Order of Book Series
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Mervyn Peake Books in Order

27 books are credited to Mervyn Peake, published between 1939 and 2011; 10 of them appeared after Mervyn Peake's death in 1968. The first book is Captain Slaughterboard Drops Anchor (1939) and the newest is Complete Nonsense (2011). Publication order is the reading order below.

Books
27
Published
1939–2011
Pages on record
3,141 in 19 of 27 books
Reading time
52–79 hours

Reading time is an estimate, not a recorded figure: 3,141 pages at 300 words a page, read at 200–300 words a minute, covering the 19 of 27 titles with a page count on record.

See all 27 books in order Printable Mervyn Peake checklist

Mervyn Laurence Peake (9 July 1911 – 17 November 1968) was a British writer, poet, artist and illustrator. Peake is chiefly known for the Gormenghast books, four works from a longer cycle that his death left unfinished; Titus Groan (1946) and Gormenghast (1950) belong to the sequence. The fiction draws on Dickens and Robert Louis Stevenson. The 27 catalogued books also include the picture book Captain Slaughterboard Drops Anchor (1939), nonsense verse such as Rhymes Without Reason, and The Craft of the Lead Pencil.

How many Mervyn Peake books are there?

Mervyn Peake has 27 books, released between 1939 and 2011. 10 of them were published after Mervyn Peake's death in 1968. 4 of them belong to the Gormenghast series.

Mervyn Peake Books in Publication Order

The table lists all 27 Mervyn Peake books in the order they were published, with the release year, the page count where one is on record, and how many independent book listings confirm each title. Catalogue data as of September 2026.

  1. Cover of Captain Slaughterboard Drops Anchor by Mervyn Peake (1939)
  2. Cover of Ride a Cock-Horse and Other Nursery Rhymes by Mervyn Peake (1940)
  3. Cover of Shapes And Sounds by Mervyn Peake (1941)
  4. Cover of Titus Groan by Mervyn Peake, book 1 of the Gormenghast series (1946)
  5. Cover of Gormenghast by Mervyn Peake, book 2 of the Gormenghast series (1950)
  6. Cover of Figures of Speech by Mervyn Peake (1954)
  7. Cover of Boy in Darkness by Mervyn Peake (1956)
  8. Cover of The Rhyme of the Flying Bomb by Mervyn Peake (1962)
  9. Cover of Titus Awakes, book 4 of the Gormenghast series (1972)
  10. Cover of A Book of Nonsense by Mervyn Peake (1972)
  11. Cover of Selected Poems by Mervyn Peake (1972)
  12. Cover of Mervyn Peake by Mervyn Peake (1975)
  13. Cover of Writings & Drawings by Mervyn Peake (1975)
  14. Cover of Peake's Progress by Mervyn Peake (1978)
  15. Cover of Collected Poems by Mervyn Peake (2008)
  1. 1
    Captain Slaughterboard Drops Anchor1939 · 48 pages · confirmed 1/4
    193948
    Buy at Amazon USAmazon UK
  2. 2
    Ride a Cock-Horse and Other Nursery Rhymes1940 · 33 pages · confirmed 1/4
    194033
    Buy at Amazon USAmazon UK
  3. 3
    Shapes And Sounds1941 · 40 pages · confirmed 1/4
    194140
    Buy at Amazon USAmazon UK
  4. 4
    Rhymes Without Reason1944 · 32 pages · confirmed 1/4
    194432
    Buy at Amazon USAmazon UK
  5. 5
    The Craft of the Lead Pencil1946 · 72 pages · confirmed 1/4
    194672
    Buy at Amazon USAmazon UK
  6. 6
    Titus GroanGormenghast #11946 · 496 pages · confirmed 1/4
    1946496
    Buy at Amazon USAmazon UK
  7. 7
    Letters from a lost uncle1948 · confirmed 1/4
    1948–
    Buy at Amazon USAmazon UK
  8. 8
    Drawings1949 · 120 pages · confirmed 1/4
    1949120
    Buy at Amazon USAmazon UK
  9. 9
    GormenghastGormenghast #21950 · 512 pages · confirmed 1/4
    1950512
    Buy at Amazon USAmazon UK
  10. 10
    The Glassblowers1950 · confirmed 1/4
    1950–
    Buy at Amazon USAmazon UK
  11. 11
    Mr. Pye1953 · confirmed 1/4
    1953–
    Buy at Amazon USAmazon UK
  12. 12
    Figures of Speech1954 · 64 pages · confirmed 1/4
    195464
    Buy at Amazon USAmazon UK
  13. 13
    Boy in Darkness1956 · 128 pages · confirmed 1/4
    1956128
    Buy at Amazon USAmazon UK
  14. 15
    Titus AloneGormenghast #31959 · confirmed 1/4
    1959–
    Buy at Amazon USAmazon UK
  15. 16
    The Rhyme of the Flying Bomb1962 · 43 pages · confirmed 1/4
    196243
    Buy at Amazon USAmazon UK
  16. 17
    A Reverie of Bone and other poems1967 · confirmed 1/4
    1967–
    Buy at Amazon USAmazon UK
  17. 18
    Titus AwakesGormenghast #41972 · 288 pages · confirmed 1/4
    1972288
    Buy at Amazon USAmazon UK
  18. 19
    A Book of Nonsense1972 · 92 pages · confirmed 1/4
    197292
    Buy at Amazon USAmazon UK
  19. 20
    Selected Poems1972 · 46 pages · confirmed 1/4
    197246
    Buy at Amazon USAmazon UK
  20. 21
    Mervyn Peake1975 · 123 pages · confirmed 1/4
    1975123
    Buy at Amazon USAmazon UK
  21. 22
    Writings & Drawings1975 · 123 pages · confirmed 1/4
    1975123
    Buy at Amazon USAmazon UK
  22. 23
    Twelve Poems 1939 - 19601975 · confirmed 1/4
    1975–
    Buy at Amazon USAmazon UK
  23. 24
    Peake's Progress1978 · 576 pages · confirmed 1/4
    1978576
    Buy at Amazon USAmazon UK
  24. 25
    Collected Poems2008 · 160 pages · confirmed 1/4
    2008160
    Buy at Amazon USAmazon UK
  25. 26
    Peake Plays2011 · confirmed 1/4
    2011–
    Buy at Amazon USAmazon UK
  26. 27
    Complete Nonsense2011 · confirmed 1/4
    2011–
    Buy at Amazon USAmazon UK

