Today (23rd May) is Lucky Penny Day. You may have heard of this superstition: “See a penny, pick it up, All day long you’ll have good luck.” The modern form of the one pence coin was introduced back on the 15th February 1971. So, if you see a penny showing its head pick it up, or turn it to its head-side for someone else to get pick up and get the luck! As another saying goes: “Look after the pennies and the pounds will take care of themselves!”

Detail of a penny. Photograph taken by Vince O’Sullivan, January 2010. Via Flickr under Creative Commons License 2.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/2.0/)

Here are some weird and wonderful ‘penny’ titles found in SUNCAT.

• Captain George’s penny dreadful.
• The penny share letter.
• Cobbett’s penny trash …
• Two Knaves for a Penny.
• The Penny magazine of the Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge.
• The Penny punter.
• A penny saved.
• Penny pincher world wide.
• Penny stock detectives.
• A bad penny review.
• Mingaye Syder’s temperance lancet and penny trumpet.
• Sun penny saver.
• The Penny melodist.
• The Golden Penny Comic.
• Penny a Peep.
• Penny dreadful : tales and poems of fantastic terror.
• Paddy Kelly’s budget; or, A penny-worth of fun!!
• Cameron’s A-B-C Penny Time Tables.
• A choice penny-worth of wit. In three parts.
• A groatsworth of wit for a penny; or, the interpretation of dreams.
• Horrors; or, “The Penny Horrible”. : An anti-comic weekly blood curdler.
• The pinball player and penny slot collector: the monthly magazine of the Pinball Owners’ Association (incorporating the Penny Slot Preservation Society).
• One penny-worth of truth, from Thomas Bull to his brother John.
• Two penny-worth of truth for a penny; or a true state of facts: with an apology for Tom Bull in a letter to brother John.

For more penny-themed journals, and weird, and lots more besides, take a look in SUNCAT.