Reference

The Penguin Reference series was, for seven years, a single rust-colored paperback. Then, after the war, a market suddenly developed for inexpensive reference material in an era when most people couldn’t afford (or make room for) an extensive encyclopedia set in a pre-computing era. The series underwent the usual post-Lane face lift in the seventies, with another, bolder look in the eighties and nineties.

There are a few holes in the series entering the ISBN era, as well as the mystery of R43, which I’ve seen listed as “The Penguin Encyclopedia of People,” though I’ve found no evidence so far of its existence.

Addendum: I’ve plunged ahead into the eighties, and if you’ve ever wished Penguin would stop re-using ISBNs with new editions, well, here’s your hell. Penguin modernized many of its editions, which means a prospective collector will have to decide what a complete collection looks like. Don’t skip the end of the list entirely, though, or your’ll miss Colin McEvedy’s excellent atlases, which were once housed under the Q series.

#	Title	Author	Year	ISBN
R1	A Dictionary of Science	E.B. Uvarov	1944
R2	A Dictionary of Geography	W.G. Moore	1949
R3	A Dictionary of Biology	M. Abercrombie et al	1951
R4	A Dictionary of Music	Robert Illing	1950
R5	A Dictionary of Psychology	James Drever	1952
R6	An English-German German-English Dictionary	W.E. and J. Connell	1954
R7	Roget’s Thesaurus	Peter Mark Roget	1953
R8	A Dictionary of Geology	G.W. Himus	1955
R9	A Dictionary of Ballet	G.B.L. Wilson	1957
R10	A Dictionary of Politics	Florence Elliott	1957
R11	A Dictionary of Civil Engineering	John S. Scott	1958
R12	A New Dictionary of Music	Arthur Jacobs	1958
R13	The Penguin Dictionary of Architecture	John Fleming	1966
R14	A Dictionary of Art and Artists	Peter & Linda Murray	1959
R15	A Dictionary of Building	John S. Scott	1964
R16	The Penguin Dictionary of Quotations	J.M. & M.J. Cohen	1960
R17	World Events 1960	Ivison Macadam, ed.	1960
R18	A Dictionary of Sailing	F.H. Burgess	1961
R19	A Dictionary of Electronics	S. Handel	1962
R20	The Penguin Russian Course	J.L.I. Fennell	1961
R21	The Penguin Dictionary of British Natural History	Maisie Fitter	1967
R22	World Events 1961	Ivison Macadam, ed.	1961
R23	World Events 1962	Ivison Macadam, ed.	1962
R24	Usage and Abusage: A Guide to Good English	Eric Partridge	1963
R25	The Penguin Book of Lieder	S.S. Prawer	1964
R26	A Dictionary of Modern History 1789-1945	A.W. Palmer	1964
R27	A Shakespeare Companion 1564-1964	F.E. Halliday	1964
R28	A Dictionary of Astronomy	Ake Wallenquist	1968
R29	The Penguin English Dictionary	G.N. Garmonsway	1965
R30	A Dictionary of Saints	Donald Attwater	1965
R31	The Penguin Encyclopedia	Sir John Summerscale	1965
R32	A Dictionary of Surnames	Basil Cottle	1967	014051032X
R33	The Penguin Dictionary of the Theatre	John Russell Taylor	1966	0140510338
R34	The Penguin Companion to Literature 1	David Danches, ed.	1971	0140510346
R35	The Penguin Companion to Literature 2	Anthony Thorlby, ed.	1969	0140510354
R36	The Penguin Companion to Literature 3	Malcolm Bradbury, ed.	1971	0140510362
R37	The Penguin Companion to Literature 4	D.R. Dudley & D.M. Lang, eds.	1969	0140510370
