James Metcalf on the fictionality of the latest archaeological page-turners
Stephen Puddicombe looks at the unusual appeal of Samuel Beckett's Waiting for Godot
Ciaran Rafferty investigates the science of book classification
Publishers like Penguin have always been viewed, and rightly so, as noble and altruistic institutions, bringing information, culture and artistic expression to audiences across the world in cheap and accessible editions.
Indeed, Penguin’s self-imposed mandate has, since 1946, been to bring texts that were "once the domain of students and academics" alone, to the wider reading public. From the Bible to Bataille, Penguin have unlocked literary classics, seminal scientific works, pre-eminent histories and important philosophical treatises to a world hungry for their consumption.
Wrapped in the enticingly thick black of their sleeves, Penguin Classics adorn the shelves of almost every bookshop in Britain, and indeed the western world. Penguin are undoubtedly what the Daily Mail would call a 'British Institution'. Yet until recently, this worthy activity has been marred by an affliction common to publishing at large; that of sustainability and the environment.
The figures are quite shocking. To produce a single tonne of paper from non-renewable sources requires the felling of 25 hard-wood trees, which would in turn require 1.5 tonnes of coal to be burnt during its production. If, as estimated, the UK alone publishes 200,000 new book titles a year, and they on average ran to 1,000 copies each, this would require the printing of 200,000,000 individual books a year in this country alone.
Now, my copy of Anna Karenina weighs roughly 500g, (yes I did actually weigh a book) so 25 trees should produce 2000 of Tolstoy’s finest. If this were the average weight of a book, that would entail the use of 100,000 tonnes of paper and 150,000 tonnes of coal to produce the books published each year in Britain alone. This corresponds to a whopping 2,500,000 trees. I’m no statistician, but anyway you cook the figures it’s clear to see that the global publishing industry needs to look to more responsible production methods at a time when our environment is seemingly under threat from such manifold sources, if only to satisfy an increasingly green-conscious consumer.
Now, however, the publisher printing Moby Dick and Madame Bovary for next to nothing is also becoming more environmentally conscious. Their ‘Popular Classics’ range, which encompasses many of the most loved titles from the worldwide canon, has gone green in every sense. If you walk the lonely walk towards the classics section, hidden at the back of every high-street bookshop, you will be doubtless assailed by the penetrating vision of scores of the highlighter-pen green monochrome covers of Penguin’s cheapest classics range. Bold in the simplicity of its vision, these books are not just cheap but as of 2006 have been 100% recycled too.
Interestingly, whilst perusing my own collection of these wonderful cheapies I noticed an interesting and subtle change in the cover design. Anyone who’s seen or owns a Penguin Popular Classic will know that their front covers are simple and standardised, bearing only the book’s title, and unadorned by an illustrative picture or design. Yet something has changed with the more recent copies. My edition of The Importance of Being Earnest of three years ago proudly proclaims its price of £2. The fact that it’s printed on recycled paper is relegated to the bottom of the back cover, perhaps only noticeable to the more attentive amongst us. Naturally, I was somewhat oblivious.
On the more modern editions, however, a recycled sign, and a caption proudly stating "Contains 100% Recycled Paper" have usurped the gobsmackingly low price. This alteration, given the current financial climate, is perhaps indicative of a company very aware of an increasingly environmentally conscious readership and their need to feel green.
These changes in Penguin’s publishing ethic are not limited to the cheap and cheerful range, however. Their ubiquitous and wonderful Classic range and their edgy and beautifully designed ‘Modern Classics’ have also been subject to an environmental overhaul.
A major issue for the publishing industry in using recycled material is quality of finish. Although the design of the new ‘Popular Classics’ is (at least in my eyes) already iconic, there is also an inescapable simplicity to their flimsier covers. This inevitably poses problems for a series such as the Classics range, whose cover designs have been as consistent and decorative as they have been robust. A solution has been found in the FSC (Forest Stewardship Council) who manage their forests in an environmentally sustainable fashion and provide publishers and other industries with renewable paper products without the sacrifice of finish quality necessary with the use of recycled sources.
The company has also begun a landmark scheme called ‘Penguin Wood’, whereby 40,000 trees will be planted in Linton, near Burton-upon-Trent in an attempt to off-set their minimalised, but inevitable, carbon-footprint. An institution that has always been socially and scholastically conscious, it seems is now environmentally conscious too.
An institution that has always been socially and scholastically conscious, it seems is now environmentally conscious too.
Yet despite the best efforts of Penguin and many other noble publishing companies to go green, I feel there is an elephant in room. What publishers of books wont tell you of course, is that there is an easier, cheaper and more environmentally friendly way to gain access to the classics of world literature than even they can provide: the internet.
Search any title from The Canterbury Tales to Don Juan and you’ll find a copy online. As long as it’s out of copyright, which is now a period of 70 years after the author’s death, anyone is free to publish a book online or anywhere else for that matter. Reading a book online is completely free and environmentally neutral. No trees will be harmed in the production of a web-page. Indeed, a friend of mine (an ignorant chemistry student) recently downloaded an application for his i-phone called ‘i-Shakespeare’ which was completely free, and contains the bard’s entire collected works. Incredible.
Nevertheless, for all those readers like me, for whom the thought of reading from a screen kills the sheer romance of occasion created by the reading of a physical book, environmentally friendly publishers such as Penguin provide the only viable alternative in these fraught times. So long as the reading public prefer the turning of a page to scrolling through a PDF, Penguin and other publishers will be increasingly called upon to publish ethically and responsibly.
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