New Penguins Found Today From 20 cents to $1.00

The lovely view of the Tasman Bridge from
the Domain where the U3A class is held.

On Tuesdays I attend a Play Reading course through the University of the 3rd Age. It is great fun so I always look forward to it.  The class takes place in the Phillip Smith Building which is a lovely old building, if at times seemingly falling apart. I notice cracks in the wall don't get much attention.
A group of 12 or 13 people sit around the table and our extremely knowledgeable instructor takes us through various plays to read out loud.

Today we finished The School of Scandal by Sheridan which everyone really had fun with.

Flash and Filigree & The Magic Christian
by Terry Southern
No. 2304 published Penguin 1965

Everyone gets right into character and by the end of the hour long class we are teary with laughter. I have decided that it really is fun to read out loud and many passages actually are much better being read aloud rather than silently.  Next week we will begin Oscar Wilde's play Lady Windemere's Fan which by the way is in Penguin Book number 600.

As if that hour isn't great fun I have established a Tuesday afternoon routine that once the class finishes I then visit the local St Vincent de Paul's shop which is just down the street. I didn't get there last week so was looking forward to going today.  I then went on to the Tip shop as I also had not been there for a couple of weeks.

Number 2837, published 1969

Well, the Penguin gods were smiling as I picked up five lovely old first published books for less than $3.50. One that I didn't have was in the 20 cent bin which is always a pleasant surprise.

I thought I would post up the photos as they look very interesting especially the later published ones in the 2000+ series.

Alain Bombard's book The Bombard Story
is the real 1079.

I also discovered an error in the numbering of the book Barchester Towers. On the spine it is numbered 1079. As I began to catalogue it I noticed I already had another book with the same number. Evidently Penguin made an error printing the number on the spine but when I opened the book up to the first page the correct number of 1180 is present. 

Although marked on the spine with number
1079 it really is number 1180.

I think it is interesting to find little mistakes that publishers make. Most of Penguin's quirks have been recorded through the publications of the Penguin Collector's Society. I'd be surprised if I am the first person to spot this error. And no, it does not make the book worth any more though no doubt I will run into a book seller who will come up with some wild story to increase its price.

 The last book I found was this lovely old copy of Thin Ice by
Compton MacKenzie.  Penguin published several books by
Mr. MacKenzie.  He is an author I don't know much about so I can see there is another "Penguin Job" awaiting me.

It is quite odd how I can go for weeks and not find a single Penguin and then suddenly the ice breaks and they seem to be everywhere.

Tomorrow I will be home most of the day though my husband is meeting me at the movies.  He is housesitting a friend's farm for 6 weeks so we have dates. I think it is a lot of fun and in the dateless moments I have lots of time to read. I might even get a meal out of him.

Happy Page Turning ....