'Who controls the past controls the future. Who controls the present controls the past'

Today we’re celebrating the 80th anniversary of George Orwell publishing in Penguin. #80YearsofPenguinOrwell /1

Orwell saw the disruptive potential of his soon-to-be-publisher in 1936, when he wrote, ‘The Penguin books are splendid value for sixpence, so splendid that if the other publishers had any sense they would combine against them and suppress them.’ #80YearsofPenguinOrwell /2

Although he did have mixed views about being published in Penguin, concluding that, ‘In my capacity as reader I applaud the Penguin Books. In my capacity as writer I pronounce them anathema.’ #80YearsofPenguinOrwell /3

In 1936, Orwell was also approached by John Lehmann to contribute a piece for the periodical New Writing, where ‘Shooting An Elephant’ was published that Autumn. Allen Lane then turned Lehmann’s periodical into the Penguin New Writing series in 1940. #80YearsofPenguinOrwell /4

So it came to be that in November 1940, a year into WW2, Orwell began his long and fruitful relationship with Penguin Books, with ‘Shooting An Elephant’. It appeared as the lead essay in the first volume of the Penguin New Writing series. #80YearsofPenguinOrwell /5

‘Shooting An Elephant’ was followed in December 1940 with Down and Out in Paris and London, which quickly sold out its initial print run of 55,000 copies, transforming Orwell’s reputation overnight. #80YearsofPenguinOrwell /6

Today we’re excited to share that a new edition of ‘Shooting An Elephant’ will be available in ebook on November 28th, with a new cover by @typeasimage. It's a searing and honest account of his experience as a police officer in imperial Burma: http://ow.ly/gWv750CcdqF  /7

‘It was a tiny incident in itself, but it gave me a better glimpse than I had had before of the real nature of imperialism’

Sign up to the Penguin Classics newsletter to read an exclusive extract from ‘Shooting An Elephant’: http://ow.ly/Tf2x50Ccdw8  #80YearsofPenguinOrwell /8

And at the end of this month, we’re publishing some of Orwell’s best-loved fiction, including Animal Farm and Nineteen Eighty-Four, with new covers – and here’s a preview! All will be available for just 99p in ebook on November 28th. #80YearsofPenguinOrwell /9

Why not look back on how George Orwell covers have evolved through the decades: http://ow.ly/j70y50CccUH 

And let us know your favourite Penguin Orwell books on the hashtag #80YearsofPenguinOrwell /10

Eighty years after his first publication by Penguin, Orwell’s books remain as popular as ever, and his writings on freedom, democracy and truth speak to us perhaps more urgently than ever before.

Explore his work: http://ow.ly/AsWP50CccYF 
#80YearsofPenguinOrwell /11