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At Home in the Modern World

Penguin Postcards

Fie on all your letter-pressed stationary cuteness, your silly squirrels and schooners! Save on postage! Send a postcard! Better still, send one emblazoned with a classic book jacket from the prince of paperbacks Penguin. The new box set Postcards from Penguin: One Hundred Book Covers in One Box displays the best in Penguins cover design in postcard form. So drop a note, or better yet, stuff a stocking.
 

Penguin postcards sample

The genesis of Penguin's famed line of paperbacks harkens back to 1935 when Penguin founder Allen Lane couldn't find a decent looking paperback at Exeter train station.

Penguin Postcards Robert Burns
Since then the iconic three stripes of Penguin paperbacks have inspired collectors and readers alike. Some of my favorites in set of postcards evoke mid-century bookstalls and are just the kind of books you'd want to slip into your blazer pocket on a train trip like Wodehouse's My Man Jeeves or Bemelmans' Hotel Splendide. Besides, what better activity when on your travels than sending a postcard back home to Mother? She's certainly done enough for you.

Penguinpostcards.

The box set of 100 postcards costs a mere $25 making it a nice, inexpensive gift. Better yet, get a few and paper your back bedroom to create a bibliophile's delight.

PenguinBack.
I also quite like the back of the postcards as they resemble what Lane himself might have sent in the mid 1930s. All told, it's a winning set that runs the gamut of Penguin's design from their originals to the far less fusty work in the mid 70s.

PenguinGroup.
  • Published: November 9, 2010

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