blue book.
Blue-bound statistical reports issued by the government.
—a footnote to the 1993 Norton Anthology Edition of Charles Dickens’ Hard Times, originally published in 1854.
a town of red brick
“It was a town of red brick, or of brick that would have been red if the smoke and ashes had allowed it; but as matters stood it was a town of unnatural red and black like the painted face of a savage.”
—Charles Dickens, describing Coketown in Hard Times, 1854.
white satin and jewels
“‘You were coming out of the Italian Opera, ma’am, in white satin and jewels, a blaze of splendour, when I hadn’t a penny to buy a link to light you.’”
—Charles Dickens, from Hard Times, 1854.
link.
A flaming torch used to light up the street for pedestrians.
—a footnote to the 1993 Norton Anthology Edition of Charles Dickens’ Hard Times, originally published in 1854.
Fairy palaces
“The lights in the great factories, which looked, when they were illuminated, like Fairy palaces—or the travellers by express-train said so—were all extinguished; and the bells had rung for knocking off for the night, and had ceased again; and the Hands, men and women, boy and girl, were clattering home.”
—Charles Dickens, from Hard Times, 1854.
Silver thread and golden needles
“Silver thread and golden needles
Cannot mend this heart of mine
And I dare not drown my sorrows
In the warm glow of your wine”
—from Silver Threads And Golden Needles, written by Dick Reynolds & Jack Rhodes.
orange for fiction
“The first Penguin titles appeared at a time when the various roles of designer, art director and printer were not clearly differentiated. The basic horizontal tripartite division of the covers, as well as the penguin itself, were devised by Edward Young, who became the company’s first Production Manager. The colours used to indicate subject matter—initially just orange for fiction, green for crime, dark blue for biography, cerise for travel & adventure, red for plays—were an aspect of the design which far outlasted the original layout.”
—Phil Baines, from Penguin by Design: A Cover Story 1935-2005, 2005.
the Penguin name
“With the resonance that the Penguin name rapidly acquired, it is possible to believe that the word itself was a significant element in the success. It was apparently suggested by a secretary—Joan Coles–after various alternatives had been rejected, and Edward Young, then a 21-year-old office junior, was sent to the London Zoo to make sketches. He came back with the first version of the logo and the comment, ‘My God, how those birds stink!’ The design of the books—also by Young—was simple but striking, and a reaction to the decoration or illustrative whimsy found on many other books: three horizontal stripes, the upper and lower of which were colour-coded–orange for fiction, green for crime, dark blue for biography—and a central white panel containing author and title printed black in Eric Gill’s sans serif type. In the upper coloured panel was a cartouche . . . with the legend PENGUIN BOOKS, and in the lower panel the logo appeared. Although manufactured as paperbacks with printed covers, they came with printed dustjackets like a conventional hardback.”
—Phil Baines, from Penguin by Design: A Cover Story 1935-2005, 2005.
Half-Point Schmoller
“It was chiefly as a text designer that [Hans] Schmoller made his mark [at Penguin Books]. . . . It was a design based on sound principles and well-tried practices, although Schmoller, like [Jan] Tschichold before him, had to repeat the same insistent instructions about “optically even letterspacing” time after time. Schmoller gained a reputation for his fastidiousness and ability to notice minute variation of detail. He earned the nickname Half-Point Schmoller, ‘The only man who could distinguish between a Bembo full point and a Garamond full point at 200 paces’.”
—Phil Baines, from Penguin by Design: A Cover Story 1935-2005, 2005.
a continual weighing up of white and black
“The formal quality of everry piece of typography depends on the relationship between the printed and unprinted parts. To see only what is printed, to overlook the decisive contribution of the unprinted parts, is a sign of professional immaturity. The business of typography is a continual weighing up of white and black, which requires a thorough knowledge of the laws governing optical values.”
—Emil Ruder, from Typography as Communication and as Form, 1960; quoted in Swiss Graphic Design by Richard Hollis, 2006.