Penguin hunters booking in to collect some classic reads

Published on Thursday 2 October 2008 09:55

A NEW set of penguin hunters will invade Edinburgh this weekend but they are unlikely to trouble the zoo's most famous inhabitants.

Instead, the city is the setting for the annual meeting of collectors of Penguin books.

Up to 500 enthusiasts from across the UK and Europe are expected to attend the event.

In addition, one of the city's secondhand bookshops has dedicated a window display to Penguin books to boost interest.

The purpose of the event is to celebrate the heritage of one of the world's best known publishers, as well as exchange research and information on rare collections and historical facts. Penguin classics can change hands for hundreds of pounds and it has been known in the past for collectors to travel across the world just to get their hands on one book.

David Franks, 65, an Oxfam volunteer, has a collection of more than 2500 Penguin books in his Liberton home and helped bring the seminar – which will take place in Edinburgh University's Pollock Halls – to the city.

He said: "The event is open to the public and there will be other points of interest aside from the AGM. The most sought-after books are usually the crime novels with their distinctive green covers – they can fetch as much as 400.

"There is also keen competition to collect all the books in the numbered series which runs up to 1000."

Of his 2500 Penguins, many are first editions. Like other dedicated collectors, he is attempting to collect the first 1000 of the numbered series of the books, which include works by Agatha Christie, and are very rare. Mr Franks has acquired 968 of them, and is desperate to get his hands on the remaining 32.

He added: "The most valuable are the ones I don't have, including the only Biggles book released on Penguin.

"That would be worth 400, and a lot of the crime ones I have are worth about that.

"You often meet people who say they had a load of old Penguin books in their attic but chucked them out.

"Some are very rare indeed and you often just have to wait until they appear on the market."

There is huge interest across the world in collecting the series of paperback, affordable books, launched in 1935, as well as the spin-off Puffin and Pelican imprints.

Founded by Allen Lane, the books made their name during the Second World War and have continued to be popular ever since.

Manager of the Oxfam bookshop on the Royal Mile, Neil Johnston, said staff were hoping to cash in on the influx of Penguin fans and generate interest in the books at the same time. He added that Mr Franks has volunteered to provided much-needed expertise to the fundraising drive.

He said: "We've set aside a window and were sent a whole load of stuff by Penguin to help with it.

"We know many book collectors regularly buy from Oxfam – combining their hobby with helping to support some of the poorest people on the planet."

QUALITY WRITING FOR PRICE OF PACK OF FAGS

PENGUIN Books was founded in 1935 by Allen Lane.

His idea was to provide quality writing cheaply, for the same price as a pack of cigarettes.

Lane also wanted his books to be sold not only in bookshops but in railway stations, general stores and corner shops. The first Penguin paperbacks were published in 1935 and a year later one million had rolled off the printing presses.

The classic book cover design was created by the then 21-one-year-old office junior Edward Young, who also drew the first version of the Penguin logo. There were different colour covers for different genres.