Drew Kent: Penguin books
thepenguinchap.com @the_ penguin_chap
‘I was a very quiet, shy child and spent a lot of time in my bedroom with books. I got sucked into Penguin books in 2017 at a charity sale, where you could buy five for £3. I've always been a bit of a collector – not a hoarder, although it's bordering on hoarding now. I set out with the aim of getting the first 100 Penguin books in first editions and I've just finished that – it took me six years. It was a bit of an anticlimax, because I didn't immediately realise I'd done it!
‘Once I started collecting, it wasn't long before I had too many books to deal with. I was frantically buying auction lots and getting duplicates, so I started to sell them. The persona of ‘The Penguin Chap' emerged just prior to lockdown, when I launched my website and started my VIPC (Very Important Penguin Collectors) club, which now has 400 members.
‘I have customers all over the world – most collectors have a certain goal, such as the first 2,000, or the purple books (essays), or the pink ones (travel and adventure). Some people collect books by a specific author, so they might want all the Graham Greene titles, for example. In
