To celebrate its 60th anniversary circa 1995, Penguin Books released several boxed sets of "Penguin 60s", miniature books about sixty pages in length. The books were also sold individually.
The main set, with black spines, (, ) contained 60 "classic" works. The UK set with orange spines ( / ) focused on 20th century or contemporary writers and contained 60 books. A similar set of 60 orange spine books was released for the US market with 13 books in common with the UK set. Smaller, ten item sets focusing on biography/autobiography, travel and cookery were also issued. A children's set () was released, consisting of 30 volumes.
Further books in the series were planned but were cancelled due to increasingly poor sales. Thirty Obituaries of Wisden selected by Matthew Engel (, ) was published but did not appear in any of the other sets of books. Ten orange spine books were released as a limited edition boxed set sold through Blackwell's bookshops in the UK () with Stephen King's Umney's Last Case the only title appearing in the US orange spine editions. The other nine titles in the Blackwells set were unique titles that did not appear in the other sets (Surprised by Summer by David Lodge, Postcards from Summer by Peter Mayle, Lizzie Borden by Angela Carter, The Girl Who Loved Graveyards by P.D. James, Expulsion from Paradise by Howard Jacobson, Meeting Bilal by Esther Freud, The Rock of Crack as Big as the Ritz by Will Self, The Pocket Watchmaker by Richard Dawkins and Scenes from the Dwarf by Rob Grant and Doug Naylor). Another 19 titles are listed at the back of the biography and travel editions but were not published.
The American orange spine set and British orange spine set only had 13 books that were in common. They are:
Hans Christian Andersen – The Emperor's New Clothes Anton Chekhov – The Black Monk and Peasants Roald Dahl – Lamb to the Slaughter and Other Stories Sir Arthur Conan Doyle – The Man with the Twisted Lip and The Adventure of the Devil's Foot Graham Greene – Under the Garden Rudyard Kipling – Baa Baa, Black Sheep and The Gardener Gabriel García Márquez – Bon Voyage, Mr President and Other Stories Herman Melville – Bartleby and The Lightning-Rod Man Michel De Montaigne – Four Essays John Mortimer – Rumpole and the Younger Generation Edgar Allan Poe – The Pit and the Pendulum and Other Stories Edith Wharton – Madame de Treymes Oscar Wilde – The Happy Prince and Other Stories
Series Black set (60) () Jane Austen – The History of England Apollonius of Rhodes – Jason and the Argonauts Aristophanes – Lysistrata Balzac – The Atheist's Mass Boccaccio – Ten Tales from the Decameron Beowulf and Grendel Buddha's Teachings James Boswell – Meeting Dr Johnson Matsuo Bashō – Haiku Thomas Carlyle – On Great Men Charlotte Perkins Gilman – The Yellow Wallpaper Charlotte Brontë – Mina Laury Cao Xueqin – Dream of the Red Chamber Miguel de Cervantes – The Jealous Extremaduran Castiglione – Etiquette for Renaissance Gentlemen Joseph Conrad – The Secret Sharer Charles Darwin – The Galapagos Islands Dostoyevsky – The Gentle Spirit Bernal Díaz del Castillo – The Betrayal of Montezuma Frederick Douglass – The Education of Frederick Douglass Dante – The First Three Circles of Hell De Quincey – The Pleasures and Pains of Opium Daniel Defoe – A Visitation of the Plague Benjamin Franklin – The Means and Manner of Obtaining Virtue Flaubert – A Simple Heart Gibbon – Reflections of the Fall of Rome Gilgamesh and Enkidu Goethe – Letters from Italy George Eliot – The Lifted Veil Henry David Thoreau – Civil Disobedience Henry James – The Lesson of the Master Homer – The Rage of Achilles Homer – The Voyages of Odysseus Franz Kafka – The Judgement and In the Penal Colony Krishna's Dialogue on the Soul Kate Chopin – The Kiss Heinrich von Kleist – The Marquise of O Livy – Hannibal's Crossing of the Alps Machiavelli – The Art of War Thomas Malory – The Death of King Arthur Maupassant – Boule de Suif Nietzsche – Zarathustra's