Penguin Donkey

For those of you who missed the Penguin 70th Anniversary exhibition at the V&A last year (it was pretty good but you could have blinked on the way through and missed it). You not only missed loads of book covers, logo designs and letters from the Penguin archive, but you also missed catching a rare sight of the elusive Penguin Donkey. ¶ What is it? The Penguin Donkey is the cutest bookcase you’ll ever see. Designed to sit along side you favourite comfy chair, it holds 80 paperback books with a centre slot for magazines and newspapers. It first appeared in 1939 and was available through an ad in the back of Penguin paperbacks. Of course, now they’re impossible to get hold of… unless you have a spare £400 (no, me neither). Isokon Plus produce three versions of the Penguin Donkey in a variety of finishes. There is the original version, a version redesigned for Penguin in 1963 and a bang up-to-date version of their own creation.