Delve into royal history with the Penguin Monarchs, a series of books about England’s Kings and Queens. Each book is written by a contemporary historian, providing new perspectives into the British monarchs, from 10th Century Athelstan to Elizabeth II.

When designing the covers for the series, Pentagram aimed to create an alternative National Portrait Gallery. To achieve this, each cover includes a newly commissioned portrait of its relevant monarch by a different illustrator.

Although the style of the illustrations differ, their presentation is unified. All portraits are printed on a foreshortened dust jacket with a relevant subtitle on a detachable cover. Underneath this, the royal’s signature and ruling period are printed in gold on a hard cover.

The books are also grouped by royal houses, like Tudor and Stewart, with a particular colour for each house.