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==History== [[File:Piles of paperback novels (Source).webm|thumb|Piles of paperback novels|alt=Piles of paperback novels]] The early 19th century saw numerous improvements in the printing, publishing and book-distribution processes, with the introduction of steam-powered printing presses, pulp mills, automatic type setting, and a network of railways.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Aspects of the Victorian book |url=https://www.bl.uk/collections/early/victorian/intro.html |archive-url=http://web.archive.org/web/20221227190609/https://www.bl.uk/collections/early/victorian/intro.html |archive-date=2022-12-27 |access-date=2025-05-28 |website=www.bl.uk}}</ref> These innovations enabled the likes of [[Simms and McIntyre]] of Belfast,<ref>{{Cite web |title=Yellowbacks: I |url=https://www.bl.uk/collections/early/victorian/yellow/yellow1.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230306191543/https://www.bl.uk/collections/early/victorian/yellow/yellow1.html |archive-date=6 March 2023 |website=www.bl.uk}}</ref> [[Routledge|Routledge & Sons]] (founded in 1836) and [[Ward, Lock & Co.|Ward & Lock]] (founded in 1854) to mass-produce cheap uniform [[yellowbacks|yellowback]] or paperback editions of existing works, and distribute and sell them across the [[British Isles]], principally via the ubiquitous [[WHSmith|W. H. Smith & Sons]] newsagent found at most urban British railway stations. These paper bound volumes were offered for sale at a fraction of the historical cost of a book, and were of a smaller format, {{convert|110|x|178|mm|in|frac=8|abbr=on}},<ref name="GuardianSize" /> aimed at the railway traveller.<ref>''[[The Cambridge History of the Book in Britain]]'', volume 6: ''1830–1914'', edited by David McKitterick, {{ISBN|0521866243}}</ref> The Routledge's Railway Library series of paperbacks remained in print until 1898, and offered the traveling public 1,277 unique titles.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Photographically Illustrated Books: XI |url=https://www.bl.uk/collections/early/victorian/yellow/yellow2.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230124035120/https://www.bl.uk/collections/early/victorian/yellow/yellow2.html |archive-date=24 January 2023 |website=www.bl.uk}}</ref> The Continental market also supported examples of cheap paper-bound books: Bernhard [[Tauchnitz]] started the Collection of British and American Authors in 1841.<ref>[https://www.publishinghistory.com/collection-of-british-and-american-authors-tauchnitz.html Collection of British and American Authors (Tauchnitz) - Book Series List (Buchreihe)], publishinghistory.com. Retrieved 18 April 2021.</ref> These inexpensive, paperbound editions, a direct precursor to mass-market paperbacks, eventually ran to over 5,000 volumes. [[Reclam]] published Shakespeare in this format from October 1857<ref>{{cite book |last= Roger |first= Christine |title= La Réception de Shakespeare en Allemagne De 1815 À 1850: Propagation Et Assimilation de la Référence Étrangère |trans-title= The reception of Shakespeare in Germany from 1815 to 1850: the spread and assimilation of foreign reference material |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=ZQliue-UQfkC |access-date= 2013-02-17 |series= Contacts. Série 1, Theatrica |volume= 24 |year= 2008 |publisher= Peter Lang |language= fr |isbn= 9783039104222 |page= 206 |quote= Anton Philipp Reclam (1807–1896) fit paraître à partir d'octobre 1857 les '' Œeuvres complètes'' de Shakespeare au prix de vente de 1 Thaler et demi pour l'édition brochée at illustrée en douze volumes. [Anton Philipp Reclam (1807–1896) published from October 1857 the ''Complete Works'' of Shakespeare at a retail price of one and a half Thalers for the paper-bound and illustrated edition in twelve volumes.]}}</ref> and went on to pioneer the mass market paperbound ''Universal-Bibliothek'' series<ref>{{cite book |last= Fischer |first= Steven Roger |title= History of Reading |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=alw539DL-LcC |access-date= 2013-02-17 |series= Globalities Series |year= 2004 |publisher= [[Reaktion Books]] |isbn= 9781861892096 |page= 282 |quote= [...] in 1867, with the coming into force of the constitution of the Northern German Federation [...], works by German authors deceased for 30 years or more officially became public domain. Entire libraries of very cheap paperback editions of German classics immediately flooded the market. And so Reclam, too, extended his paperback idea with the new series 'Universal-Bibliothek' (Universal Library') [...]. Thousands of titles eventually followed, which included nearly all the world's great literature. In this way, and despite most Western countries' imitations, Reclam paperbacks became the world's foremost paperback series.