The science fiction banner that David Pelham introduced across the tops of sf covers in 1972-73 was retained for most of the decade, along with black backgrounds, centred typography and a purple Penguin logo in the top right corner. But while the artwork on earlier covers had identified the books as part of a series, this was less obvious for the books that followed, as the style varied greatly from cover to cover. The trend was started by Pelham himself in 1974 and continued by a number of freelance illustrators whose work began appearing on Penguin sf covers in 1975.

JAMES BLISH The Day After Judgement, 1974 The Day After Judgement (3868) by James Blish

First published 1971.

Published by Penguin Books April 1974 with a cover illustration by David Pelham.
Part 1 >>
RAY BRADBURY The Day it Rained Forever, 1974 The Day it Rained Forever (1878) by Ray Bradbury

1974 reprint with a cover illustration by David Pelham.
MORE COVERS >>
FRED and GEOFFREY HOYLE Fifth Planet, 1974 Fifth Planet (2244) by Fred and Geoffrey Hoyle

1974 reprint with a cover illustration by David Pelham.
MORE COVERS >>
FRED HOYLE October the First is Too Late, 1974 October the First is Too Late (2886) by Fred Hoyle

1974 reprint with a cover illustration by David Pelham.
MORE COVERS >>

David Pelham's cover for the 1974 reprint of Tiger! Tiger! was one of the covers he discussed when invited to speak at '70 Years of Penguin Design' at London's V&A Museum in 2005. In his talk, Pelham quoted from the blurb on the book's back cover and praised the 'gifted copywriter' at Penguin who had written it, Meaburn Staniland. What Pelham did not mention (and perhaps did not know) was that his former colleague was also an sf author. Staniland's novel about time travel, Back to the Future, was published in 1947 but has been out of print ever since, though its subject and title reappeared in 1985 as a Hollywood movie by the American director Robert Zemeckis. However, the film does not credit Staniland's novel and it is not known if Zemeckis knew of it.

ALFRED BESTER Tiger! Tiger!, 1974 Tiger! Tiger! (2620) by Alfred Bester

1974 reprint with a cover illustration by David Pelham.
MORE COVERS >>

Staniland's blurb for Tiger! Tiger! describes the novel's protagonist Gully Foyle as a 'liar, lecher, ghoul, walking cancer. Obsessed by vengeance, he's also the twenty-fourth century's most valuable commodity – but he doesn't know it. His story is one of the great classics of science fiction'. Pelham agreed, and wanted a portrait of Foyle on the cover, but as he explained, 'you can't depict such a portmanteau character in a conventional portrait because his likeness is no more than a cleverly arranged series of words'. So Pelham created 'a composite portrait made out of debris' in homage to the sixteenth-century Italian painter and 'first surrealist' (who famously did it with fruit) Guiseppe Arcimboldo. Pelham then added Foyle as a little white spot adrift in space near the portrait's eye, 'because that's where we first come across him, barely getting by, living in the tangled remains of a drifting spaceship that has exploded'. And having Arcimboldo'd Bester once Pelham did it again for The Demolished Man, though with a title like that he could hardly have done otherwise.

ALFRED BESTER The Demolished Man, 1974 The Demolished Man (2536) by Alfred Bester

1974 reprint with a cover illustration by David Pelham.
MORE COVERS >>
The Robert Sheckley Omnibus, 1975 The Robert Sheckley Omnibus (3982)

Twelve short stories and a novella, Immortality Inc., first published in 1973.

Published by Penguin Books May 1975, with an introduction by Robert Conquest.
The cover illustration is by David Pelham.

Immortality Inc.
Specialist
Bad Medicine
Pilgrimage to Earth
Ask a Foolish Question
A Ticket to Tranai
The Battle
Hands Off
The Prize of Peril
Hunting Problem
Ghost V
Something for Nothing
The Store of the Worlds
MORE COVERS >>
EDWARD FERMAN and BARRY MALZBERG (Eds) Final Stage: The Ultimate Science Fiction Anthology, 1975 Final Stage (4039) edited by Edward Ferman and Barry Malzberg

An anthology of thirteen short stories, first published in 1974.

