![]() ![]() If left unchecked it would only be a matter of time before the books were being packaged and sold just like any other consumer product. To Lane, Aldridge’s ‘vulgar covers’ and Godwin’s ‘gimmicky selling’ were a threat to over thirty years of Penguin tradition and brand identity. Lane disliked the idea and as booksellers joined authors to protest at the way Penguin was heading so the rift between the two men deepened. ![]() Matters were made worse by Godwin’s desire to sell Penguin books in non-traditional outlets such as supermarkets. Worse still, the use of images he regarded as titillating or even offensive was an insult to the books’ authors, some of whom were now making their own feelings known, with more than one threatening to move to another publisher. To Lane such covers were undignified and not in keeping with Penguin’s reputation. Lane felt that the covers being designed by Alan Aldridge and his colleagues were becoming too commercial and increasingly tasteless. In 1967, Penguin chief Allen Lane was harbouring serious misgivings about the direction that editor Tony Godwin was taking Penguin with regard to the marketing and distribution of fiction. ![]()
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