Discourses Ovid – Orpheus in the Underworld Edgar Allan Poe – The Murders in the Rue Morgue Plato – Phaedrus Rimbaud – A Season in Hell Jean-Jacques Rousseau – Meditations of a Solitary Walker Saint Augustine – Confessions of a Sinner Robert Louis Stevenson – Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde Thomas à Kempis – Counsels on the Spiritual Life Two Viking Romances Tolstoy – The Death of Ivan Ilyich Tales of Cú Chulainn Turgenev – Three Sketches from a Hunter Diary Mark Twain – The Man That Corrupted Hadleyburg Tacitus – Nero and the Burning of Rome Vasari – Lives of Three Renaissance Artists Edith Wharton – Souls Belated Oscar Wilde – The Portrait of Mr. W. H. Walt Whitman – Song of Myself
Orange set (UK titles) () Martin Amis – God's Dice Hans Christian Andersen – The Emperor's New Clothes Marcus Aurelius – Meditations James Baldwin – Sonny's Blues Ambrose Bierce – An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge Dirk Bogarde – From Le Pigeonnier William Boyd – Killing Lizards Poppy Z Brite – His Mouth Will Taste of Wormwood Italo Calvino – Ten Italian Folktales Albert Camus – Summer Truman Capote – First and Last Raymond Chandler – Goldfish Anton Chekhov – The Black Monk Roald Dahl – Lamb to the Slaughter Elizabeth David – I'll Be with You in the Squeezing of a Lemon The Seven Voyages of Sinbad the Sailor Karen Blixen – The Dreaming Child Arthur Conan Doyle – The Man with the Twisted Lip Dick Francis – Racing Classics Sigmund Freud – Five Lectures on Psycho-Analysis Kahlil Gibran – Prophet, Madman, Wanderer Stephen Jay Gould – Adam's Navel Alasdair Gray – Five Letters from an Eastern Empire Graham Greene – Under the Garden James Herriot – Seven Yorkshire Tales Patricia Highsmith – Little Tales of Misogyny M. R. James and R. L. Stevenson – The Haunted Dolls' House Rudyard Kipling – Baa Baa Black Sheep Penelope Lively – A Long Night at Abu Simbel Katherine Mansfield – The Escape Gabriel García Márquez – Bon Voyage, Mr. President Patrick McGrath – The Angel Herman Melville – Bartleby Spike Milligan – Gunner Milligan, 954024 Michel de Montaigne – Four Essays Jan Morris – From the Four Corners John Mortimer – Rumpole and the Younger Generation R. K. Narayan – Tales from Malgudi Anaïs Nin – A Model Frank O'Connor – The Genius George Orwell – Pages from a Scullion's Diary Camille Paglia – Sex and Violence, or Nature and Art Sara Paretsky – A Taste of Life Edgar Allan Poe – The Pit and the Pendulum Miss Read – Village Christmas Jean Rhys – Let Them Call It Jazz Damon Runyon – The Snatching of Bookie Bob Saki – The Secret Sin of Septimus Brope Will Self – Scale Georges Simenon – Death of a Nobody Muriel Spark – The Portobello Road Robert Louis Stevenson – The Pavilion on the Links Paul Theroux – Down the Yangtze William Trevor – Matilda's England Mark Tully – Ram Chander's Story John Updike – Friends from Philadelphia Eudora Welty – Why I Live at the P.O. Edith Wharton – Madame de Treymes Oscar Wilde – The Happy Prince Virginia Woolf – Killing the Angel in the House
Orange set (US Titles) Louisa May Alcott – An Old Fashioned Thanksgiving Hans Christian Andersen – The Emperor's New Clothes J. M. Barrie – Peter Pan in Kensington Gardens William Blake – Songs of Innocence and Experience Geoffrey Chaucer – The Wife of Bath and Other Canterbury Tales Anton Chekhov – The Black Monk and Peasants Samuel Taylor Coleridge – The Rime of the Ancient Mariner and Other Poems Colette – Gigi Joseph Conrad – Youth: A Narrative Roald Dahl – Lamb to the Slaughter and Other Stories Robertson Davies – A Gathering of Ghost Stories Fydor Dostoevsky – The Grand Inquisitor Sir Arthur Conan Doyle – The Man with the Twisted Lip and The Adventure of the Devil's Foot Ralph Waldo Emerson – Nature Omer Englebert – The Lives of the Saints Fannie Merritt Farmer – Selections from the Original 1896 Boston Cooking-School Cookbook Edward Fitzgerald – The Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam