The middle-aged among us, when their thoughts turn to cheap books, recall as the best value in matter and make-up that they remember the scarlet and gold Nelson seven-pennies of prewar days. In many a household the best of Anthony Hope, Conan Doyle, and other favourites of the time still lives in these well-bound little volumes. Nothing quite so attractive in cheap form has followed them. But the Bodley Head Penguin Books at sixpence apiece, of which the first 10 have just appeared, have the same virtue of bringing books of wide variety within as easy range as a seat at the “talkies” or a pint of ale.
In the first batch the serious novelists are represented by, among others, Compton Mackenzie (Carnival), Mary Webb (Gone to Earth), and Susan Ertz (Madame Clair). A Dorothy Sayers and an Agatha Christie account for the crime tale. Mr Eric Linklater’s exuberant Poet’s Pub is of the number, and Mr Ernest Hemingway’s Farewell to Arms has its own distinctive place. The type is clear; the boards stout enough to stand the wear and tear of pocket or haversack. The enterprise deserves a warm welcome.