Bryan Smith then edited two volumes before handing over to Penrose's final editor, Clive Goodacre (initially assisted by Stanley Greenwood).
James Moran compiled a special: 'Printing in the 20th Century - a Penrose Anthology' for Northwood in 1974, citing 34 previously published articles and their impact on the progression of print media technologies.
Penrose Annuals remain the quintessential record for the development of mass media, advertising, photography, design and typography throughout the 20th century; from the earliest incursions by radio, through to television and, in the latter volumes, references to electronic transmission of information that has given us the internet.
Articles in issues from that era were authored by Beatrice Warde, Stanley Morison, László Moholy-Nagy, Nikolaus Pevsner and other leading design writers.
Spencer's modernist impact on the Penrose was immediate: his first cover is printed with a stark gothic sans serif at roughly a 40° angle to the spine.