Our latest video is brought to you by the letter P: Penguin, Puffin, Ptarmigan, Peacock and Pelican – apparently not even all of the “P-birds” in the Penguin pantheon. It also sheds some light on the different colored covers on the vintage Penguin paperbacks you no doubt come across in bookstores. Orange, cerise, dark blue, green, red, purple – even yellow and grey, though they’re scarce – all had meaning behind the color choices. And light blue means the Pelican imprint – but what does THAT mean? Watch and find out.

Initially launched in 1916, the Little Leather Library churned out millions of copies seven short years. However, longevity was not in the cards; by 1925 publication of the Little Leather Library had ceased. Today the books may not be worth all that much in a dollars and cents calculation, but as a collectible they are absolutely charming.

Find out more about the history and books of the Little Leather Library

(Also, it says “Published by Penguin books”).

But that’s about all I could find out. There aren’t many Ptarmigan Books available for sale on the site, andf I could find very little information about the Ptarmigan brand, which seems to have been short-lived. From what I could find, the Ptarmigan name appeared in the mid-1940s on penguin books devoted to puzzles, trivia, word games and the like. And almost all of them were written by a man named Hubert Phillips, who was an English economist, journalist and author, as well as an expert on puzzles and games. I love these covers.

Famous for publishing P.G. Wodehouse’s early novels and the Who’s Who reference book of society, A&C Black has a long and storied literary history.

The Penguin English Library is:

“…100 of the best novels in the English language. These are books to collect and share, admire and hold; books that celebrate the pure pleasure of reading. They are stories to escape with and get lost in – full of amazing worlds and extraordinary characters that will blow your mind, and stay with you forever”

The covers look absolutely gorgeous. I’m particularly fond of the vaguely creepy cover of Daisy Miller and The Turn of the Screw by Henry James (pictured at top), but if Penguin’s previous efforts are any indication, this will be an unusually beautiful book collection. Don’t believe me? Check out our other Penguin features, including The Penguin Great Food Series, A Rainbow of Vintage Penguins, and 75 Years of Penguin, celebrating the publisher’s 75th anniversary in 2010.

Enjoy this cool, quirky and bookish Penguin video.

On this day in 1960, the landmark obscenity case over Lady Chatterley’s Lover by D.H. Lawrence ended with the acquittal of Penguin Books. The publisher had been sued for publishing Lawrence’s novel, which details the steamy affair between the wife of a wealthy, paralysed landowner and his gamekeeper. All this seems a million miles away from 50 Shades of Grey – easily the biggest book of 2012.

Taschen, one of our favorite publishers, has issued The James Bond Archives edited by Paul Duncan. The publisher claims the 600-page heavyweight book is “the most complete account of the making of the series, covering every James Bond film ever made.” Duncan spent two years researching over “one million images and 100 filing cabinets of documentation.”

The book is a must for 007 movie buffs and includes 1,100 images of previously unseen stills, on-set photos, memos, documents, storyboards, posters, and designs, plus unused concepts, and alternative designs. There is also going to be a Golden Edition signed by Daniel Craig, limited to 500 copies and bound in full leather.

In 2004, Akashic Books published Brooklyn Noir, a collection of short noir stories set around Brooklyn. People loved the regional authenticity and hardboiled, honest-to-goodness grit, and a series was born.

Now you can read about murder in Mumbai, trouble in Trinidad, a corpse in Cape Cod and far beyond – the Akashic Noir series is over 50 titles and growing.

This selection from Assouline Publishing ranges from Cecil Beaton to Penthouse and from Rene Magritte to Coca-Cola.

According to the Time Magazine NewsFeed, who I can only pray are having some peculiarly-timed April Fool’s-style laugh at our expense, things are about to get a whole lot worse.

Publishers eager to cash in on the current craze of….”mommy porn”….*shudder* are reportedly planning to release steamier versions of some stories. Some classic stories. Some classic stories in literature that we all know and love oh god zombies were bad enough but is nothing sacred?! Sorry, sorry, I’m okay. Some of the titles to undergo the hideous sexy treatment are apparently Pride and Prejudice, Jane Eyre, and Wuthering Heights.

A publisher called Total-E-Bound is releasing the titles, and while money is (clearly) money, they do acknowledge that this may not be a popular decision with everyone:

“We recognize it’s a bold move that may have a polarizing effect on readers but we’re keeping the works as close to the original classics as possible,” Total-E-Bound founder Claire Siemaszkiewicz told the Daily Mail.

erm…as close to the original classics as possible, you say? I’ll just let this comparison of excerpts from the original and the new version communicate my opinion on the subject.

Original:

“‘Jane, be still a few moments: you are over-excited: I will be still too.’ Mr. Rochester sat quiet, looking at me gently and seriously. Some time passed before he spoke; he at last said — ‘Come to my side, Jane, and let us explain and understand one another.’”

New Version:

“‘Jane, be still a few moments, you are over-excited. I will be still too.’ My master captured my wrists and secured them behind my back, imprisoning me and preventing my movements… He exerted the force of his will as effortlessly as he schooled my person, relentlessly and with an inexorable force, he commanded me against his body… No matter how I controlled my mind, my very flesh was weak.”

Yes. Right then. Am I alone in thinking it was perfectly sufficient and lovely to read Pride and Prejudice and concoct my own fantasies about Mr. Darcy? How lazy are we getting now?

Regrettably, these beloved classics are often the ones to fall victim to zombie and sexy shenanigans and such, since the copyright on them has expired, leaving them vulnerable to whatever grotesqueries we can think up next to inflict upon them. We do, of course, have the option to ignore the blasphemy entirely, reread the originals, and shake an embittered fist at the sky. But then, perhaps I’m just a fuddy-duddy.

Get off my lawn.