1935 edition of Butler's Erewhon. I grew up on these, and just seeing them there makes me want to tile my bathroom with them.

The Art of Penguin Science Fiction (via Warren Ellis)

posted in:

Favorite This! (4)

Older Video profile of cigar box guitar maker, Mark Vickroid

Newer Art Made From Guitar Effects Pedals: "Cypher"

Discussion

Take a look at this

#1 posted by 13strong, April 29, 2009 8:57 AM

Drool.

Take a look at this

#2 posted by monkeysayswhat, April 29, 2009 9:04 AM

Totally Sweet. We have an ongoing collection of old science fiction covers over at http://monkeysayswhat.com/scifi/scifi.shtml. Not quite as vintage as these though.

Take a look at this

#3 posted by Jonathan Badger, April 29, 2009 9:15 AM

I always liked the old 1930s Penguins where they just had the title on a label on an orange background (like the first few in this list). Very simple and classy. Not sure if they count as "cover art" though.

Take a look at this

#4 posted by redrichie, April 29, 2009 11:11 AM

Wow.

This is the most awesome thing I've seen, well, today. But it's still completely frickin' awesome.

Hey Mr Penguin...reissue series with classic covers, plz.

Take a look at this

#5 posted by Anonymous, April 29, 2009 11:17 AM

I've made some 500 available from Penguin
http://www.coverbrowser.com/covers/penguin-books

I had these scanned via a cover book. (There's also a couple of hundreds of Pelican books on the site.)

Take a look at this

#6 posted by Anonymous, April 29, 2009 3:53 PM

I collect penguin orangenacks. I buy them in second hand fairs and then stack them in the corners of my studio where they make perfect bass traps. They've therefore contributed to all the soundtracks recorded in here... The other thing about penguin books is that each novel has a unique sequential number on the spine. there's always a rush when you find one under issue 100... maybe that's just me!

Take a look at this

#7 posted by Tdawwg, April 29, 2009 4:19 PM

Damn, those are beautiful. In this age of quickie publishing gimmicks, print on demand, etc., why can't these lovelies be ushered back into print en masse?

Take a look at this

#8 posted by 13strong, April 30, 2009 4:14 AM

Especially the JG Ballard ones with the cartoonish instruments of war, shaded in the kind of Gilliam-esque way. They're amazing, and much better than the hideously clinical covers the Ballard editions have at the moment.

Take a look at this

#9 posted by Anonymous, April 30, 2009 6:46 AM

there are lots more Penguin SF titles/covers.

The "Penguin Paperback Spotters' Guild" on Flickr contains a link to a Google spreadsheet that lists them all, as far as I can see..

http://www.flickr.com/groups/penguinpaperbackspotters/