Reading Penguin Reading Penguin: A Critical Anthology Edited by William Wootten and George Donaldson Reading Penguin: A Critical Anthology, Edited by William Wootten and George Donaldson This book first published 2013 Cambridge Scholars Publishing 12 Back Chapman Street, Newcastle upon Tyne, NE6 2XX, UK British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library Copyright © 2013 by William Wootten and George Donaldson and contributors Cover Image: Anonymous photograph of Collets Bookshop display 1960s, Penguin Archive, Bristol University Special Collections DM1294/2/8/1/2/3 All rights for this book reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior permission of the copyright owner. ISBN (10): 1-4438-4616-3, ISBN (13): 978-1-4438-4616-5 TO JOHN LYON PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR, THEPENGUINARCHIVEPROJECT (MAY2008-APRIL2012). CONTENTS Acknowledgements .................................................................................... ix Editors’ Preface .......................................................................................... xi A Prehistory for Penguins ........................................................................... 1 Simon Eliot The Trials and Travels of Lady Chatterley’s Lover ................................... 27 Alistair McCleery Pevsner and Penguin .................................................................................. 49 Susie Harries Dead Sea Scrolls and Penguins: A Relationship in Fragments .................. 65 William John Lyons Growing Up with Penguin Books .............................................................. 91 David Cannadine Hatching Classics .................................................................................... 111 Andrew Sanders Penguin English Library: A Really Good Start for the General Reader ..... 117 George Donaldson “Surrealistically Meaningless”: Pablo Neruda and Penguin Books ......... 125 Tom Boll Penguin Poetry and the Group ................................................................ 141 William Wootten Covering Muriel Spark: Penguin Books and the Designing of an Author ..... 153 Andrew Nash viii Contents(cid:3) Happy Birthday! Publishers’ Anniversaries, Celebration, Commemoration, and Commodification .................................................. 171 Claire Squires Puffin and the Legacy of Progressive Publishing for Children in Britain ...... 189 Kimberley Reynolds Contributors ............................................................................................. 207 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Every effort has been made to contact all copyright holders. We should be pleased to correct any omissions.(cid:3) John Lyon, to whom this book is dedicated, was not only the guiding spirit behind the conference on which this book is based, but he was also involved in the initial stages of the book’s preparation. The conference 75 Years of Penguin Books would not have taken place without the excellent organisation of Markland Starkie. Rachel Hassall, the Penguin Archive Project archivist (2008-2010), and Hannah Lowery and the staff of Bristol University Library Special Collections have been unfailingly helpful to those making use of the Penguin Archive. Without their hard work, most of the essays gathered here could not have been written. We would like to thank Penguin Books Ltd. for their generosity in granting access to the Penguin Archive and in agreeing to the publication of the following, which are reproduced by permission of Penguin Books Ltd.: Charles Clark, memo to Tony Godwin, 23 December 1963; Tony Godwin, letter to David Daiches, 10 July 1963; Charles Clark, letter to David Daiches, 11 September 1963; “cover brief” for The Ballad of Peckham Rye; covers of the following novels by Muriel Spark: Memento Mori (1961), The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie (1965), The Bachelors (1969), John Farman; The Hothouse by the East River (1990), Emma Chichester-Clark; The Comforters (1963, 1969, 1978, 1990), The Ballad of Peckham Rye (1963, 1966, 1970), Terence Greer; J. M. Cohen, memo to Richard Newnham, 15 November 1961; J. M. Cohen, letter to Richard Newnham, 29 July 1963; draft of editorial note for the Penguin Modern Poets Series; Anthony Richardson, letter to Geoffrey Hill, 30 September 1964; editorial note on back of poems of Peter Porter; Richard Newnham, internal memo to Tony Godwin; Richard Newnham, letter to Martin Bell, 25 January 1962; Richard Newnham, letter to George MacBeth, 30 March 1962; Richard Newnham, letter to Peter de Sautoy, 29 August 1962; Richard Newnham, letter to Edward Lucie-Smith, 6 September 1962; A.S.B. Glover, letter to J.M. Allegro, 23 September 1954; A.S.B. Glover, letter to J.M. Allegro, 13 January 1955; A.S.B. Glover, letter to E. Linder, 26 October 1955; A.S.B. Glover, letter to J.M. Allegro, 1 December 1954; A.S.B. Glover, letter to J.M. Allegro, 24 February 1956; A.S.B. Glover,