Here’s a little bit of restoration with a twist – the graphic from the front of the Puffin Post Binder. Old Members will remember that it was shiny metallic gold on a slightly textured red or, later on, pink vinyl folder. This photographed (and scanned) very badly, so I elected to extract it and recreate the look. Isn’t it lovely!!
I remember taking exception to the club colour being pink, but looking back through slightly rose coloured glasses, I’m actually quite fond of it now.
For those who are unaware – the classic Penguin book spines were orange (a sign of a dyed-in-the-wool intellectual was a bookshelf bursting with orange spines that were all creased through heavy reading).
Puffin books had a pink spine (except for the wrap-around covers, or those whose artwork demanded a certain coordination) – I’m sure it seemed only natural that the club colour should echo this. As a child my own complete collection of Dr Dolittle books made a big band of unbroken pink on my bookshelves. This helped me get over my pink aversion – just as well considering that I now have two daughters!
The current Puffin spine colour is of course yellow, but whether a future Puffin Club would embrace the colour convention is anybody’s guess.
