Penguin redevelops Pelican brand

SIMON SMITH – 8 MAY 2014

From this month (May 2014), Penguin will be reintroducing its formerly defunct non-fiction Pelican imprint.

Originally launched in 1937, the mark created by Edward Young and later retouched by William Grimmond. The blue Pelican non-fiction books were designed to fit in with Penguin’s orange fiction books that revolutionized book selling by producing quality books that were cheap.

Penguin founding publisher Allen Lane, wrote of Pelican as,

“The true everyman’s library of the 20th century…bringing the finest products of modern thought and art to people.”

The Pelican logo, which was designed in two forms – standing and in flight – was discontinued in 1984. However, during the Pelican’s reign, they books had a large impact on British culture by introducing the population the ideas of anthropology and sociology.

The books have been designed in a block cyan colour with the featuring a black title and author name with a redrawn pelican, either inflight or standing.

The Pelican will be printed on five Economic titles: The User’s Guide by Ha-Joon Chang, Human Evolution by Robin Dunbar, Revolutionary Russia, 1891-1991 by Orlando Figes, The Domesticated Brain by Bruce Hood, and Greek and Roman Political Ideas by Melissa Lane.