Penguin Essentials (also called Essential Penguins) refers to two series of books published by Penguin Books in the UK. The first series began in 1998, and the second in 2011.[1][2] For both series, the classic books were released in smaller A-format size; the covers were redesigned by contemporary artists to appeal to a new generation of readers.[3] Many titles appeared in both series.[4]

2011 series edit

# Title Author Pages Release date
1 Goodbye to All That Robert Graves 368 7 April 2011[5]
2 Out of Africa Karen Blixen 336 7 April 2011[6]
3 A Clockwork Orange Anthony Burgess 144 7 April 2011[7]
4 Breakfast at Tiffany's Truman Capote 176 7 April 2011[8]
5 My Family and Other Animals Gerald Durrell 320 7 April 2011[9]
6 The Great Gatsby F. Scott Fitzgerald 208 7 April 2011[10]
7 A Room with a View E. M. Forster 224 7 April 2011[11]
8 Cold Comfort Farm Stella Gibbons 240 7 April 2011[12]
9 Steppenwolf Hermann Hesse 256 7 April 2011[13]
10 On the Road Jack Kerouac 288 7 April 2011[14]
11 Lady Chatterley's Lover D. H. Lawrence 320 7 April 2011[15]
12 Wide Sargasso Sea Jean Rhys 160 7 April 2011[16]
13 Bonjour Tristesse Françoise Sagan 112 7 April 2011[17]
14 Hell's Angels Hunter S. Thompson 336 7 April 2011[18]
15 A Confederacy of Dunces John Kennedy Toole 416 7 April 2011[19]
16 Cat's Cradle Kurt Vonnegut 224 7 April 2011[20]
17 Brideshead Revisited Evelyn Waugh 432 7 April 2011[21]
18 Lolita Vladimir Nabokov 368 7 April 2011[22]
19 Eva Luna Isabel Allende 304 7 April 2011[23]
20 The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie Muriel Spark 128 5 April 2012[24]
21 Junky William S. Burroughs 144 5 April 2012[25]
22 Mrs Dalloway Virginia Woolf 208 5 April 2012[26]
23 Heart of Darkness Joseph Conrad 112 5 April 2012[27]
24 The Periodic Table Primo Levi 208 5 April 2012[28]
25 Three Men in a Boat Jerome K. Jerome 176 5 April 2012[29]
26 In Cold Blood Truman Capote 352 5 April 2012[30]
27 Lucky Jim Kingsley Amis 272 5 April 2012[31]
28 Dubliners James Joyce 256 5 April 2012[32]
29 The Diary of a Nobody George Grossmith and Weedon Grossmith 240 5 April 2012[33]
30 The Thin Man Dashiell Hammett 240 5 April 2012[34]
...
33 A Month in the Country J. L. Carr 112 14 August 2014[35]
34 The Man in the High Castle Philip K. Dick 256 14 August 2014[36]
...
36 Tender is the Night F. Scott Fitzgerald 336 14 August 2014[37]
37 A Handful of Dust Evelyn Waugh 288 14 August 2014[38]
38 Invisible Man Ralph Ellison 608 14 August 2014[39]
39 The Day of the Triffids John Wyndham 240 14 August 2014[40]
40 An Ice-Cream War William Boyd 416 14 August 2014[41]
41 Regeneration Pat Barker 352 14 August 2014[42]
42 The Big Sleep Raymond Chandler 256 14 August 2014[43]
43 I'm the King of the Castle Susan Hill 208 14 August 2014[44]
44 Perfume Patrick Süskind 272 6 August 2015[45]
45 In the Country of Men Hisham Matar 256 6 August 2015[46]
46 The History of Love Nicole Krauss 272 6 August 2015[47]
47 A Passage to India E. M. Forster 304 6 August 2015[48]
48 Billy Liar Keith Waterhouse 176 6 August 2015[49]
49 The Mosquito Coast Paul Theroux 384 6 August 2015[50]
50 Hideous Kinky Esther Freud 192 6 August 2015[51]
51 Asylum Patrick McGrath 272 6 August 2015[52]
52 Moon Tiger Penelope Lively 224 6 August 2015[53]
53 Foe J. M. Coetzee 160 6 August 2015[54]
...
