Penguin Collectors Society

Penguin is synonymous with quality and its classic editions continue to constitute a popularly recognised canon of literature. It has also come to people's rescue. When held hostage in Beirut Terry Waite drew a picture of a penguin and showed it to one of his guards. Please get any books you see with this on the side he said. They were, no doubt, an improvement on the breast feeding manual he had been given before that.

WHAT IT DOES

Founded in Richmond in 1974, The Penguin Collectors Society is a registered charity which works to preserve and conserve Penguin Books and associated material. It has over 500 members worldwide. Book enthusiasts with an interest in 'design, typography, illustration and writing' might be drawn here. The Penguin Collectors Society organises Study Days and Spring Meetings, which are open to the public as well as to members. It also produces many publications, the latest being Penguin by Illustrators, as well as the new edition of the Penguin Classics miscellany.

MEMBERSHIP

There is an annual conference and members receive The Penguin Collector twice a year. This is an illustrated journal designed to resemble a Penguin book.  Annual subscription costs £19 in the UK, £21.50 in Europe, and £25 in the rest of the world. There is an application form on the website.

OUT OF TIME

In the digital era, The Penguin Collectors Society has the feel of an arcane enterprise that speaks not of the great pixellated roar, but rather of dust, wire-framed spectacles and a vanishing world of quiet contemplation. Long may it go on.