Published by Penguin Books May 1975 with a cover illustration by David Pelham.

• Frederik Pohl : We Purchased People
• Poul Anderson : The Voortrekkers
• Kit Reed : Great Escape Tours, Inc.
• Brian Aldiss : Diagrams for Three Enigmatic Stories
• Isaac Asimov : That Thou Art Mindful of Him!
• Dean Koontz : We Three
• Joanna Russ : An Old-Fashioned Girl
• Harlan Ellison : Catman
• Harry Harrison : Space Rats of the CCC
• Robert Silverberg : Trips
• Barry Malzberg : The Wonderful, All-Purpose Transmogrifier
• James Tiptree, Jr. : Her Smoke Rose Up Forever
• Philip K Dick : A Little Something for Us Tempunauts
FRED HOYLE The Black Cloud, 1975 The Black Cloud (1466) by Fred Hoyle

1975 reprint with a cover illustration by David Pelham.
MORE COVERS >>

Several of David Pelham's covers shown above were used by the Spanish publisher Ediciones Martínez Roca for its own super ficción series in 1976-78, as were three of his J G Ballard covers from 1974 and one from 1973. Pelham himself was unaware of this and it is doubtful if anyone at Penguin knew. Copyright was often disregarded during Franco's regime and it seems this continued for at least a few years afterwards >>

PIERRE BOULLE Monkey Planet, 1975 Monkey Planet (2401) by Pierre Boulle

1975 reprint with cover photography by Ian Vaughan.
MORE COVERS >>

Planet of the Apes was a hugely popular film but few would have known that it was based on Monkey Planet so when the book was reprinted in 1975 Penguin advertised the fact on a large red sash. This no doubt helped to shift more copies but it spoiled an otherwise great cover.

TOM BOARDMAN (Ed) Connoisseur's Science Fiction, 1976 Connoisseur's Science Fiction (2223) edited by Tom Boardman

1976 reprint with a cover illustration by Bob Fowke.
MORE COVERS >>
PHILIP K DICK The Man in the High Castle, 1976 The Man in the High Castle (2376) by Philip K Dick

1976 reprint with a cover illustration by Peter Goodfellow.
MORE COVERS >>
FRITZ LEIBER The Wanderer, 1976 The Wanderer (2594) by Fritz Leiber

1976 reprint with a cover illustration by Philip Castle.
MORE COVERS >>
PHILIP K DICK Time Out of Joint, 1976 Time Out of Joint (2847) by Philip K Dick

1976 reprint with a cover illustration by Peter Tybus.
MORE COVERS >>
HARRY HARRISON Bill, the Galactic Hero, 1976 Bill, the Galactic Hero (2970) by Harry Harrison

1976 reprint with a cover illustration by Mike Little.
MORE COVERS >>
STANISLAW LEM The Invincible, 1976 The Invincible (3853) by Stanislaw Lem

First published in 1964 as Niezwyezony.

Published by Penguin Books April 1976 with a cover illustration by Peter Tybus.
MORE COVERS >>
JOHN CARNELL (Ed) Lambda I and Other Stories, 1977 Lambda I and Other Stories (2275) edited by John Carnell

1977 reprint with a cover illustration by Joe Petagno.
MORE COVERS >>
FRANK HERBERT Destination: Void, 1977 Destination: Void (2689) by Frank Herbert

1977 reprint with a cover illustration by Joe Petagno.
MORE COVERS >>
FRED and GEOFFREY HOYLE Into Deepest Space, 1977 Into Deepest Space (4401) by Fred and Geoffrey Hoyle

First published 1974.

Published by Penguin Books January 1977 with a cover illustration by Peter Tybus.
PAMELA SARGENT (Ed) Women of Wonder, 1978 Women of Wonder (4867) edited by Pamela Sargent

A poem and twelve short stories 'by women about women', first published in 1974.

Published by Penguin Books July 1978 with a cover illustration by Candy Amsden.

