Although founded towards the end of 1973 the Penguin Collectors Society didn’t really get going until 1974 with the first meeting of like minded collectors being in the spring of that year and the first newsletter coming soon afterwards in May by which time there were 38 members. Member number one was Tanya Schmoller who had been personal assistant to the founder of Penguin Books, Sir Allen Lane, and number two was her husband Hans Schmoller who was at the time still Head of Typography and Design at Penguin Books. Sadly I never met Hans as he died in 1985 before I joined the society but I remember Tanya fondly for the encouragement she gave to a then relatively new collector when I discovered the society in 1990. By then the newsletters had become professionally printed rather than the typed onto a waxed paper and Gestetner reproduced early examples. There were also some three hundred members including several institutions including The Library of Congress in America, Canterbury College of Art, Manchester Polytechnic and the State Library of Victoria in Melbourne Australia to name just four.

The first page of newsletter number one is reproduced above, taken from the book and possibly the most striking sentence in this age of data protection regulations is “whose names and addresses are included in this issue”, it is difficult to imagine such a thing being done nowadays. The last directory of members was in 1988 and that not only had names and addresses but phone numbers and in many cases their collecting interests and approximate size of collection. Reading through these early issues, which I’d never seen before, was fascinating and I thank whoever came up with the idea of collating them. The society has only ever produced an appropriate number of copies for the members it has plus a small number for new members who want to purchase old editions and with just thirty eight members for issue one and just over a hundred by the time of the fifth and last 1975 edition finding these early newsletters is pretty well impossible.

So what was covered in the first newsletters? Well even the first issue at just thirteen pages, two of which were the directory of members and another two a series of adverts where members were searching for specific titles managed to cover wartime advertisements in Penguin Books, a couple of printing variations on “The Penguin Herodotus” along with “Russian Campaigns”, other early paperback printers and how many titles were printed in various Penguin periodicals. By the time we reach issue five, confusingly called volume 2, number 2, from December 1975 we get an interesting short article regarding the book on the Spanish Civil War entitled “Searchlight on Spain” by the Duchess of Atholl which may be unique in Penguin history as it prompted a second book, published by Hutchinson aimed squarely at refuting the original Penguin and entitled ” Daylight on Spain: The Answer to the Duchess of Atholl”. I had never heard of this second book however the review is not exactly complimentary as it seems solely intent on attacking the original book rather than establishing a cognitive argument so I won’t be searching for a copy. There is also an attempt to sort out the various publications of the early Penguin Handbooks along with a breakdown of the wartime Penguins issued in French. All very interesting.

This collection of early newsletters came with the latest example, June 2024’s number 101

This, as you can see is a very different beast to the early examples, now 112 pages long and illustrated in full colour, with articles as diverse as early days of the society, the development of the railway bookstall, various articles of designing particular books, two of the Allan Lane Christmas books and a couple of articles on translation amongst others. Following an appeal for more material there are also three articles based on entries from this blog:

• Puffin Story Books: The beginning
• Puffin Annuals
• Penguin Drop Caps

I was surprised to see all three included as I just sent versions expecting the editor to use one or possibly two and hold the remainder over to a future newsletter. The articles were largely rewritten with new illustrations but you can get a feel for what appeared in this newsletter from myself.

The society can be contacted via its website and if you are remotely interested in Penguin Books or their various offshoots I heartily recommend membership, which by the way now stands at 470 according to the accounts dated December 2023. You don’t just get the newsletter but normally a special volume dedicated to a specific topic or reproducing hard to find items such as: A.S.B. Glover by Tim Graham and White Horses by Eric Ravilious.