Surrounded by Books

5531526813_0277e09656_zPenguin Books. Just looking at these brightly bound classic paperbacks brings on a sensory overload. I smell the old paper, mingled with sun and sand, and I see the light filtering through the windows of the tiny library on the Floridian Island where we used to visit my grandparents. If I close my eyes, I can even feel the air in that little library. There is something about these little Penguin books that stir up memories in all of us – feelings that you want to surround yourself with as often as one can.

Screen Shot 2013-05-15 at 9.55.12 AMPenguin Books published its first ten paperbacks in 1935. For the first time, classic titles were available to the public for the price of a pack of cigarettes. No longer did reading require a library card – you could now buy your books at the newsstand. In this respect, Penguin Books stood out from its other publishing house counterparts with their expensive, overly decorative hardcover books. The famous paperback covers were designed by Edward Young, a 21 year old office junior, who would later go on to become Penguin Books’ Production Manager. Fun fact: the different colors on the covers have significance; orange is fiction, blue is for biographies, green is for crime novels, and so on.

Screen Shot 2013-05-15 at 10.06.00 AMWallpaper! Now you don’t even have to go to a bookshop or a library to get that Penguin Books sensory overload. This Spring, Osborne & Little, Britain’s premier wallpaper and fabric house, has released Penguin Library wallpaper. Featuring tons of different classic titles, such as Wuthering Heights and others, now you have the ability to surround yourself with these classic books in any room of your home.

grey upholstered chair on a penguin book wallpaper backgroundLike a Pantone color chart, these books breathe life into any space they are assembled in. And what a cocktail party conversation they would make! I can imagine having a few drinks and wandering around the room looking at the titles. Might also be wonderful in a kids play room – it might encourage your children to read! I wish I had a place for this wallpaper, because I think it is absolutely wonderful, don’t you?

Photos courtesy of Osborne & Little & Stephen Small on Flickr 

 

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