Detail from the cover of A Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess.
Cover by David Pelham (1972)
As part of Penguin Books’ 70th anniversary celebrations in 2005, a study day was held at the V&A that brought together distinguished Penguin designers, art directors and typographers John Miles, Romek Marber, Jerry Cinamon, Derek Birdsall, David Pelham and Jim Stoddart. The intention was to examine the changing attitudes to cover design over some five of the seven decades in which Penguin has been the world’s best known and best loved publisher. The talks, and some 250 cover illustrations, have subsequently been turned into a paperback, Penguin by Designers, and we present an exclusive extract from the book here on CRBlog: the full transcript of the talk given by designer David Pelham who started at Penguin in 1968.