Mervyn Peake books grouped by series

Each title below is a row in the publication-order table above. None of these groups has a reading-order page of its own on this site.

Gormenghast in order

4 books
  1. 1. Titus Groan
  2. 2. Gormenghast
  3. 3. Titus Alone
  4. 4. Titus Awakes

Standalone books

23 books

23 Mervyn Peake titles here are not listed as part of any series.

Do you have to read Mervyn Peake books in order?

You only need to read Mervyn Peake books in order within the Gormenghast series, which holds 4 of the 27 Mervyn Peake books listed here. The numbered table above gives every book in publication order.

Where to start with Mervyn Peake

Start with Captain Slaughterboard Drops Anchor (1939), the earliest published title.

What is the newest Mervyn Peake book?

Complete Nonsense (2011) is the newest Mervyn Peake book released so far.

Is there a new Mervyn Peake book coming?

No next Mervyn Peake book is announced in the catalogue, which is a gap in the listings it merges rather than a sign that the run has ended.

Awards Mervyn Peake has won

Wikidata records 1 award for Mervyn Peake. Each row states whether the title won or was shortlisted, and the year the award was given.

  • Heinemann Award1951Won

Mervyn Peake at a glance

Died
Mervyn Peake died in 1968, according to Wikidata.
After death
Books credited to Mervyn Peake are still being published after Mervyn Peake's death in 1968; the newest appeared in 2011.
Release pace
Mervyn Peake books have appeared about one every 3 years on average.
Length
3,141 pages across the 19 of 27 books with a recorded length, a median of 120 pages each.
Busiest decade
Most Mervyn Peake books, 7 of 27, were published in the 1970s.

What the Mervyn Peake books are about

17 of the 27 Mervyn Peake books carry subject tags in Open Library's catalogue. The subjects below are the ones that recur across them, most frequent first: children's fiction is tagged on 3 of 17. The subjects are cataloguers’ headings, not a plot summary.