Penguin

The collection is in fair overall condition, on aged and worn paper. Not all from the same source (includes stamps of W. H. Smith & Son, Bromley; the Pioneer Bookshop, Woolwich; and Ascroft and Daw of the Charing Cross Road). ONE: 'November Penguins | published 29 October 1954'. Illustrated fold-out pamphlet. TWO: 3 issues of 'Penguin Books | Order Form', December 1954, August 1958, and October 1958. Fold-out leaflets. The December 1954 issue (creased, as is one other) features a full-page illustrated Christmas message. THREE: 'The New Penguins | ready 27 October 1955'.

Dimensions 29 x 12 cm. Pasteboard mount, 31 x 14.5 cm. In blue, black and white. In good condition on lightly-aged paper. In front of a background of ricketty railings, a jolly bespectacled penguin [with Tschichold's sprightly eyes], with a Penguin book under his left arm, and preceded by a letter P and followed by an n, drags a bespectacled, bearded man (looking a little like a young Michael Bentine) towards the right of the drawing.

Pseudonym of the French writer Émile Salomon Wilhelm Herzog (1885-1967), author of the first Penguin, 'Ariel'. One page, 4to. Folded three times. In good condition although creased. Signed in pencil. Written in French. He does not intend to translate 'Rouen' into English. It is not interesting enough for 'un public anglo-saxon'. He thanks her for the thought.

Publisher (1902?-1970). One page each, 4to. In one he discusses someone's sighting of ghosts (about which O'Donnell has written and the possibility of reprinting O'Donnell's work on werewolves in Penguin. In the other he briefly gives information about his family and anticipates an announcement with regard to the Bodley Head "in the New Year". The letter has the stamp of the "Receiver", so the announcement may well refer to the company's financial difficulties (see W.E. Williams, "Allen Lane", p.41 "bankruptcy" of Bodley Head).