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Penguin Books - Quiz
Contributed by: Law
  • 1. What status did Penguin Books achieve during the Second World War?
A) An official government department
B) A national institution
C) A bankrupt entity
D) A forbidden publishing house
  • 2. Which of these titles was a bestselling manual published by Penguin during the war?
A) Victory in the Skies
B) Keeping Poultry and Rabbits on Scraps
C) Rations and Survival
D) The Soldier's Handbook
  • 3. What caused the disruption of the supply of esparto grass, used in Penguin's pulp?
A) A labor strike in Britain
B) The sinking of merchant ships
C) The invasion of Canada
D) The Fall of France
  • 4. When was paper rationing introduced in Britain?
A) January 1942
B) March 1940
C) August 1938
D) September 1939
  • 5. How did Penguin acquire paper through a deal with the Canadian Government?
A) By trading books for food
B) By importing wood pulp directly
C) By publishing exclusive editions for the Canadian armed forces
D) By buying surplus government stockpiles
  • 6. What happened to Penguin's book bindings under the 1942 regulations?
A) They were reinforced with leather
B) They were glue-bound with plastic
C) They were abandoned entirely
D) They were replaced with metal staples
  • 7. What was the maximum page limit effectively imposed by the 1942 war economy regulations?
A) 256 pages
B) 150 pages
C) 100 pages
D) 500 pages
  • 8. Who helped Penguin secure a deal with the War Office in 1941?
A) Bill Williams
B) The Minister of Supply
C) The Canadian Prime Minister
D) Lane's business partner
  • 9. What was the name of the program that supplied books to troops?
A) Troop Reading Initiative
B) Services Library Project
C) The War Reader's Association
D) Forces Book Club
  • 10. Where were readers invited to leave their read paperbacks for the forces?
A) A military recruitment center
B) A train station
C) A Post Office
D) A local library
  • 11. How much paper did Penguin receive per month under the War Office deal?
A) 10 tons
B) 25 tons
C) 100 tons
D) 60 tons
  • 12. What design feature did Penguin eliminate to comply with war economy regulations?
A) Table of contents
B) Author biographies
C) Color illustrations
D) Dust jackets
  • 13. Why were Penguin's competitors forced to concede paperback reprint rights to Penguin?
A) Because the government mandated it
B) Because they went out of business
C) Because Penguin bought them out
D) Because of Penguin's established paper supply and prestige
  • 14. How many titles did Penguin print during the war years?
A) About 600
B) About 50
C) About 200
D) About 1,000
  • 15. What was the primary basis for the government's paper quota for publishers?
A) The annual profit of the publisher
B) The amount of paper used between August 1938 and August 1939
C) The number of titles published in 1940
D) The number of employees in the firm
  • 16. In what year was Penguin Books co-founded?
A) 1939
B) 1932
C) 1935
D) 1945
  • 17. What was the original price of the first Penguin paperbacks?
A) Five pence
B) One shilling
C) Sixpence
D) Tenpence
  • 18. What company was Penguin originally an imprint of?
A) Random House
B) The Bodley Head
C) Pearson plc
D) Bertelsmann
  • 19. Who suggested the penguin as the company mascot?
A) Joan Coles
B) Allen Lane
C) Edward Young
D) Eunice Frost
  • 20. Which retail chain's purchase of 63,000 books helped launch Penguin as a separate business?
A) Woolworths
B) W. H. Smith
C) Harrods
D) The Bodley Head
  • 21. When did Penguin become a separate company?
A) 1937
B) 1939
C) 1935
D) 1936
  • 22. Who currently owns Penguin Random House?
A) Bertelsmann
B) Allen Lane's estate
C) The Bodley Head
D) Pearson plc
  • 23. What was the name of the series introduced in 1939 that was cloth-bound?
A) The Pelican History of Art
B) Penguin Specials
C) King Penguin
D) The Penguin Shakespeare
  • 24. What typeface was used for the author and title in the original design?
A) Times New Roman
B) Arial
C) Helvetica
D) Gill Sans
  • 25. Who created the original Penguin logo?
A) Edward Young
B) Allen Lane
C) Eunice Frost
D) Joan Coles
  • 26. How much of a stake did Pearson plc hold in Penguin Random House when it was formed?
A) 47 per cent
B) 100 per cent
C) 50 per cent
D) 25 per cent
  • 27. Who was the vice president who led the success of Penguin Books Inc in the US?
A) Kurt Enoch
B) Allen Lane
C) Edward Young
D) Ian Ballantine
  • 28. In what year did Penguin Random House become a wholly-owned subsidiary of Bertelsmann?
A) 2020
B) 2017
C) 2013
D) 1936
  • 29. Which person was entrusted with the reconstruction of Penguin Inc in 1945?
A) Eunice Frost
B) Allen Lane
C) Ian Ballantine
D) Kurt Enoch
  • 30. Which railway station inspired Allen Lane to create cheap, quality books?
A) Marylebone
B) Paddington
C) Victoria
D) Exeter St Davids
  • 31. What is the name of the group of the five largest English-language publishers?
A) The Penguin Group
B) The Publishing Giants
C) The Big Five
D) The Elite Five
  • 32. In what year did Penguin launch the Penguin Classics branch?
A) 1961
B) 1960
C) 1947
D) 1945
  • 33. Who translated Homer's Odyssey for the first Penguin Classics book?
A) E. V. Rieu
B) Allen Lane
C) Hans Schmoller
D) Jan Tschichold
  • 34. Which German typographer redesigned 500 Penguin books between 1947 and 1949?
A) Jan Tschichold
B) Germano Facetti
C) Tony Godwin
D) Romek Marber
  • 35. Who was Jan Tschichold's eventual successor at Penguin?
A) Hans Schmoller
B) Tony Godwin
C) Germano Facetti
D) Harry F. Paroissien
  • 36. In which city did Harry F. Paroissien establish Penguin Books in the United States?
A) London
B) Baltimore
C) New York
D) Chicago
  • 37. In what year did Penguin become a publicly listed company on the London Stock Exchange?
A) 1960
B) 1945
C) 1949
D) 1961
  • 38. Who was appointed as editorial adviser at Penguin in May 1960?
A) E. V. Rieu
B) Germano Facetti
C) Allen Lane
D) Tony Godwin
  • 39. Who did Tony Godwin hire in January 1961 to alter the appearance of Penguin books?
A) Germano Facetti
B) Hans Schmoller
C) Romek Marber
D) Jan Tschichold
  • 40. Which designer suggested the layout that became known as the Marber grid?
A) Jan Tschichold
B) Romek Marber
C) Germano Facetti
D) Tony Godwin
  • 41. Which book's publication in 1960 helped boost Penguin's notoriety?
A) Inside Linda Lovelace
B) Lady Chatterley's Lover
C) The Pelican History of Art
D) Homer's Odyssey
  • 42. In what year was the censorship of the written word finally defeated in the UK?
A) 1960
B) 1978
C) 1961
D) 1949
  • 43. Which company was a main competitor to Penguin in the UK paperback industry during the 1950s?
A) Pan Books
B) Homer Publishing
C) The Pelican History
D) Penguin Education
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