Donald and Katharine Foley Collection of Penguin Books, 1935-1965
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http://oac.cdlib.org/findaid/ark:/13030/kt096n97b6 No online items Guide to the Donald and Katharine Foley Collection of Penguin Books, 1935-1965 Processed by The Bancroft Library staff The Bancroft Library. University of California, Berkeley Berkeley, California, 94720-6000 Phone: (510) 642-6481 Fax: (510) 642-7589 Email: [email protected] URL: http://bancroft.berkeley.edu © 1998 The Regents of the University of California. All rights reserved. Guide to the Donald and A26 1 Katharine Foley Collection of Penguin Books, 1935-19... Guide to the Donald and Katharine Foley Collection of Penguin Books, 1935-1965 A26 The Bancroft Library University of California, Berkeley Berkeley, California Contact Information: The Bancroft Library. University of California, Berkeley Berkeley, California, 94720-6000 Phone: (510) 642-6481 Fax: (510) 642-7589 Email: [email protected] URL: http://bancroft.berkeley.edu Processed by: The Bancroft Library staff Date Completed: June 1998 Encoded by: Gabriela A. Montoya; revised by Jeanne Gahagan © 1998 The Regents of the University of California. All rights reserved. Collection Summary Collection Title: Donald and Katharine Foley Collection of Penguin Books Date (inclusive): 1935-1965 Collection Number: A26 Collector: Foley, Donald L. and Foley, Katharine Extent: circa 2,500 vols. Repository: The Bancroft Library Berkeley, California 94720-6000 Physical Location: Many of the Bancroft Library collections are stored offsite and advance notice may be required for use. For current information on the location of these materials, please consult the library's online catalog. Abstract: Includes more than 2,550 Penguin books published from 1935 through 1965, as well as about 175 reference items–books, serials, catalogs, and articles. Languages Represented: English Access Collection is open for research. Publication Rights Guide to the Donald and A26 2 Katharine Foley Collection of Penguin Books, 1935-19... Materials in these collections may be protected by the U.S. Copyright Law (Title 17, U.S.C.). In addition, the reproduction of some materials may be restricted by terms of University of California gift or purchase agreements, donor restrictions, privacy and publicity rights, licensing and trademarks. Transmission or reproduction of materials protected by copyright beyond that allowed by fair use requires the written permission of the copyright owners. Works not in the public domain cannot be commercially exploited without permission of the copyright owner. Responsibility for any use rests exclusively with the user. All requests to reproduce, publish, quote from, or otherwise use collection materials must be submitted in writing to the Head of Public Services, The Bancroft Library, University of California, Berkeley 94720-6000. See: http://bancroft.berkeley.edu/reference/permissions.html . Preferred Citation [Identification of item], Donald and Katharine Foley Collection of Penguin Books, 1935-1965, A26, The Bancroft Library, University of California, Berkeley. Related Material Title: Donald Foley Penguin Books Collector's File Identifier/Call Number: BANC MSS 99/45 z . Title: Donald and Katharine Foley Collection of Penguin Books, post 1965 Identifier/Call Number: A27 Indexing Terms The following terms have been used to index the description of this collection in the library's online public access catalog. Penguin (Firm) Penguin books (Series) Books Catalogs Acquisition Information This collection is donated to the Bancroft Library by Donald and Katharine Foley in memory of their son, William Ross Foley. Scope and Content of the Collection Includes more than 2,550 Penguin books published from 1935 through 1965, listed in the Container List below. Also includes about 175 reference items–books, serials, catalogs, and articles. This finding aid includes two essays about Penguin publishing and contents of the collection. Seven appended tables summarize Penguin series, list, index the reference items, and show design sequences and variations. by Donald L. Foley September 1998 The Classic Period: 1935-1965 Penguin Books as a publishing firm was the brainchild of Allen Lane, who in 1935 was the Managing Director of The Bodley Head. The Bodley Head was a reputable publishing house, well known in the 1890s for its avant-garde publishing of Oscar Wilde, Aubrey Beardsley, et al. Lane, faced with slumping sales and a serious financial squeeze was familiar with successful paperback publishing on the Continent (notably Tauchnitz Books and the attractive, color-coded Albatross Books). He dreamed up the idea of carefully-selected, well-designed, low-priced paperbacks for British readers and, as it turned out, for export to the world. The first 10 books were issued in July 1935 and were immediately successful, despite dire prophecies by others and considerable resistance by some hardback publishers. Groups of 10 followed every three months or so. Lane was joined by two of his brothers, Richard and John, and a small staff. By the