Penguin 75

Some days ago we mentioned the celebrations of the Penguin 75th anniversary. They have made a selection of 75 Penguin books and there's a Brontë and something else:

#4 - Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë
For 50 of its 75 years, I have been relying on Penguin Classics, first as a suburban schoolgirl hungry for the literature of a wider world, then later as a teacher and a Brontë scholar. My Penguin copy of The Life of Charlotte Brontë is almost illegibly dense with notes, but the paper has held up and so has the quality of the edition. Now that a new generation has discovered the pleasures of electronic reading, Penguin has tuned in to its needs. I was thrilled when Elda Rotor invited me to edit an enriched e-book of Wuthering Heights and even more delighted to realize that this series would add a twenty-first century sparkle to the classics I love. So Happy Anniversary to You, dear Penguin, and may you continue to move with the times for at least another century.
—Sue Lonoff, Features Editor of the Penguin Enriched eBook Classic edition of Wuthering Heights

An iconic novel dressed in a fierce design by acclaimed fashion illustrator Ruben Toledo.
Ruben Toledo’s breathtaking drawings have appeared in such high-fashion magazines as Vogue, Harper’s Bazaar, and Visionaire. Now he’s turning his talented hand to illustrating the gorgeous deluxe editions of three of the most beloved novels in literature. Here Elizabeth Bennet’s rejection of Mr. Darcy, Hester Prynne’s fateful letter “A”, and Catherine Earnshaw’s wanderings on the Yorkshire moors are transformed into witty and surreal landscapes to appeal to the novels’ aficionados and the most discerning designer’s eyes.

#54 - The Eyre Affair by Jasper Fforde

They said it would never be published. A book that contained a frothy mix of highbrow and lowbrow; of Jane Eyre, Time Travel and Dickens; vampires, Shakespeare, alternative histories and werewolves. It was too odd, they said, too different. Not to Molly Stern and her team at Penguin, who guided mishmash kingpin The Eyre Affair from obscurity to NYT hardback bestseller list in March 2001.
But that's Penguin all over. Supportive of innovation and possessed of a keen sense of the reader Zeitgeist, it is to Penguin's foresight and continued support that I owe my success.
Thank you Penguin.
—Jasper Fforde

Precisely Ruben Toledo's cover for Wuthering Heights is also featured in Penguin 75:

Penguin 75
Designers, Authors, Commentary (the Good, the Bad . . .)
- Editor and IntroductionPaul Buckley
- Foreword by Chris Ware
ISBN 9780143117629
6 Jul 2010

A unique exploration into the subtle art of the book cover

High standards in art and design have always been part of Penguin's publishing program. Now, on the occasion of Penguin's 75th anniversary, longtime art director Paul Buckley has chosen seventy-five covers that represent the best of what Penguin has produced over the course of the last decade. Giving readers a rare behind-thescenes glimpse into the complex creation of a book's cover, Penguin 75 includes comments from authors, agents, and editors, as well as the designers and artists themselves. This witty and irreverent journey into the book world will appeal to lovers of art, design, and, of course, books.

With Contributions By:
Paul Auster * Tara McPherson * Daniel Clowes * David Byrne * Elizabeth Gilbert * Joe Sacco * Tana French * T.C. Boyle * Seth * Tom Gauld * William T. Vollmann * Art Spiegelman * Kim Edwards * Melissa Bank * Ruben Toledo * Tomer Hanuka * Jamie Keenan * Roz Chast * Garrison Keillor * Yoshihiro Tatsumi * Sam Weber * Paul Sahre * Tony Millionaire * Nicholas Blechman * Jon Gray and many others!

EDIT: The cover of the Penguin De Luxe Three Novels: Jane Eyre; Wuthering Heights; and Agnes Grey is also featured. From Creative Review:

Roseanne Serra, Art Director:

When dealing with our more special Penguin Classics, we are always thinking of how to create a special package. It has to be gorgeous, gifty, something you just have to have for its sheer beauty. I worked with Kelly Blair on Jane Austen: The Complete Novels. I wanted a gorgeous period piece that was also contemporary. In the end, the black silhouette of the tree gave the cover that darkness it needed without being depressing and took a traditional old painting and gave it new life.

Kelly Blair, Designer:

For me, this was one of those magic jobs where everyone was in agreement right from the beginning. This cover is one of the first ideas I sent in to Roseanne, and it was decided upon very quickly. It was my favourite as well. I love that the full cover speaks to the three authors as well as the mood and place of the novels. I look forward to hearing how the Brontë sisters feel about the cover.

Juliette Wells, Ph.D., Associate Professor of English, Manhattan College:

Three sisters, each prodigiously talented but far from conventionally beautiful, are screened from the public world by pen names. Isolated together, they create works of fierce imagination side by side, in a gloomy house abutting the natural world, where they found solace and inspiration. Their originality is acclaimed and despised in equal measure by their contemporaries, who feared such passion in young women. Knowing how soon the shadow of death would fall on them all, who would not prefer to imagine the sisters as portrayed here: a trio of lovely women whose gaze speaks of genius. (Mark Sinclair)

Categories: Books, Wuthering Heights