Classic Penguin Cover to Cover by Paul Buckley is a lovely book – the proverbial feast for the eyes if you’re interested in book cover art. I had no idea that this book had been published, I was just lucky to spot it on display in the library. If you want to look inside it click here.

If you’re at all interested in art and design you’ll find this an interesting read, apart from the book cover designs each one is accompanied by an explanation from the artist on how they got the commission and how they had developed the design.

When I think of Penguin books I invariably have a vision of the classic orange or green Penguin editions and I hadn’t really thought about any others. That’s daft because I’ve bought plenty of Penguin classics over the years from the 1970s onwards that aren’t in the orange and white covers.

Having seen some gorgeous covers in this book I think I might just have to take a closer look at modern Penguins in bookshops, although I bought this George Orwell book of essays a few weeks ago and it doesn’t feature in this collection which is a shame because I think it’s a great design. The cover is a detail from a poster by Clive Gardiner for the Empire Marketing Board, 1928

Do you have a favourite Penguin design?