55 Everything Is Illuminated Jonathan Safran Foer 288 4 August 2016[55]
56 The Help Kathryn Stockett 464 4 August 2016[56]
57 What a Carve Up! Jonathan Coe 512 4 August 2016[57]
58 Love in the Time of Cholera Gabriel García Márquez 368 4 August 2016[58]
59 The Lady in the Lake Raymond Chandler 288 4 August 2016[59]
60 Embers Sandor Marai 256 4 August 2016[60]
61 The Spy Who Came in from the Cold John le Carré 288 4 August 2016[61]
62 A Kestrel for a Knave Barry Hines 176 4 August 2016[62]
63 How Many Miles to Babylon? Jennifer Johnston 160 4 August 2016[63]
64 The Millstone Margaret Drabble 176 4 August 2016[64]
65 Are You Experienced? William Sutcliffe 256 1 June 2017[65]
66 High Fidelity Nick Hornby 256 1 June 2017[66]
67 The Circle Dave Eggers 512 1 June 2017[67]
68 The Reluctant Fundamentalist Mohsin Hamid 224 1 June 2017[68]
69 White Teeth Zadie Smith 560 1 June 2017[69]
70 The Road To Lichfield Penelope Lively 176 1 June 2017[70]
71 A Short History of Tractors in Ukrainian Marina Lewycka 336 1 June 2017[71]
72 Any Human Heart William Boyd 512 1 June 2017[72]
73 A Start in Life Anita Brookner 176 1 June 2017[73]
74 Twilight Elie Wiesel 224 1 June 2017[74]
75 Brooklyn Colm Tóibín 272 7 June 2018[75]
76 Villages John Updike 336 7 June 2018[76]
77 Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close Jonathan Safran Foer 368 7 June 2018[77]
78 The Chrysalids John Wyndham 208 7 June 2018[78]
79 Age of Iron J. M. Coetzee 208 7 June 2018[79]
80 The Hound of the Baskervilles Arthur Conan Doyle 224 7 June 2018[80]
81 Austerlitz W. G. Sebald 448 7 June 2018[81]
82 3 Novels by César Aira César Aira 336 7 June 2018[82]
83 Libra Don DeLillo 464 7 June 2018[83]
...
85 The Pursuit of Love Nancy Mitford 224 7 June 2018[84]
...
106 Swallowing Geography Deborah Levy 96 6 June 2019[85]
107 The Bastard of Istanbul Elif Shafak 368 6 June 2019[86]
108 Submarine Joe Dunthorne 304 6 June 2019[87]
109 Ancient Light John Banville 256 6 June 2019[88]
110 The Rotters' Club Jonathan Coe 416 6 June 2019[89]
111 The Photograph Penelope Lively 204 6 June 2019[90]
112 Life Class Pat Barker 256 6 June 2019[91]
113 Beautiful Ruins Jess Walter 368 6 June 2019[92]
114 A Spell of Winter Helen Dunmore 320 6 June 2019[93]
115 The Case-Book of Sherlock Holmes Arthur Conan Doyle 320 6 June 2019[94]
...
Notes on a Scandal Zoë Heller 256 23 July 2020[95]
Honour Elif Shafak 352 23 July 2020[96]
The Accidental Ali Smith 320 23 July 2020[97]
On Beauty Zadie Smith 464 23 July 2020[98]
Love and Summer William Trevor 224 23 July 2020[99]
...
117 The Wanting Seed Anthony Burgess 208 18 May 2023[100]
118 Hotel du Lac Anita Brookner 192 18 May 2023[101]
119 Mr Loverman Bernardine Evaristo 320 18 May 2023[102]
120 The Forty Rules of Love Elif Shafak 368 18 May 2023[103]
121 The Rain Before it Falls Jonathan Coe 288 18 May 2023[104]
122 The Girls' Guide to Hunting and Fishing Melissa Bank 304 18 May 2023[105]

See also edit

References edit

  1. ^ Hamilton, John (8 January 2018). "20 Years of Penguin Essentials: How artists reimagined the book covers". The Independent. Retrieved 20 March 2019.
  2. ^ "Penguin Essentials". Penguin Books. Retrieved 6 June 2016.
  3. ^ Bravery, Richard (30 March 2011). "A fresh approach to cover design". the penguin blog. Archived from the original on 9 July 2013. Retrieved 8 June 2016.
  4. ^ "Essential Penguin Essentials". Caustic Cover Critic. 25 December 2010. Retrieved 20 March 2019.
  5. ^ "Goodbye to All That". Penguin Books. Retrieved 15 March 2019.
  6. ^ "Out of Africa". Penguin Books. Retrieved 15 March 2019.
  7. ^ "A Clockwork Orange". Penguin Books. Retrieved 15 March 2019.
