I've several times mentioned about my 'love / hate' relationship with Penguin Books. I love how one of the biggest and best known publishing houses chose a penguin as their mascot – and a dapper one at that – but hate how they being so prevalent makes searching for penguin literature a slog.

I've covered things related to them in the past – including a book about their mascot and the cover art card collection for their anniversary – but I realised that I haven't featured what they're best known for.

So, here's my tiny selection of vintage Penguin Books releases from the late 1950s to early 1960s. There are three books from New Zealand based writer Ngaio Marsh as well as two Perry Mason novels by Erle Stanley Gardner.

I'm penguin collector and not a Penguin Books collector, so this is likely as far as I'll go on this front, but I really wanted to have a couple of paperbacks of theirs featuring their iconic cover layout.