}}</ref> from 10 November 1867. ===The early years: 1930–1950=== The German publisher [[Albatross Books]] revised the 20th-century mass-market paperback format in 1931, but the approach of [[World War II]] cut the experiment short. Albatross' innovations included a standardized size, use of new [[sans-serif]] fonts, use of logo and type on the cover without an illustration, and color-coding the covers by genre.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Troy |first=Michele K. |editor-last=Wilson |editor-first=Nicola |title=Albatross |url=https://www.modernistarchives.com/business/albatross |journal=Modernist Archives Publishing Project |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191217104432/https://www.modernistarchives.com/business/albatross |archive-date=17 December 2019 |access-date=2019-12-17}}</ref><ref>{{cite magazine |last=Rego Barry |first=Rebecca |date=2017-04-03 |title=The Surprising History of Penguin Predecessor, the Albatross Press |url=https://www.finebooksmagazine.com/blog/surprising-history-penguin-predecessor-albatross-press |magazine=Fine Books & Collections |location=Chapel Hill, NC |publisher=OP Media, LLC |access-date=2019-12-17}}</ref> [[File:George Orwell - Keep the Aspidistra Flying.jpg|thumb|upright|1936 Penguin book. Color-coded orange and white for general fiction]] In 1935, British publisher [[Allen Lane]], investing his own capital, initiated the paperback revolution in the English-language book market by releasing ten reprint titles to launch the [[Penguin Books]] imprint. They adopted many of Albatross's innovations, including a conspicuous logo, using only type on the cover, and color-coded covers for different genres. The first book on Penguin's 1935 list was [[André Maurois]]' ''Ariel''.<ref>McCleery, Alistair. "The Return of the Publisher to Book History: The Case of Allen Lane". ''Book History''. 5 (2002): 161–185. {{JSTOR|30228189}}. Retrieved 10 October 2015.</ref> Lane intended to produce inexpensive books. He purchased paperback rights from publishers, ordered large [[Edition (book)#Print run|print runs]] (such as 20,000 copies—large for the time) to keep [[unit price]]s low, and looked to non-traditional book-selling retail locations. Booksellers were initially reluctant to buy his books, but when [[Woolworths Group plc|Woolworths]] placed a large order, the books sold extremely well. After that initial success, booksellers showed more willingness to stock paperbacks, and the name "Penguin" became closely associated with the word "paperback" in Great Britain.{{citation needed|date=December 2018}} In the United States, Robert de Graaf created the [[Pocket Books]] label in 1939, partnering with [[Simon & Schuster]] to issue a similar line of reprints. Because at first Pocket Books was the only publisher of paperbacks, the term "pocket book" became synonymous with paperback in English-speaking North America. (In France, the term ''livre de poche'', which translates as "pocket book", was used and is still in use today.) De Graaf, like Lane, negotiated paperback rights from other publishers, and produced many runs. His practices contrasted with those of Lane by his adoption of illustrated covers aimed at the North American market. To reach an even broader market than Lane, he used distributors of newspapers and magazines to distribute his books because they had a lengthy history of being aimed (in format and distribution) at mass audiences.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Korda|first1=Michael|title=Another life: a memoir of other people|url=https://archive.org/details/anotherlifememoi00kord|url-access=registration|date=1999|publisher=Random House|location=New York|isbn=0679456597|edition=1st}}</ref> Pocket Books were not available in book stores because they did not carry magazines. Pocket Books established the format for all subsequent paperback publishers in the 1940s. The books measured 6.5" by 4.25" (16.5 cm by 10.8 cm), had full-color covers, and cost 25 cents. Eventually in the 1950s the height increased by 0.5" (1.4 cm) to 7" (18 cm). The width remained the same because wire display racks used in many locations could not hold wider books. With the larger size came a higher price, first 35 cents and then 50 cents. Because of its number-one position in what became a very long list of pocket editions, [[James Hilton (novelist)|James Hilton]]'s ''[[Lost Horizon (novel)|Lost Horizon]]'' is often cited as the first American paperback book. However, the first mass-market, pocket-sized, paperback book printed in the U.S. was an edition of [[Pearl Buck]]'s ''[[The Good Earth]]'', produced by Pocket Books as a proof-of-concept in late 1938, and sold in New York City.<ref>{{cite journal |title=How the Paperback Novel Changed Popular Literature |first=Anne |last=Trubek |author-link=Anne Trubek |date=March 30, 2010 |journal=[[Smithsonian (magazine)|Smithsonian]] |url=https://www.smithsonianmag.com/arts-culture/how-the-paperback-novel-changed-popular-literature-11893941/ |access-date=2024-04-02 |quote=in 1938 ... The first Pocket Book title was The Good Earth by Pearl Buck, and it was sold in [[Macy's Herald Square|Macy’s]]<!