• Sonya Dorman : The Child Dreams (poem)
• Judith Merril : That Only a Mother
• Katherine MacLean : Contagion
• Marion Zimmer Bradley : The Wind People
• Anne McCaffrey : The Ship Who Sang
• Sonya Dorman : When I Was Miss Dow
• Kit Reed : The Food Farm
• Kate Wilhelm : Baby, You Were Great
• Carol Emshwiller : Sex and/or Mr Morrison
• Ursula Le Guin : Vaster Than Empires and More Slow
• Chelsea Quinn Yarbro : False Dawn
• Joanna Russ : Nobody's Home
• Vonda McIntyre : Of Mist, and Grass, and Sand
Part 2 >>
GEORGE HAY (Ed) Pulsar 1, 1978 Pulsar 1 (4279) edited by George Hay

An anthology of science fiction and science futures, first published by Penguin Books December 1978 with a cover illustration by Adrian Chesterman.

• A E van Vogt : Death Talk
• David Langford : The Still Small Voice Inside (essay)
• Ian Watson : Immune Dreams
• John Taylor : Infectious Science (essay)
• Christopher Evans : The Time Travellers (interview with Isaac Asimov)
• Bob Shaw : Small World
• Chris Boyce : The Skytank Portfolio (essay)
• Michael Coney : In Search of Professor Greatrex
• Stan Gooch : Once More, With Feeling (essay)
• Josephine Saxton : Woe, Blight, and in Heaven, Laughs: A Grim Household Tale
• Angela Carter : The World as Text: The Post-Literate World as Meta-Narrative (essay)
• H G Wells : Foretelling the Future (essay)
Part 2 >>
MIRRA GINSBURG (Ed) The Ultimate Threshold: A Collection of the Finest in Soviet Science Fiction, 1978 The Ultimate Threshold (4873) edited by Mirra Ginsburg

An anthology of thirteen short stories, first published 1970.

Published by Penguin Books 1978 with a cover illustration by Peter Cross.

• Henrik Altov : Icarus and Daedulus
• Gleb Anfilov : Erem
• Anatoly Dneprov : Formula of Immortality
• Anatoly Dneprov : When Questions are Asked
• Vladimir Grigoriev : The Horn of Plenty
• Olga Larionova : The Useless Planet
• Herman Maximov : The Ultimate Threshold
• Roman Podolny : Invasion
• Igor Rosokhovatsky : When You Return
• Igor Rosokhovatsky : "One Less"
• Vladimir Sheherbakov : "We Played Under Your Window"
• Ilya Varshavsky : Preliminary Research
• Mikhail Yemtsev and Yeremey Parnov : He Who Leaves No Trace

For The Ultimate Threshold and John Boyd's novels the science fiction banner was dropped from the top of the cover and a small label was placed beneath the logo, like Alan Aldridge's sf covers in 1967 and Franco Grignani's in 1969-70.

JOHN BOYD The Last Starship From Earth, 1978 The Last Starship From Earth (4875) by John Boyd

First published 1968.

Published by Penguin Books June 1978 with a cover illustration by Peter Cross.

John Boyd was a pseudonym used by the American author Boyd Upchurch.
JOHN BOYD The Pollinators of Eden, 1978 The Pollinators of Eden (4876) by John Boyd

First published 1969.

Published by Penguin Books July 1978 with a cover illustration by Peter Cross.
JOHN BOYD The Rakehells of Heaven, 1978 The Rakehells of Heaven (4877) by John Boyd

First published 1969.

Published by Penguin Books August 1978 with a cover illustration by Peter Cross.
JOHN BOYD The Girl with the Jade Green Eyes, 1979 The Girl with the Jade Green Eyes (4996) by John Boyd

First published 1978.

Published by Penguin Books April 1979 with a cover illustration by Peter Cross.
KURT VONNEGUT Cat's Cradle, 1980 Cat's Cradle (2308) by Kurt Vonnegut

1980 reprint with a cover illustration by Justin Todd.
MORE COVERS >>