King Penguins?

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King Penguins?

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1bencritchley
Gen 26, 2009, 8:25 pm

anyone know anything about this series published (as far as I can tell) in the 80s, which contained books like Night Thoughts of a Classical Physicist and Image of a drawn Sword? I picked both of these up recently and my word, they look good. What was its remit?

2abbottthomas
Gen 27, 2009, 6:11 pm

From Fifty Penguin Years: "Older members of the book trade were dismayed when, in May 1981, the series name King Penguin was revived and applied to a new, eclectic group of works by among others, Angela Carter, Anita Desai, Bernard MacLaverty, Mervyn Peake, D. M. Thomas, John Kennedy Toole and Patrick White. The books were increased slightly in size to the new 'B' format, and the distinctive orange spine, usually associated with Penguin fiction was dropped in favour of white. The purpose was to attract greater attention to books that might otherwise have risked being overlooked."

The only one I have is Angela Carter's Heroes and Villains. I thought that I had A Confederacy of Dunces but it has 'walked'!

3bencritchley
Gen 28, 2009, 7:23 am

Thanks abbotthomas! On that basis, I shall look out for more...

4abbottthomas
Modificato: Gen 28, 2009, 3:31 pm

Here is a list from 1985 - I haven't got the hang of cut-and-paste into these posts - there must be a better way!

King Penguins – 1985 listing

Abse -- Ash on a Young Man's Sleeve
Andersch -- Efraim's Book
Asturias -- Mulatta and Mr Fly
Bailey -- At the Jerusalem
-- Old Soldiers
Blackwood -- Stepdaughter
Borges -- Labyrinths
Brooke -- Image of a Drawn Sword
-- Orchid Trilogy
Byatt -- The Game
Carter -- Bloody Chamber and Other Stories
-- Heroes and Villains
-- Infernal Desire
-- Machines of Doctor Hoffman
Cheever -- Bullet Park
-- Stories of John Cheever
-- Oh What a Paradise It Seems
Coetzee -- Life & Times of Michael K
-- Waiting for the Barbarians
Cook -- Walter
-- Winter Doves
Davies - Deptford Trilogy
-- Rebel Angels
Davis -- Return of Martin Guerre
Dennis -- Cards of Identity
Desai -- Fire on the Mountain
-- Games at Twilight
-- Village by the Sea
Desani -- All About H. Hatterr
Donoso -- House in the Country
Duncan -- River Why
Ebersohn -- Store Up The Anger
Ende -- Momo
-- Neverending Story
Endo-- Samurai
Fenton -- Memory of War/Children In Exile:Poems 1968-83
Fuentes -- Death of Artemio Cruz
Gray -- 1982 Janine
Hanley -- The Furys
Harrison -- Selected Poems
Hastings -- Tom and Viv
Hazzard -- Transit of Venus
Hughes, D. -- Pork Butcher
Hughes, G. -- Hawthorn Goddess
--Where I Used to Play on the Green
Hutchinson -- Rising
-- Testament
-- Unforgotten Prisoner
Ishiguro -- Pale View of Hills
Jenkins -- Cone-Gatherers
Johnson, B. S. -- Christie
-- Malry'sOwn
-- Double-Entry
Johnson, D.-- Angels
Konrad -- Loser
Kotzwinkle -- Fan Man
Kundera -- Book of Laughter and Forgetting --- Farewell Party
-- Joke
-- Laughable Loves
Lem -- Solaris/Chain of Chance/Perfect Vacuum
-- Tales of Pirx the Pilot
Levi -- Christ Stopped at Eboli
Logue -- War Music (LF)
McCormmach-Night Thoughts of a Classical Physicist
McCullers -- Heart is a Lonely Hunter
McEwen -- Fisher's Hornpipe
Mac Laverty -- Cal
-- Lamb
-- Time to Dance and Other Stories
Milosz -- Captive Mind
Mishima-- Sailor Who Fell From Grace with the Sea
Morante -- History: A Novel
Motion-- Dangerous Play: Poems 1974-1984
Munro -- Beggar Maid
-- Dance of the Happy Shades
-- Lives of Girls and Women
-- Moons of Jupiter
-- Something I've Been Meaning To Tell You
Narayan -- Malgudi Days
-- Man-Eater of Malgudi
-- Painter of Signs
-- Tiger for Malgudi
-- Vendor of Sweets
Nin -- Spy in the House of Love
-- Under a Glass Bell
Ozick -- Cannibal Galaxy
-- Levitation
Phillips, Jayne Anne -- Black Tickets
Roberts -- Pavane
Robinson -- Housekeeping
Rose -- Parallel Lives
St Aubin de Teran -- Keepers of the House
-- Slow Train to Milan
Schwartz-Bart -- Last of the Just
Skvorecky -- Cowards
Sinclair-- Bedbugs
-- Hearts of Gold
Stuart-- Blacklist,
-- Section H
Thomas -- Birthstone
-- White Hotel
Toole -- Confederacy of Dunces
Tournier -- Friday or the Other Island
Trevor -- Boarding House
-- Children of Dynmouth
-- Fools of Fortune
-- Love Department
-- Mrs Eckdorf in O'Neil!'s Hotel
-- Old Boys
-- Other People's Worlds
-- Stories of William Trevor
Updike-- Hugging the Shore: Essays and Criticism
Welch -- Voice Through a Cloud
Wharton -- Dad
-- Midnight Clear
Wilcox -- Modern Baptists
Yourcenar -- Memoirs of Hadrian

5xtofersdad
Gen 29, 2009, 3:33 am

..and for completeness (on the subject of King Penguins) here is the list of the original 76 volumes issued between 1939 and 1959;

http://www.booksandwriters.co.uk/writer/K/king-penguins.asp

6abbottthomas
Gen 29, 2009, 7:14 am

>5 xtofersdad: They are a delightful series - you can see why "Older members of the book trade were dismayed ...." Very much children of their time. I can't see anything comparable being produced today.

7bencritchley
Gen 29, 2009, 7:49 am

Thanks! I think I might have to get "you do not need more books" tattooed on my hand

8slickdpdx
Mar 7, 2009, 11:36 pm

#3 - that B.S. Johnson title is all one book, not three.

9ladycassilis
Mag 7, 2009, 3:05 pm

I have just started collecting 'old' King Penguins - they are lovely little things. I've made a series page for them in Common Knowledge, in case anyone is interested.

Any other classic King Penguin collectors out there?

PS. I've also had a go at making a series page for Puffin Picture Books, but that's proving slightly more complicated...

10abbottthomas
Mag 7, 2009, 4:22 pm

>9 ladycassilis: I've been tempted to do similar things but you may find that you get grumbles from some because these are publisher's series, and thus not quite pukkah. However, the Penguin group is a fairly quiet backwater and, if you don't shout too loudly, only Penguin enthusiasts will see ;-)

I do agree with your feelings about the series, though.

11ladycassilis
Mag 7, 2009, 5:53 pm

I see your point - I think though, in as far as I understand the rules, that because Penguin (in at least the vast majority of cases) has the monopoly, and because both series were intentional creations, it is OK - at least I hope so.

Obviously this wouldn't be the case with lots of other Penguins, like Penguin Classics - but then that would be such a nightmare to attempt I don't think anyone would bother!