The cover shows a houseįrom the viewpoint of a passer-by looking up through a loose line of leafy plants with drooping heads and flowers like giant buttercups. The Triffids – a peaceful, almost pastoral scene, bathed in the colours of a warm spring day – came as a breath of fresh air. Penguin had been publishing Wyndham since 1954 but the introduction of pictorial covers in the 1960s had not done his books any favours, so Lord's treatment of The Day of the Triffids (993) by John Wyndhamġ979 reprint with cover art by Peter Lord. Pelham agreed, and invited Lord to submit a cover treatment for The Day of the Triffids. Prior to this aĬolleague of David Pelham's at Penguin, John Hitchin, mentioned he had a nephew called Peter Lord who was studying graphic design at Middlesex Polytechnic, and heĪsked if Pelham would give the young student a chance to put theory into practice. Penguin already had nine Wyndham titles on its backlist which were released, with Web, as a set of ten titles in 1979-80. John Wyndham was another of Penguin's best-selling authors but his plinth remained empty until a decade after his death, when his estate released a posthumous novelĬalled Web. The honour was bestowed on a number of authors over the years and the list of those elected to this elite group includes Bernard Shaw, H G Wells, Aldous Huxley In 1946 he began writing his major science fiction novels including "The Kraken Wakes", "The Chrysalids" and "The Midwich Cuckoos".The Art of Penguin Science Fiction: Triffidus redivivusįor Penguin to publish a set of ten titles by an author was an event of some significance that marked their entry into the pantheon of Penguin's most popular
During the war he was in the Civil Service and afterwards in the Army. Careers which he tried included farming, law, commercial art, and advertising, and he first started writing short stories, intended for sale, in 1925. After a wide experience of the English preparatory school he was at Bedales from 1918 to 1921. However, with its terrifyingly believable insights into the genetic modification of plants, the book is more relevant today than ever before. The Day of the Triffids, published in 1951, expresses many of the political concerns of its time: the Cold War, the fear of biological experimentation and the man-made apocalypse. Now, with civilization in chaos, the triffids - huge, venomous, large-rooted plants able to 'walk', feeding on human flesh - can have their day. Carefully removing his bandages, he realizes that he is the only person who can see: everyone else, doctors and patients alike, have been blinded by a meteor shower. When Bill Masen wakes up blindfolded in hospital there is a bitter irony in his situation.
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