Description
Winner of the 2012 Fifty Books/Fifty Covers show, organized by Design Observer in association with AIGA and Designers & Books
Winner of the 2014 Type Directors Club Communication Design Award
Praise for Penguin Drop Caps:
“[Penguin Drop Caps] convey a sense of nostalgia for the tactility and aesthetic power of a physical book and for a centuries-old tradition of beautiful lettering.”—Fast Company
“Vibrant, minimalist new typographic covers…. Bonus points for the heartening gender balance of the initial selections.”—Maria Popova, Brain Pickings
“The Penguin Drop Caps series is a great example of the power of design. Why buy these particular classics when there are less expensive, even free editions of Great Expectations? Because they’re beautiful objects. Paul Buckley and Jessica Hische’s fresh approach to the literary classics reduces the design down to typography and color. Each cover is foil-stamped with a cleverly illustrated letterform that reveals an element of the story. Jane Austen’s A (Pride and Prejudice) is formed by opulent peacock feathers and Charlotte Bronte’s B (Jane Eyre) is surrounded by flames. The complete set forms a rainbow spectrum prettier than anything else on your bookshelf.”
—Rex Bonomelli, The New York Times
“Drool-inducing.”—Flavorwire
“Classic reads in stunning covers—your book club will be dying.”—Redbook
Collect the full set of Penguin Drop Caps from A-Z: a unique series of twenty-six hardcovers featuring cover art by type superstar Jessica Hische
It all begins with a letter. Fall in love with Penguin Drop Caps, a new series of twenty-six collectible and gift-worthy hardcover editions, each with a type cover showcasing a gorgeously illustrated letter of the alphabet by superstar type designer Jessica Hische, whose work has appeared everywhere from Tiffany & Co. to Wes Anderson’s film Moonrise Kingdom to Penguin’s own bestsellers Committed and Rules of Civility. A collaboration between Jessica Hische and Penguin Art Director Paul Buckley, the series design encompasses foil-stamped paper-over-board cases in a rainbow-hued spectrum across all twenty-six book spines and a decorative stain on all three paper edges. Penguin Drop Caps debuts with an “A” for Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice, a “B” for Charlotte Brontë’s Jane Eyre, and a “C” for Willa Cather’s My Ántonia, and continues with more classics from Penguin.
This set includes all twenty-six Penguin Drop Caps:
A: Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen,
B: Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë,
C: My Ántonia by Willa Cather,
D: Great Expectations by Charles Dickens,
E: Middlemarch by George Eliot,
F: Madame Bovary by Gustave Flaubert,
G: Lord of the Flies by William Golding,
H: Siddhartha by Herman Hesse,
I: An Artist of the Floating World by Kazuo Ishiguro,
J: A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man by James Joyce,
K: The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd,
L: Native Speaker by Chang-rae Lee,
M: Moby-Dick by Herman Melville,
N: Five Children and It by E. Nesbit,
O: Butterfield 8 by John O’Hara,
P: Swann’s Way by Marcel Proust,
Q: The Greek Coffin Mystery by Ellery Queen,
R: Haroun and the Sea of Stories by Salman Rushdie,
S: Cannery Row by John Steinbeck,
T: The Joy Luck Club by Amy Tan,
U: Kristin Lavransdatter: The Wreath by Sigrid Undset,
V: Candide by Voltaire, Leaves of Grass and Selected Poems and Prose by Walt Whitman,
X: Sky Burial by Xinran,
Y: When You Are Old: Early Poems and Fairy Tales by W. B. Yeats, and
Z: The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafón.
Winner of the 2012 Fifty Books/Fifty Covers show, organized by Design Observer in association with AIGA and Designers & Books
Winner of the 2014 Type Directors Club Communication Design Award
Praise for Penguin Drop Caps:
“[Penguin Drop Caps] convey a sense of nostalgia for the tactility and aesthetic power of a physical book and for a centuries-old tradition of beautiful lettering.”—Fast Company
“Vibrant, minimalist new typographic covers…. Bonus points for the heartening gender balance of the initial selections.”—Maria Popova, Brain Pickings
“The Penguin Drop Caps series is a great example of the power of design. Why buy these particular classics when there are less expensive, even free editions of Great Expectations? Because they’re beautiful objects. Paul Buckley and Jessica Hische’s fresh approach to the literary classics reduces the design down to typography and color. Each cover is foil-stamped with a cleverly illustrated letterform that reveals an element of the story. Jane Austen’s A (Pride and Prejudice) is formed by opulent peacock feathers and Charlotte Bronte’s B (Jane Eyre) is surrounded by flames. The complete set forms a rainbow spectrum prettier than anything else on your bookshelf.”
—Rex Bonomelli, The New York Times
“Drool-inducing.”—Flavorwire
“Classic reads in stunning covers—your book club will be dying.”—Redbook