  8. ^ "Breakfast at Tiffany's". Penguin Books. Retrieved 15 March 2019.
  9. ^ "My Family and Other Animals". Penguin Books. Retrieved 15 March 2019.
  10. ^ "The Great Gatsby". Penguin Books. Retrieved 15 March 2019.
  11. ^ "A Room with a View". Penguin Books. Retrieved 15 March 2019.
  12. ^ "Cold Comfort Farm". Penguin Books. Retrieved 15 March 2019.
  13. ^ "Steppenwolf". Penguin Books. Retrieved 15 March 2019.
  14. ^ "On the Road". Penguin Books. Retrieved 15 March 2019.
  15. ^ "Lady Chatterley's Lover". Penguin Books. Retrieved 15 March 2019.
  16. ^ "Wide Sargasso Sea". Penguin Books. Retrieved 15 March 2019.
  17. ^ "Bonjour Tristesse". Penguin Books. Retrieved 15 March 2019.
  18. ^ "Hell's Angels". Penguin Books. Retrieved 15 March 2019.
  19. ^ "A Confederacy of Dunces". Penguin Books. Retrieved 15 March 2019.
  20. ^ "Cat's Cradle". Penguin Books. Retrieved 15 March 2019.
  21. ^ "Brideshead Revisited". Penguin Books. Retrieved 15 March 2019.
  22. ^ "Lolita". Penguin Books. Retrieved 15 March 2019.
  23. ^ "Eva Luna". Penguin Books. Retrieved 15 March 2019.
  24. ^ "The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie". Penguin Books. Retrieved 15 March 2019.
  25. ^ "Junky". Penguin Books. Retrieved 15 March 2019.
  26. ^ "Mrs Dalloway". Penguin Books. Retrieved 15 March 2019.
  27. ^ "Heart of Darkness". Penguin Books. Retrieved 15 March 2019.
  28. ^ "The Periodic Table". Penguin Books. Retrieved 15 March 2019.
  29. ^ "Three Men in a Boat". Penguin Books. Retrieved 15 March 2019.
  30. ^ "In Cold Blood". Penguin Books. Retrieved 15 March 2019.
  31. ^ "Lucky Jim". Penguin Books. Retrieved 15 March 2019.
  32. ^ "Dubliners". Penguin Books. Retrieved 15 March 2019.
  33. ^ "The Diary of a Nobody". Penguin Books. Retrieved 15 March 2019.
  34. ^ "The Thin Man". Penguin Books. Retrieved 15 March 2019.
  35. ^ "A Month in the Country". Penguin Books. Retrieved 15 March 2019.
  36. ^ "The Man in the High Castle". Penguin Books. Retrieved 15 March 2019.
  37. ^ "Tender is the Night". Penguin Books. Retrieved 15 March 2019.
  38. ^ "A Handful of Dust". Penguin Books. Retrieved 15 March 2019.
  39. ^ "Invisible Man". Penguin Books. Retrieved 15 March 2019.
  40. ^ "The Day of the Triffids". Penguin Books. Retrieved 15 March 2019.
  41. ^ "An Ice-Cream War". Penguin Books. Retrieved 15 March 2019.
  42. ^ "Regeneration". Penguin Books. Retrieved 15 March 2019.
  43. ^ "The Big Sleep". Penguin Books. Retrieved 15 March 2019.
  44. ^ "I'm the King of the Castle". Penguin Books. Retrieved 15 March 2019.
  45. ^ "Perfume". Penguin Books. Retrieved 15 March 2019.
  46. ^ "In the Country of Men". Penguin Books. Retrieved 15 March 2019.
  47. ^ "The History of Love". Penguin Books. Retrieved 15 March 2019.
  48. ^ "A Passage to India". Penguin Books. Retrieved 15 March 2019.
  49. ^ "Billy Liar". Penguin Books. Retrieved 15 March 2019.
  50. ^ "The Mosquito Coast". Penguin Books. Retrieved 15 March 2019.
  51. ^ "Hideous Kinky". Penguin Books. Retrieved 15 March 2019.
  52. ^ "Asylum". Penguin Books. Retrieved 15 March 2019.
  53. ^ "Moon Tiger". Penguin Books. Retrieved 15 March 2019.
  54. ^ "Foe". Penguin Books. Retrieved 15 March 2019.
  55. ^ "Everything is Illuminated". Penguin Books. Retrieved 15 March 2019.
  56. ^ "The Help". Penguin Books. Retrieved 15 March 2019.
  57. ^ "What a Carve Up!". Penguin Books. Retrieved 15 March 2019.