--This was the only Macy's location from 1902 until the 1960s, and Macy's didn't exist outside NYC until 1983-->.}}</ref> The first ten Pocket Book titles published in May 1939 with a print run of about 10,000 copies each were: #''[[Lost Horizon]]'' (1933) by [[James Hilton (novelist)|James Hilton]] #''[[Wake Up and Live]]'' (1936) by [[Dorothea Brande]] #''Five Great Tragedies'' by [[William Shakespeare]] #''[[Topper (novel series)|Topper]]'' (1926) by [[Thorne Smith]] #''[[The Murder of Roger Ackroyd]]'' (1926) by [[Agatha Christie]] #''Enough Rope'' (1926) by [[Dorothy Parker]] #''[[Wuthering Heights]]'' (1847) by [[Emily Brontë]] #''[[The Way of All Flesh]]'' (1903) by [[Samuel Butler (novelist)|Samuel Butler]] #''[[The Bridge of San Luis Rey]]'' (1927) by [[Thornton Wilder]] #''[[Bambi, A Life in the Woods|Bambi]]'' (1928 English translation) by [[Felix Salten]]<ref name="NY">{{cite news |last=Ennis |first=Thomas W. |title=Robert F. De Graff Dies At 86; Was Pocket Books Founder |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1981/11/03/obituaries/robert-f-de-graff-dies-at-86-was-pocket-books-founder.html |access-date=November 9, 2019 |work=[[The New York Times]] |date=November 3, 1981}}</ref> This list includes seven novels, the most recent being six year old (''[[Lost Horizon]]s'', 1933), two classics (Shakespeare and ''Wuthering Heights'', both out of copyright), one mystery novel, one book of poetry (''Enough Rope''), and one self-help book. The success of Pocket Books led to others entering the market. In 1941, [[American News Company]], a magazine distributor, bought a [[dime novel]] publisher partially owned by brother and sister Joseph Meyers and Edna Meyers Williams and hired them to organize a new company called "Avon Publications". [[Avon (publisher)|Avon]] copied the basic format established by Pocket Books but differentiated itself by emphasizing, as a book on collecting paperbacks says, "popular appeal rather than loftier concepts of literary merit."<ref>Canja, Jeff. (2002) ''Collectable Paperback Books, Second Edition'', East Lansing, MI: Glenmoor Publishing. {{ISBN|0-9673639-5-0}}</ref> In 1953, ''[[Time (magazine)|Time]]'' magazine summarized its books as "westerns, whodunits, and the kind of boy-meets-girl story that can be illustrated by a ripe cheesecake jacket [cover]".<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20071014215505/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,818695,00.html "Highbrow Smorgasbord"], ''Time'', August 10, 1953.</ref> The next year [[Dell Publishing]], which was founded in 1921 by [[George T. Delacorte Jr.]] to publish [[pulp magazines]], joined with [[Western Publishing]] to publish [[Dell Books]]. Like Avon, Dell followed the basic format established by Pocket Books. But within that format, "Dell achieved more variety than any of its early competitors [with its] . . . instantly identifiable format of vibrant airbrushed covers for its predominantly genre fiction", specialized logos and special features like maps and lists of characters. [[World War II]] brought both new technology and a wide readership of men and women serving in the military or employed as shift workers; paperbacks were cheap, readily available, and easily posted and carried. Furthermore, people found that restrictions on travel gave them time to read more paperbacks. [[Four-color printing]] (invented in 1906<ref>{{Cite web |date=2015-03-24 |title=A very brief history of CMYK - Alexander's |url=https://alexanders.com/blog/a-very-brief-history-of-cmyk/ |access-date=2025-05-28 |website=Alexanders Print Advantage - Web To Print Experts |language=en-US}}</ref>) and [[lamination]] (invented in 1936<ref>{{cite journal | url=https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/14733285.2021.1965089 | doi=10.1080/14733285.2021.1965089 | title=The lamination machine and laminating as thing-power in early childhood pedagogical practice | date=2022 | last1=Skreland | first1=Lisbeth Ljosdal | last2=Steen-Johnsen | first2=Tale | journal=Children's Geographies | volume=20 | issue=5 | pages=701–713 | hdl=11250/2835029 | hdl-access=free }}</ref>) developed for military maps made the paperback cover eye catching and kept ink from running as people handled the book. A revolving metal rack (invented in 1906), designed to display a wide variety of paperbacks in a small space, found its way into [[pharmacy|drugstore]]s, [[dimestore]]s, and markets. During World War II, the U.S. military distributed some 122 million "[[Armed Services Editions]]" <ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2014/09/publishers-gave-away-122951031-books-during-world-war-ii/379893/ |title=Publishers Gave Away 122,951,031 Books During World War II |first=Yoni |last=Appelbaum |date=10 September 2014 |work=The Atlantic}}</ref> paperback novels to the troops. After the war, the former servicemembers' familiarity with paperbacks helped popularize the format.