Pulp Librarian Profile picture
Curator of the art, history and fiction of old dreams.

Nov 15, 2021, 14 tweets

Today I'm looking at Penguin Books from 1966. Why? Because that's the year they ditched the Marber Grid and brought in Alan Aldridge as art director to spice up their fiction covers!

He was a controversial choice, so let's see how he did...

Sleepwalkers, by David Karp. Penguin Books, 1966.

I really like this as a cover!

Farewell, My Lovely by Raymond Chandler. Penguin Books, 1966. Another favourite of mine.

Kiss Kiss, by Roald Dahl. Penguin Books, 1966. Art by Alan Aldridge.

Jubb, by Keith Waterhouse. Penguin Books, 1966. Richard Heimann did the photography on this one IIRC.

Boswell's London Journal: 1762-1763, edited by Frederick A Pottle. Penguin Books, 1966. Cover by Alan Aldridge.

Gunner Cade, by Cyril Judd. Penguin 1966. Cover by Ian Yeoman.

A Kind Of Loving, by Stan Barstow. Penguin Books, 1966. I do like this edition!

Island, by Aldous Huxley. Penguin, 1966. Cover by Ross Cramer.

Maigret's Special Murder, by Georges Simeon. Penguin Books, 1966. Cover by Karl Ferris.

The Penguin John Lennon (1966). Cover by Alan Aldridge.

The Unpleasant Profession of Jonathan Hoag, by Robert A Heinlein. Penguin, 1966. Cover by Alan Aldridge.

Personally I'm a fan of Alan Aldridge's work at Penguin, though that does put me into a minority! De gustibus non disputandum est, as they say.

And finally... The House on the Borderland, by William Hope Hodgson. Panther Horror, 1969. Cover by Alan Aldridge (who had just been sacked as Penguin's art director that year!)

Share this Scrolly Tale with your friends.

A Scrolly Tale is a new way to read Twitter threads with a more visually immersive experience.
Discover more beautiful Scrolly Tales like this.

Keep scrolling