'Dignified, but flippant'

 Heaven knows how many Penguin books must have passed through my hands in the course of my reading life. They've always been there, right from my boyhood, when my father, for some reason, kept shelves of Penguins, mostly Crime, in the lavatory. I read some of those, then many many more over the years. But, in all my Penguin-reading life, I don't think it ever occurred to me to wonder how the imprint got its name – it just seemed a given. Now (thanks to a pair of penguin-related books I'm reading for review) I know how the name came about. The story goes that publisher Allen Lane, determined to bring out a range of quality paperback books at an affordable price and needing a name for it, was discussing the matter with his secretary, who suggested Penguin, because the birds are 'dignified, but flippant'. Fair enough, said Lane (or words to that effect), and sent an office junior, 21-year-old Edward Young, down to London Zoo to sketch one of the (Humboldt) penguins that were then enjoying themselves in the newly installed, Lubetkin-designed penguin pool. He returned with a sheet of sketches, Lane selected one, and the rest is history...
  This, of course, was in the dark days before highly paid brand consultants and their brilliant ideas, e.g. rebranding Royal Mail as Consignia and W.H. Smith as T.G. Jones – but somehow the 'dignified but flippant' penguin turned out to be just about the most successful brand in publishing. Ninety years on, it's still going strong.