<ref name="Atlas Obscura 2017">{{cite web |last1=Giaimo |first1=Cara |title=How Books Designed for Soldiers' Pockets Changed Publishing Forever |url=https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/armed-services-editions-pocket-paperback-books |website=[[Atlas Obscura]] |access-date=29 December 2018 |language=en |date=22 September 2017}}</ref> Two new developments changed the nature of the mass-market paperback business. One was the decision by publishers to publish more recent best selling books than the older books originally published by Pocket Book. They sought reprint rights on new books and soon found themselves in competition for the biggest sellers, leading to bidding against each other for the rights and costing them more money. The second development was the [[spinner rack]], a metal pole with a four-sided wire frame designed to vertically hold rows of racks of paperback books. Retail store owners no longer had to devote feet of valuable counter space to low-profit paperbacks. Dozens of paperbacks could be displayed vertically in five or six square feet of floor space. (Similar racks were available for magazines and comic books.) By the late 1940s, paperback spinner racks were ubiquitous in large and small towns across the United States, in every local grocery store, drug store, [[dime store]], and bus and train station, displaying everything from best sellers and mysteries and westerns to classics and Shakespeare. In 1955, in [[William Inge]]'s [[Broadway play]] ''[[Bus Stop (William Inge play)|Bus Stop]]'', it did not seem unbelievable that a long-distance bus traveller stranded by a snowstorm in an out-of-the-way cafe walks to a shelf and picks up a paperback copy of ''Four Tragedies of Shakespeare''. "Sometimes one can find Shakespeare on these shelves among the many lurid novels of juvenile delinquents," he comments.<ref>William Inge, "[https://archive.org/details/bus-stop-william-inge Act Two]", ''Bus Stop'', (Random House), p. 78, accessed 3/6/2023</ref> In 1945, [[Bantam Books]] was formed by [[Walter B. Pitkin Jr.]], Sidney B. Kramer, and husband and wife [[Ian Ballantine|Ian]] and [[Betty Ballantine]] as a mass-market paperback publisher. The fifth major 1940s publisher of mass-market paperbacks was [[New American Library]]. Originally Penguin USA, it became a separate publisher in 1948 as the New American Library of World Literature when it separated from Penguin and [[Victor Weybright]] and [[Kurt Enoch]] took over. Its original focus was classics and scholarly works as well as popular and pulp fiction. Eventually it shortened its name to New American Library and published books in the ''Mentor'' and ''Signet'' lines.<ref name=":0">{{Cite news|url=http://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1948/02/01/96415865.html?pageNumber=76 |url-access=subscription |title=People Who Read and Write| work= The New York Times |access-date=2016-04-10}}</ref> New paperback publishers continued to enter the market - [[Lion Books (publisher)|Lion Books]] and [[Jove Books|Pyramid Books]] (both 1949), [[Fawcett Publications|Fawcett]] [[Gold Medal Books]] (1950), [[Ace Books]] and [[Ballantine Books]] (both 1952), and [[Berkley Books]] (1955). U.S. paperbacks quickly entered the Canadian market. Canadian mass-market paperback initiatives in the 1940s included White Circle Books, a subsidiary of Collins (UK.); it was fairly successful but was soon outstripped by the success of [[Harlequin Enterprises|Harlequin]] which began in 1949 and, after a few years of publishing undistinguished novels, focused on the romance genre and became one of the world's largest publishers. ===The 1950s—The paperback original (fiction) revolution=== {{anchor|Paperback originals}}<!-- [[Paperback original]] redirects here--> At first, paperbacks consisted entirely of reprints, but in 1950, [[Fawcett Publications]]' [[Gold Medal Books]] began publishing original fiction in mass–market paperback. The term '''paperback original''' applies to paperback original publications of fiction. It is not usually applied to original non–fiction publications, although paperback publishers also began issuing original non–fiction titles. Fawcett, an independent [[newsstand]] distributor, in 1945, negotiated a contract with [[New American Library]] to distribute its Mentor and Signet titles. That contract prohibited Fawcett from becoming a competitor by publishing its own paperback reprints. Roscoe Kent Fawcett wanted to establish a line of Fawcett paperbacks, and he felt original works would not be a violation of the contract. To challenge the contract, Fawcett published two anthologies—''The Best of [[True (magazine)|True Magazine]]'' and ''What Today's Woman Should Know About Marriage and Sex''—reprinting material from Fawcett magazines not previously published in books. After these books were successfully published, Fawcett announced in December 1949 that in February 1950 it would publish "original fiction including westerns and mysteries at 25 cents in a pocket-sized format" in a series called Gold Medal Books. ''[[Publishers Weekly]]'' reported in May 1950 that Fawcett books were "similar in appearance and cover allure to many of the paperback reprints, but the story material [was] original and not reprinted from regular editions." It also said the authors would be paid a $2,000 advance with a guaranteed first printing of 200,000 copies.