clipped from network.nationalpost.com

The series of 50 books - 25 fiction and 25 non-fiction were redesigned to recall Penguin's first paperbacks, published in the 30s. Then, the softcovers were colour coded - orange books were fiction, blue for non-fiction. The new retro Penguins all carry the same orange cover.

"If you're standing looking at those books you know subconsciously or by implication that all of these books are going to be OK," said Peter Blake, the company's Australian sales director who conceived the idea of the series.

"Even if you've not heard of Geoffrey Robertson's Crimes Against Humanity you think, 'It's part of the collection, I trust the brand and it's surrounded by all these other classics by authors like Waugh or Fitzgerald so it must be OK.' "

To have a look at the entire series, visit Popular Penguins.