P. G. Wodehouse and Penguin and a bit about France, I guess.
June 29th, 2006About a month ago, I stopped into a used bookshop and bought a bunch of early editions of P.G. Wodehouse novels.
P.G. Wodehouse is a lot of fun to read. Essentially, they’re 1930s Hollywood screwball comedies in book form. I’ve only read three of his books, but I’m hooked. The best so far has been Leave it to Psmith; if I get around to writing a screenplay, it will be a contemporary adaptation of that book.
Jesus Christ, look at these early penguin covers!
I know I’m biased towards simple, crisp designs, but you have to admit it looks pretty cool—just three big, graphic stripes: orange, white, orange. And the lettering, set in Gill Sans, is wonderfully bracing and no-nonsense-y. The penguin is cute too.
Compare that edition to one printed nine years later in 1963.
Pretty crappy. A stupid cartoony illustration that undermines that crackling wit of the novels. Just a Drag, really. Set in Helvetica,
So it just goes to show you that simple design does not always mean great design—I mean, both these covers are simple, but only one rocks the house.
Maybe “rocks the house” is too strong here.
Have you ever been into a bookstore in France? The book covers look as though they haven’t changed since the 1910s. If I’m remembering right, most of the books in France—even the popular novels—have simple red lettering stamped onto a white or grey cover. And they look sort of dumpy.
June 30th, 2006 at 9:55 am
Wodehouse novels almost always have terrible covers… from the 70s on they were terrible fake-Deco affairs framing shitty cartoon characters. I got a recent one as a gift for a friend and it was actually quite nice… mostly muted colors and wallpapery prints. I can’t remember what was on the cover.
July 5th, 2006 at 8:06 pm
I got the font for the 60s cover wrong.
It’s set in Intertype Standard (a version of Akzidenz Grotesk).
Similar to Helvetica, but with some obvious differences that I should have picked up on. Pure carelessness, really.
July 24th, 2006 at 5:14 pm
Penquin is cute, I agree!!!
July 31st, 2006 at 5:06 pm
I read Jeeves and the Feudal Spirit a couple years ago and had the same thought about wanting to turn it into a screenplay. Maybe because I would never be able to write British humor accurately, so why not “adapt” (steal) it? Didn’t like the 90′s tv series that much though, Hugh Laurie was Bertie and was not even close to how I imagined him.
-Liz