R38	The Penguin Dictionary of Modern Quotations	J.M. & M.J. Cohen	1971	0140510389
R39	A Dictionary of Computers	Anthony Chandor	1970	0140510397
R40	Asia Handbook	Guy Wint, ed.	1969	0140510400
R41	Africa Handbook	Colin Legum, ed.	1969	0140510419
R42	Dictionary of American Politics	Eugene J. McCarthy	1968	0140510427
R44	The Penguin Dictionary of Commerce	Michael Greener	1970	0140510443
R45	The Penguin Dictionary of Archaeology	David Trump	1972	0140510451
R46	The Dictionary of Historical Slang	Eric Partridge	1972	014051046X
R47	The Penguin Encyclopedia of Places	W.G. Moore	1971	0140510478
R48	Penguin Medical Encyclopedia	Peter Wingate	1972	0140510486
R49	The Penguin Dictionary of Geology	J.R.V. Brooks	1973	0140510494
R51	The Penguin Dictionary of Economics	Graham Bannock	1972	0140510516
R52	A Critical Dictionary of Psychoanalysis	Charles Rycroft	1972	0140510524
R53	Facts in Focus	Central Statistical Office	1972	0140510532
R54	The Penguin Atlas of World History 1	Hermann Kinder	1974	0140510540
R55	Who’s Who in the Ancient World	Betty Radice, ed.	1973	0140510559
R56	The Penguin Shorter Atlas of the Bible	Luc H. Grollenberg	1978	0140510567
R58	Chronology of the Modern World	Neville Williams	1975	0140510583
R59	The Penguin World Atlas	Peter Hall, ed.	1974	0140510591
R61	The Penguin Atlas of World History 2	Hermann Kinder	1978	0140510613
R62	A Dictionary of Austrailian Education	John D. McLaren	1974	0140510621
R63	A Handbook of Management	Thomas Kempner	1976	014051063X
R64	The Concise Cambridge Italian Dictionary	Barbara Reynolds	1975	0140510648
R65	The Penguin French Dictionary	Merlin Thomas	1986	0140510656
R67	The Penguin Russian Dictionary	W.F. Ryan	1996	0140510672
R68	The Penguin Spanish Dictionary	James R. Jump	1990	0140510680
R69	Medicines: A Guide for Everybody	Peter Parish	1976	0140510699
R70	The International Thesaurus of Quotations	R.T. Tripp	1976	0140510702
R71	The Penguin Dictionary of Physics	Valerie H. Pitt, ed.	1977	0140510710
R72	Mind the Stop: A Brief Guide to Punctuation	Gordon Vero Carey	1976	0140510729
R73	The Penguin German-English Dictionary	Timothy Buck	1990	0140510737
R74	The New Penguin Dictionary of Electronics	E.H Young	1979	0140510745
R75	Encyclopedia of Mountaineering	Walt Unsworth	1977	0140510753
R76	Atlas of World Population History	Colin McEvedy & Richard Jones	1978	0140510761
R78	Dictionary of World Art	John Fleming		0140510788
R79	The Penguin Dictionary of Psychology	Arthur S. Reber	1986	0140510796
R80	Penguin Dictionary of Philosophy	Godgrey Vesey	1987	014051080X
R82	The Penguin Dictionary of Decorative Arts	John Fleming	1977	0140510826
R83	Penguin Atlas of African History	Colin McEvedy	1980	0140510834
R84	Dictionary of English and European History	E. Williams	1980	0140510842
R85	The Penguin Dictionary of Twentieth Century History	Alan Palmer	1979	0140510850
R89	The Penguin Dictionary of Design and Desigers	Simon Jervis	1984	0140510893
R94	The Penguin Dictionary of Physical Geography	John B. Whittow	1984	014051094X
R95	The Penguin Dictionary of Human Geography	Brian Goodall	1987	0140510958
R96	The New Penguin World Atlas	Peter Hall	1979	0140510966
R97	The Penguin Book of Mathematical and Statistical Tables	R.D. Nelson	1980	0140510974
