The Penguin Books Color Code

Vintage Penguin books all had the same iconic design (two bands of color on the top and bottom and a white band in the middle with the book's title and author in black), but they came in an array of colors.  The colors were not, however, purely for aesthetic purposes; each color represented a different genre or subject matter.  Here's what the different colors mean:

Red = Drama
Orange = Fiction
Yellow = Miscellaneous
Green = Crime Fiction
Dark Blue = Autobiographies
Purple = Essays
Cerise = Travel and Adventure
Grey = World Affairs

Here are some vintage Penguins (and Pelicans--but that's a story for a different day) from abebooks, and a video that explains the colors.

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