<ref name=":1">[http://www.allanguthrie.co.uk/pages/noir_zine/articles/paperback_originals.php "Paperback Originals"]. ''The Mystery Readers Newsletter''. 1971.Crider, Bill. {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100703014426/http://www.allanguthrie.co.uk/pages/noir_zine/articles/paperback_originals.php |date=3 July 2010 }}</ref> That same month Fawcett released the first four Gold Medal books, original novels by [[W. R. Burnett]], [[Sax Rohmer]], Richard Himmel, and John Flagg - one western and three mysteries/adventure novels. Fawcett's action led to immediate controversy, with an executive Vice president of Pocket Books attacking the whole idea, a literary agent reporting that one hardcover publisher threatened to boycott his agency if he dealt with mass market publishers, and [[Doubleday (publisher)|Doubleday]]'s LeBaron R. Barker claiming that paperback originals could "undermine the whole structure of publishing."<ref name=":1" /> Sales soared, prompting Gold Medal editorial director Ralph Daigh to comment later, "In the past six months we have produced 9,020,645 books, and people seem to like them very well." In 1950 Gold Medal published 35 titles, in 1952, 66 titles.<ref name="pb" /> Other paperback publishers saw Gold Medal's success and began to emulate it. ''Publishers Weekly'' reported in May 1952 that Avon had included three originals in its April releases and was seeking more. It added that Dell was {{"'}}thinking about' some systematic programs of original publishing," Lion Books had "a definite original publishing program in the works", and that Graphic had begun publishing originals about a year earlier. Bantam, Pocket Books, and New American Library said they were not going to publish originals.<ref name=":1"/> Also in 1952, Ace began publishing Ace Double Novel Books, two books printed in one volume for 35 cents, one a reprint and one original, with two covers and two title pages.<ref name=":1"/> In 1952, husband and wife publishers [[Ian Ballantine|Ian]] and [[Betty Ballantine]] left Bantam Books and founded their own publishing house, [[Ballantine Books]], to publish paperbacks simultaneously with their publication in hardcover by traditional publishers. Their first book, [[Cameron Hawley]]'s ''Executive Suite'', published January 1, 1952 at 35 cents in the 7" height simultaneously with [[Houghton Mifflin]]'s $3.00 hardcover edition, was a success for both publishers.<ref name=pb>{{cite web |url=http://www.miskatonic.org/rara-avis/archives/200208/0062.html |title=Crider, Bill. "Paperback Originals," ''Paperback Forum'' #1 |publisher=Miskatonic.org |access-date=2013-02-27 |archive-date=2012-02-27 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120227055916/http://www.miskatonic.org/rara-avis/archives/200208/0062.html |url-status=live }}</ref> Of their next nine novels, two were published simultaneously by Houghton Mifflin and one by [[Farrar, Straus & Young]], and six were stand-alone originals. In 1953, Dell announced its line of originals, Dell First Editions, and published its first novels by Walt Grove, [[Fredric Brown|Frederic Brown]], and [[Charles Einstein]].<ref name=":1"/> Genre categories began to emerge, and mass-market book covers reflected those categories. Mass-market paperbacks influenced slick and [[pulp magazines]]. The market for cheap magazines diminished when buyers began to buy cheap books instead. Authors also found themselves abandoning magazines and writing for the paperback market. The leading paperback publishers often hired experienced pulp magazine cover artists, including [[Rudolph Belarski]] and [[Earle K. Bergey]], who helped create the look and feel of paperbacks and set an appealing visual standard that continues to this day. Scores of well-known authors were published in paperback, including [[Arthur Miller]] and [[John Steinbeck]]. [[McClelland and Stewart]] entered the Canadian mass-market book trade in the early 1960s, with its "Canadian best seller library" series, at a time when Canadian literary culture was beginning to be popularized, and a call for a Canadian author identity was discussed by the Canadian people.
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