Penguin is reissuing 36 recent bestsellers in the classic Penguin paperback look to mark its Publisher of the Year win at the British Book Awards, according to the Bookseller‘s Alison Flood. Its initial print run for the series totals 815,000 copies. The “Penguin Celebrations” titles, ranging from Pat Barker‘s REGENERATION to Donna Tartt‘s THE SECRET HISTORY to Meg Rosoff‘s HOW I LIVE NOW, will be published on 6th September in six of the classic Penguin designs given “a modern reworking” by Penguin Press art director Jim Stoddart. They are slightly larger than the original Penguin pocket size in B format, and all books are priced at £7.99.
“We wanted to celebrate being Publisher of the Year, not just through marketing but also through our publishing,” said publishing director Tony Lacey. He said the look had “a hint of retro as well as being chic” and added that the pricing point was a “homage” to the original Penguin principle of a uniform paperback pricepoint of sixpence (though the percent difference between then and now is rather staggering…)