You can blame John O’Neill of BLACK GATE for bringing this wonderful postcard set to our attention. One hundred classic Penguin paperback covers on 100 postcards! Nothing says Holiday Gift like a cool box wet like this! Buy the Penguin Science Fiction Postcards before this astonishing set sells out!
Perfect! I send out two postcards a week and these would be perfect for one of my recipients! Thanks for the heads up!
Bob, this postcard set sets a new standard for cool stuff!
I’m very selfish with books like this–I can never send a single postcard. I want to keep them all!
Deb, I bought one set to keep and one set to send!
The first picture with that really simple design brings back memories …
I bought quite a few of these penguin paperbacks in Germany and then in London – before I discovered the specialist science fiction bookshops which sold also the US originals (though at a much higher price …).
I fondly remember the first shop:
Dark they were and golen eyed in Soho, London
Anyone here visited that in the 60s or 70s?
Much later Forbidden Planet started – first as a lttle crowded place in Denmark St
Wolf, a lot of these covers bring back memories for me, too!
I saw that gorgeous set on Black Gate yesterday. Just beautiful. I remember buying several of the Wyndham titles in London in 1972, Wolf. What was the name of the shop?
Jeff, John O’Neill and BLACK GATE have certainly caused me to buy a lot more books and stuff!
Jeff, sorry for the spelling mistake – there is no edit function here it seems …
It was “Dark they were and Golden Eyed” in Soho, London, first in Berwick St and then in St Ann’s Court – the owner went bankrupt (like so many in those days), I think because of drugs …
Of course Penguin books were available everywhere, in all good bookshops.
Imagine – I just found the wikis for the shops!
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dark_They_Were,_and_Golden-Eyed_%28bookshop%29
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Forbidden_Planet_%28bookstore%29
and later there was Murder 1 – oh, those were the days of bookshops galore!
http://www.murderone.co.uk/
And not to forget the joy of searching through the piles of second hand books in the markets …
I guess I missed it. It was our first time to London in April of 1971, and we were there the first two weeks of July 1972. I mostly went to Hatchards and Foyles and the book departments at Harrods and Selfridges, as well as some of the stores on Charing Cross Road. I didn’t discover Berwick St. until a later visit.
my favorites were the top row of Ballards books look a bit like the tom adams agatha chrisite covers.
the scariest was the harry harrison that looked like john travolta
Maggie, I love those Ballard covers, too! And I liked the U.S. editions with the Powers covers a lot!
I saw these at Black Gate too, but wondered, what would you do with them?. I don’t sent post cards (maybe if I travelled, I might) so they would have no practical use. Just to have them to sort through now and then seems a waste of cash and space. So I’ll pass.
Rick, these postcards are fun to look at. And, I do have friends who like to receive postcards now and then.
Thanks, Wolf. I definitely don’t remember that, but I spent a lot of happy hours in Murder One and Forbidden Planet.
Jeff, if you were there regularly we might well have met once or even several times!
I used to come to London three or four times a year for a few days (by ferry – if you didn’t stay more than x hours you paid half price, X= 48, later 60, 120 …).
And let’s not forget my favourite:
Fantasy Centre which sold essentially second hand books and all those old magazines – from Amazing, Astounding to Thrilling Stories …
http://www.fiawol.org.uk/Fanstuff/THEN%20Archive/Fantasy%20Centre/FantasyCentre.htm
A really moving kind of obituary
George, I have always liked the Penguin covers with their distinct off-white and orange covers and illustrations. My dad used to have a few of these, though my wife has several such Wodehouse editions. I don’t see them in used bookstores nowadays.
Prashant, the older Penguins are collectible now. I don’t see many of them in used bookstores anymore, either.
George, something a bit OT re “collectibles”:
Do you know of any kind of reliable price list for those books or how do you estimate the prices?
Wolf, the market really drives book prices. I go to ABE.COM and look at the range of prices before I buy.