Penguin is due to release its next big themed series in April. This time the focus is on Great Food with covers based on ceramic styles

The 20 books bring together "the sharpest, funniest, most delicious writing about food from the past 400 years," according to Penguin. We will be publishing a more in-depth review of the series in a forthcoming edition but, for now, here are advance copies of the first three in the series.

The covers were designed by the Penguin's senior cover designer Coralie Bickford-Smith. Each one draws on a decorative ceramic style relevant to the period of the writing concerned.

Cover for Love in a Dish and other pieces by MFK Fisher. Cover design based on a pattern from a Century side plate by Eva Zeisel for Hallcraft, 1957

The covers feature embossed lettering and spot varnishes to pick out the details of the illustrations. Note also the special version of the Penguin logo, cutlery at the ready. Bickford-Smith worked closely with picture editor Samantha Johnson and lettering artist Stephen Raw on the series.

Cover for Everlasting Syllabub and the Art of Carving by Hannah Glasse. Cover design based on a pattern from a plate by the Bow Porcelain Factory, 1770.

Cover for Exciting Food for Southern Types by Pellegrino Artusi. Cover design based on a pattern from a bowlby Ulisse Cantagalli, Florence, 1892.

The Penguin Great Food will be published in Penguin Paperback on April 7, priced £6.99 each.

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Last year Penguin teamed up with RED to produce new covers for eight Penguin classics, which we reported on here.

Penguin 75: the stories behind the covers reveals some of the secrets behind Penguin's cover designs. Read about it here.

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