Collecting King Penguin Books
The Penguin publishing house was founded in 1935 and by the outbreak of war in 1939 it was already very successful. Walter Neurath, an Austrian Jewish refugee, had the idea of printing a series of books, based on the model of the German Insel Verlag series, consisting of attractive pocket books. Allen Lane of Penguin Books took up the idea and christened the series King Penguin, so as to distinguish it from his other paperbacks. The first two titles British Birds and A Book of Roses were published in 1939 and Lane knew immediately that he had a winner.
The covers of the King Penguin series played a big part in the success of the series and some of the covers are little works of art. One of the very popular ones is English Ballet printed in 1944, the trademark Penguin on the spine has been dressed up in a tutu. The fact that a third of each book was taken up by illustrations and images and that there were well-produced plates, often in colour proved very popular with the readers. Continue reading »
Filed under Books | Tags: collecting king penguin books, king penguins, life in an english village, nikolaus pevsner, penguin books | Comment (0)A Short History of Jewellery Designer Henry George Murphy
Henry George Murphy was born in Birchington-on-Sea in Kent in 1884 and even as a small boy he showed an interest in jewellery. In 1899 the jewellery designer Henry Wilson offered him an apprenticeship and Murphy worked for Wilson until 1912, when he set up his own workshop. He initally worked in silver but soon moved on to gold and expensive gems. In 1922 he designed a gold, topaz and sapphire tiara for Mary, Princes Royal for her engagement, and in 1924 he designed a miniature version of the crown jewels for Queen Mary’s dolls’ house at Windsor Castle.
Murphy designed mainly pendants, brooches, rings and buckles in styles from Arts and Crafts to Art Deco. The pieces were exquisite and stood out from the cheap, repetitive jewellery of the day, which consisted mainly of cheap diamond chipped rings and brooches.
In 1928 Henry George Murphy founded the Falcon studio and took up making silverware such as church plate, trophies and domestic items covering a range from tankards to egg cups. His circular modernist coffee set won a gold medal at the Milan International Exhibition in 1933. Murphy’s first passion though was jewellery and he produced some stunning earrings and necklaces in the Art Deco style. He also produced a sizeable range of inexpensive silver brooches, his zodiac and animal designs being particularly popular. Continue reading »
Filed under Jewellery and Watches | Tags: Art Deco, art deco style, Arts and Crafts, Central School of Art, falcon studio, Henry George Murphy, HGM, miniature crown jewels, Queen Mary, Queen Mary's Dolls House, zodiac pendants | Comment (0)