R99	The Penguin Concise Dictionary of Biographical Quotations	Justin Wintle	1986	0140510990
R100	The Penguin Dictionary of Microprocessors	Anthony Chandor	1981	0140511008
R102	The Penguin Guide to the Law	John Pritchard	1982	0140511024
R106	The Penguin Dictionary of Religions	John R. Hinnells	1984	0140511067
R107	The Penguin Dictionary of Telecommunications	John Graham	1983	0140511075
R108	The Penguin Dictioanry of Sociology	Nicholas Abercrombie	1984	0140511083
R109	The Plain-Language Law Dictionary	Robert E. Rothenberg	1981	0140511091
R111	A Dictionary of Biology (new edition)	M. Abercrombie et al	1981	0140511113
R112	A Ditionary of Literary Terms: Revised	J.A. Cuddon	1982	0140511121
R113	The Penguin Dictionary of Chemistry	D.W.A. Sharp	1982	014051113X
R114	The Penguin Map of the World	Michael Middleditch	1982	0140511148
R115	The Penguin Dictionary of Building	John S. Scott	1986	0140511156
R116	The Penguin Dictionary of Archaeology (2nd ed.)	Warwick Bray	1982	0140511164
R117	The Dictionary of Visual Language	Philip Thompson	1980	0140511172
R118	The Penguin Dictionary of Proverbs	Rosalind Fergusson	1983	0140511180
R119	The Penguin Dictionary of Mathematics	John Dainthith	1995	0140511199
R121	Medicines: A Guide for Everybody (4th ed.)	Peter Parish	1982	0140511210
R122	Medicines: A Guide for Everybody (5th ed.)	Peter Parish	1984	0140511229
R123	The Penguin Dictionary of Saints (2nd ed.)	Donald Attwater	1984	0140511237
R124	Roget’s Thesaurus	Peter Roget	1989	0140511245
R125	Dictionary of Modern History 1789-1945: Revised	Alan Palmer	1984	0140511253
R126	The Penguin Dictionary of Botany	Stephen Blackmore	1984	0140511261
R127	The Penguin Dictionary of Computers (3rd ed.)	Anthony Chandor	1986	014051127X
R128	The Penguin Atlas of North American History to 1870	Colin McEvedy	1988	0140511288
R131	The Penguin Dictionary of Twentieth Century History: Revised	Alan Palmer	1984	0140511318
R133	The Penguin Dictionary of Art and Artists (5th ed.)	Peter & Linda Murray	1988	0140511334
R134	The Penguin Dictionary of Economics (3rd ed.)	Baxter Reeds Bannock	1984	0140511342
R135	The Penguin Dictionary of English Idioms	Daphne M. Gulland	1987	0140511350
R136	The Penguin Rhyming Dictionary	Rosalind Fergusson	1986	0140511369
R137	The Penguin Pocket Thesaurus	Faye Carney	1985	0140511377
R139	The Penguin English Dictionary 1985-86		1985	0140511393
R140	The Penguin Map of the British Isles	Michael Middleditch	1987	0140511407
R144	The Penguin Companion to the Arts in the Twentieth Century	Kenneth McLeish	1986	014051144X
R146	The Penguin Guide to the Law (2nd ed.)	John Pritchard	1985	0140511466
R147	The Penguin Encyclopedia of Popular Music	Donald Clarke	1989	0140511474
R150	The Penguin Map of Europe	Michael Middleditch	1985	0140511504
R151	The Penguin Atlas of Ancient History	Colin McEvedy	1986	0140511512
R152	The Penguin Atlas of Medieval History	Colin McEvedy	1986	0140511520
R153	The Penguin Atlas of Modern History	Colin McEvedy	1986	0140511539
R154	The Penguin Atlas of Recent History	Colin McEvedy	1986	0140511547
R155	Roget’s Thesaurus	Peter Roget	1985	0140511555
R156	The Penguin Dictionary of Science: New Edition	E.B. Uvarov	1986	0140511563