Robert Frost – The Road Not Taken and Other Poems Gabriel García Márquez – Bon Voyage, Mr President and Other Stories Nikolai Gogol – The Overcoat and The Nose Graham Greene – Under the Garden Jacob And Wilhelm Grimm – Grimms' Fairy Tales Nathaniel Hawthorne – Young Goodman Brown and Other Stories O. Henry – The Gift of the Magi and Other Stories Washington Irving – Rip Van Winkle and the Legend of Sleepy Hollow Henry James – Daisy Miller: A Comedy V. S. Vernon Jones – Aesop's Fables James Joyce – The Dead Garrison Keillor – Truckstop and Other Lake Wobegon Stories Jack Kerouac – San Francisco Blues Stephen King – Umney's Last Case Rudyard Kipling – Baa Baa, Black Sheep and The Gardener Lao Tzu – Tao Te Ching D. H. Lawrence – Love Among the Haystacks Abraham Lincoln – The Gettysburg Address and Other Speeches Jack London – To Build a Fire and Other Stories Herman Melville – Bartleby and The Lightning-Rod Man A. A. Milne – Winnie-the-Pooh and his Friends Michel De Montaigne – Four Essays John Mortimer – Rumpole and the Younger Generation Thomas Paine – The Crisis Dorothy Parker – Big Blonde and Other Stories Edgar Allan Poe – The Pit and the Pendulum and Other Stories Edgar Allan Poe, Ambrose Pierce and Robert Louis Stevenson- Three Tales of Horror Franklin D. Roosevelt – Fireside Chats William Shakespeare – Sixty Sonnets John Steinbeck – The Chrysanthemums and Other Stories Peter Straub – Blue Rose Paul Theroux – The Greenest Island Henry David Thoreau – Walking John Thorn – Baseball: Our Game Leo Tolstoy – Master and Man Mark Twain – The Notorious Jumping Frog of Calaveras County and Other Stories (5 stories) H.G. Wells – The Time Machine Edith Wharton – Madame de Treymes Oscar Wilde – The Happy Prince and Other Stories The Declaration of Independence and the Constitution of the United States Mother Goose – Mother Goose The Revelation of St. John the Divine: Holy Bible KJV Teachings of Jesus: Holy Bible KJV
Biography set (10) () Richard Ellmann – The Trial of Oscar Wilde Laurie Lee – The War in Spain Dirk Bogarde – Coming of Age Anthony Burgess – Childhood Vladimir Nabokov – Now Remember Marianne Faithfull – Year One Barry Humphries – Less is More Please Lytton Strachey – Florence Nightingale Katharine Hepburn – Little Me Blake Morrison – Camp Cuba
Cookery set (10) () Keith Floyd – Hot and Spicy Floyd Rick Stein – Fresh from the Sea Margaret Visser – More than Meets the Eye Elizabeth David – Peperonata and other Italian Dishes Nigel Slater – 30-Minute Suppers Helge Rubinstein – Chocolate Parfait Jane Grigson – Puddings Sophie Grigson – From Sophie's Table Claudia Roden – Ful Medames and other Vegetarian Dishes Lindsey Bareham – The Little Book of Big Soups
Travel set (10) () Jan Morris – Scenes from Havian Life Gavin Young – Something of Samoa Colin Thubron – Smarkand Paul Theroux – Slow Trains to Simla Mark Shand – Elephant Tales Redmond O'Hanlon – A River in Borneo Alexander Frater – Where the Dawn Comes Up Like Thunder Patrick Leigh Fermor – Loose as the Wind Karen Blixen – From the Ngong Hills Mark Tully – Beyond Purdah
Children's set (30) () Roger Lancelyn Green – Robin Hood and his Merry Men King Arthurs Court Four Great Greek Myths Classic Nonsense Verse Alf Proysen – Mrs. Pepperpot Turns Detective Philip Ridley – The Hooligan's Shampoo N J Dawood – Ali Baba & The Forty Thieves Paul Jennings – Three Quirky Tails Mark Twain – Tom Sawyer's Pirate Adventure Allan Ahlberg – The Night Train Joan Aiken – Dead Man's Lane Astrid Lindgren – The Amazing Pippi Longstocking Tove Jansson – Moomintrolls and Friends Lewis Carroll – Tailes from Alice in Wonderland Margaret Mahy – The Midnight Story Philippa Pearce – At the River Gates Dick King-Smith – The Clockwork Mouse Sir Arthur Conan Doyle – Sherlock Holmes and the Speckled Band Anne Fine – Keep It in the Family Michael Rosen – Smacking My Lips Brothers Grimm – Tom Thumb Jon Scieszka – The Great Time Warp Adventure Roald Dahl – The Great Mouse Plot