  58. ^ "Love in the Time of Cholera". Penguin Books. Retrieved 15 March 2019.
  59. ^ "The Lady in the Lake". Penguin Books. Retrieved 27 September 2016.
  60. ^ "Embers". Penguin Books. Retrieved 15 March 2019.
  61. ^ "The Spy Who Came in from the Cold". Penguin Books. Retrieved 15 March 2019.
  62. ^ "A Kestrel for a Knave". Penguin Books. Retrieved 15 March 2019.
  63. ^ "How Many Miles to Babylon?". Penguin Books. Retrieved 15 March 2019.
  64. ^ "The Millstone". Penguin Books. Retrieved 15 March 2019.
  65. ^ "Are You Experienced?". Penguin Books. Retrieved 15 March 2019.
  66. ^ "High Fidelity". Penguin Books. Retrieved 15 March 2019.
  67. ^ "The Circle". Penguin Books. Retrieved 15 March 2019.
  68. ^ "The Reluctant Fundamentalist". Penguin Books. Retrieved 15 March 2019.
  69. ^ "White Teeth". Penguin Books. Retrieved 15 March 2019.
  70. ^ "The Road To Lichfield". Penguin Books. Retrieved 15 March 2019.
  71. ^ "A Short History of Tractors in Ukrainian". Penguin Books. Retrieved 15 March 2019.
  72. ^ "Any Human Heart". Penguin Books. Retrieved 15 March 2019.
  73. ^ "A Start in Life". Penguin Books. Retrieved 15 March 2019.
  74. ^ "Twilight". Penguin Books. Retrieved 15 March 2019.
  75. ^ "Brooklyn". Penguin Books. Retrieved 15 March 2019.
  76. ^ "Villages". Penguin Books. Retrieved 15 March 2019.
  77. ^ "Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close". Penguin Books. Retrieved 15 March 2019.
  78. ^ "The Chrysalids". Penguin Books. Retrieved 15 March 2019.
  79. ^ "Age of Iron". Penguin Books. Retrieved 15 March 2019.
  80. ^ "The Hound of the Baskervilles". Penguin Books. Retrieved 15 March 2019.
  81. ^ "Austerlitz". Penguin Books. Retrieved 15 March 2019.
  82. ^ "Three Novels by César Aira". Penguin Books. Retrieved 15 March 2019.
  83. ^ "Libra". Penguin Books. Retrieved 15 March 2019.
  84. ^ "The Pursuit of Love". Penguin Books. Retrieved 15 March 2019.
  85. ^ "Swallowing Geography". Penguin Books. Retrieved 15 March 2019.
  86. ^ "The Bastard of Istanbul". Penguin Books. Retrieved 15 March 2019.
  87. ^ "Submarine". Penguin Books. Retrieved 15 March 2019.
  88. ^ "Ancient Light". Penguin Books. Retrieved 15 March 2019.
  89. ^ "The Rotters' Club". Penguin Books. Retrieved 15 March 2019.
  90. ^ "The Photograph". Penguin Books. Retrieved 15 March 2019.
  91. ^ "Life Class". Penguin Books. Retrieved 15 March 2019.
  92. ^ "Beautiful Ruins". Penguin Books. Retrieved 15 March 2019.
  93. ^ "A Spell of Winter". Penguin Books. Retrieved 15 March 2019.
  94. ^ "The Case-Book of Sherlock Holmes". Penguin Books. Retrieved 15 March 2019.
  95. ^ "Notes on a Scandal". Penguin Books. Retrieved 2 April 2020.
  96. ^ "Honour". Penguin Books. Retrieved 2 April 2020.
  97. ^ "The Accidental". Penguin Books. Retrieved 2 April 2020.
  98. ^ "On Beauty". Penguin Books. Retrieved 2 April 2020.
  99. ^ "Love and Summer". Penguin Books. Retrieved 2 April 2020.
  100. ^ "The Wanting Seed". Penguin Books. Retrieved 5 October 2022.
  101. ^ "Hotel du Lac". Penguin Books. Retrieved 5 October 2022.
  102. ^ "Mr Loverman". Penguin Books. Retrieved 5 October 2022.
  103. ^ "The Forty Rules of Love". Penguin Books. Retrieved 5 October 2022.
  104. ^ "The Rain Before it Falls". Penguin Books. Retrieved 5 October 2022.
  105. ^ "The Girls' Guide to Hunting and Fishing". Penguin Books. Retrieved 5 October 2022.

External links edit