The Penrose Annual

The Penrose Annual was a London-based review of graphic arts, printed nearly annually from 1895 to 1982. It was a time capsule of technological development in the printing industry.

Penrose began in 1895 as “Process Work Yearbook—Penrose’s Annual.” Lund Humphries printed the publication in 1897 and was responsible for its content since 1906, until selling Penrose to Northwood Publications Limited, part of the Thompson Corporation, in 1974. It was edited by William Gamble from 1895 to 1933.

The Penrose Annuals remain the quintessential record for the development of print media, advertising, photography, design, and typography throughout the 20th century; from the earliest acceptance of radio, through broadcast television and, in the latter volumes, references to electronic transmission of information that has given us the Internet.

The 1938 edition was notable for its text and binding designed by Jan Tschichold. Articles in issues from that era were authored by Beatrice Warde, Stanley Morison, Moholy-Nagy, Nikolaus Pevsner, and other leading design writers. Allan Delafons edited Penrose from 1958 through 1962.

Lund Humphries had Typographica editor Herbert Spencer edit the annual from 1964 through 1973. Spencer’s modernist impact on the Penrose was immediate: his first cover is printed with a stark gothic sans serif at roughly a 40° angle to the spine.

Penrose’s content was significant in bridging technical aspects of printing and artistic aspects of design. According to St Bride’s librarian Nigel Roche, “Its importance then was largely as a link between disparate areas of the trade. Its importance today is in the seminal articles that it published that still have reference value: monographs on individuals; articles on various matters of typesetting.”

Annuals and years

• Annuals 1–7 were published annually and correlate to the years 1895–1901
• Annuals 8–21 were published annually and correlate with the years 1902/3–1916.
• No issues in 1917, 1918, 1919
• Annuals 22–42 were published annually and correlate with the years 1920–1940.
• No issues in 1941–1948
• Annuals 43–56 were published annually and correlate with the years 1949–1962.
• No issue in 1963
• Annuals 57–69 were published annually and correlate with the years 1964–1976.
• No issue in 1977
• Annuals 70–74 correlate with the years 1978–1982.

This database lists every article and author. We are working to create a searchable database online, but this will take some time. For now, feel free to download a pdf of the index (which can, of course, be searched).

A printed copy of all the Penrose Table of Contents is available at the Museum Store.​

Thanks to Nancy Fenton for creating this index.

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