Penguin Books published its first paperback titles in the United Kingdom in 1935.
The company was founded by Allen Lane, who wanted to make good-quality literature affordable and widely available. Its first ten paperback titles appeared in July 1935, including works by Ernest Hemingway, Agatha Christie, and Dorothy L. Sayers.
The books sold for sixpence, making them much cheaper than many traditionally bound editions. Their distinctive color-coded covers also helped readers identify genres quickly: orange was used for fiction, blue for biography, and green for crime.
Penguin Books transformed popular publishing by treating paperbacks as serious, attractive editions rather than disposable reading. The company’s penguin logo became one of the best-known marks in publishing, but it is unrelated to the biology of penguins.