Penguin were not just pioneers of paperback publishing for adults and a new design aesthetic.
After four successful years publishing quality books at an affordable price, they launched a groundbreaking children’s illustrated nonfiction series. The aim was to create beautiful picturebooks with high-quality text and original illustrations. Time and resources were against the series, which was launched as WW2 was breaking out in autumn 1939. I’m currently writing up my research based on the Puffin editorial files in the Penguin Archive, University of Bristol Library Special Collection. I’m looking at the publishing, and especially editorial, practices they developed and also the impact of Noel Carrington and Allen Lane’s publishing phenomenon on children’s nonfiction publishing.
Katharine Reeve 