EXTRACTS: Illustrators issue 18 © 2017 The Book Palace (96 PAGES in Full edition)

72 Puffin Books - Origins and Innovations Puffin Books were the brainchild of Country Life editor Noel Carrington and Penguin Books publisher Allen Lane. The two men had met at a publishing dinner in 1938 and Lane, flushed with the runaway success of his recently launched Penguin paperbacks, was receptive to new ideas. It was a year later that the plans really began to take shape. Carrington’s vision was to produce inexpensive and attractive books that would inform and entertain children. Lane enthusiastically endorsed the venture but with the proviso that costs were rigorously nailed to the floor. In spite of the outbreak of War in September 1939, Lane was still determined to proceed and, with Carrington ensuring that production costs were kept to a minimum, the first Puffin Picture Books were published in 1940. The first titles in the series caught the mood of the times by spotlighting the role of the Army, Air Force and Navy in Britain’s war effort. How a literary lunch led to the founding of one of the most iconic and innovative lines of children's books in the history of publishing.