end of 1936 The Bodley Head was in danger of bankruptcy. Therefore, Lane converted Penguin Books to a personal venture to avoid its being caught by creditors. In 1937 two significant series were added: Pelican Books (non-fiction titles) and Penguin and Pelican Specials (devoted mainly to current issues, and especially the rising threat of fascism in Spain, Germany and Italy). Other series followed. By the outbreak of World War II in September 1939, Penguin was well established. Its large paper usage entitled it to a sufficiently large paper ration, which put it in the forefront of paperback publishing during the war. This led to special series and arrangements for getting books to the troops. Other series aimed at providing the civilian population recreational and educational reading matter were ambitiously added or beefed up. Penguin Books was hard hit by the loss of key senior personnel to military service and had its new quarters west of London commandeered by the Air Force. But the firm managed to maintain a remarkable wartime output. This, in turn, fed back to the benefit of sales after the War, since so many new readers had become exposed to and often addicted to Penguins during these momentous years. Guide to the Donald and A26 3 Katharine Foley Collection of Penguin Books, 1935-19... The post-war period naturally saw fresh expansion. The number of first editions increased as well. Several influential series prospered. Pivotal to these series were a group of notable senior managers/editors, some of whom are briefly identified here: Allen Lane. The dominant entrepreneurial director until his death in 1970. Lacking a university education, Lane had a feel for what would sell and had a knack for hiring able lieutenants. In later years in particular he would let most of the decisions be made by his senior staff and would often be absent for extended periods. But he kept his finger on critical developments and dominated the broad policies by which the firm operated. In the end he became a very wealthy man, but in earlier years he and his brothers scrambled to stay solvent. Richard and John Lane. These two younger brothers were vital managers in the 1930s. Richard functioned as a sort of finance officer. He served as a naval officer in WWII. In 1955 he took over the Penguin operation in Australia. In the 1960s he sold his shares in Penguin to Allen and pulled out of further management. John, the youngest brother, specialized in sales and exports. He, too, was a naval officer who was killed during the North African landings. William Emrys Williams. Became a close friend of Allen's. Served as advising editor for the Pelican series. With key government posts, Williams engineered several wartime arrangements for books for servicemen. Williams retired as editor-in-chief in 1965. Eunice Frost. From a sort of office manager she evolved into the fiction editor and handled a wide range of editorial matters relating to various series. A. S. B. Glover. With an encyclopedic mind, Glover became the overall fact-checking editor. There are many anecdotes about his queries to authors on matters presumably within the authors' competencies--with Glover proving to be right. John Lehmann. Lehmann had been involved in a variety of roles before agreeing to edit Penguin New Writing series in 1940. He had been manager of the Hogarth Press, had edited earlier versions of New Writing, and had wide literary connections. The 40th and last issue was published in 1950. E. V. Rieu. Rieu became the long-time editor of the Penguin Classics series, featuring fresh translations. Rieu himself translated the first title in the series, The Odyssey, which has reportedly sold 3 million copies at last count. Nikolaus Pevsner. Pevsner served as the indefatigable editor of three Penguin series. In 1943 he picked up the editorship of the King Penguin series after Elizabeth Senior was killed in a London bombing. In 1951 his first volume in the Buildings of England series was published. There were to follow 45 volumes, the last in 1974, almost all of which were in fact written by Pevsner. It was a prodigious feat of field work/scholarship/writing. In 1953 he launched the Pelican History of Art series, a distinguished hard-cover series somewhat unusual for Penguin. The series continued until 1992 when it was taken over by the Yale University Press. Eleanor Graham and Kaye Webb. These two women edited the Puffin Story Books, Graham from 1941 to 1961 and Webb from 1961 to 1979. Webb in particular was responsible for rejuvenating the series and promoting the Puffin Book Club among young readers. Tony Godwin. A highly successful bookseller, Godwin joined the senior editorial group in 1960 with a focus on strengthening Penguin's contemporary fiction offerings. He was responsible for establishing the Penguin Modern Classics subseries in 1961 and The English Library series in 1965. After differences with Lane, he was fired in 1967. The wide publishing scope and the attempts by new senior staff to update editorial and design policies inevitably led to considerable internal differences and friction.