Hotel Splendide

Hotel Splendide, 1948

Published by Penguin Books, from Postcards From Penguin: 100 Book Jackets in One Box

Postmarked Jubilee Mail Centre 16th July 2015, from Peter Gill

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A thank you postcard that I received last week after arranging some theatre tickets for the sender recently (in my day job that’s what I do). This is one of the 100 postcards available in the boxed set from Penguin which feature classic covers from their archive. The Penguin paperback is a design classic; based on an original and simple design by Edward Young from the 1930s this edition falls under the late 1940s redesign by Jan Tschichold. The bold horizontal blocks, “Penguin Books” lozenge and dancing penguin, however, were all Young’s and this economic design was intended to stand out from the illustrated covers of their rivals. The colour is meaningful too; there were three used to denote biography (blue), fiction (orange) and crime (green).

The postcard is from Peter Gill, himself a literary great, with over 20 published plays and adaptations as well as his successes as theatre director. His work has played internationally and his influence extends beyond the page too, with tenures as associate and/or artistic directorships at the Royal Court and the National Theatre. Apart from all of this this, he’s also a lovely chap.