World Paperback Day: A Cover-to-Cover Celebration of Fun-Size Books
- Chinmayi ShyamSundar
- Jul 29
- 5 min read
What are paperbacks?
A paperback book is a book with a flexible thick paper or paperboard cover, also known as a wrapper, and is bound using glue instead of stitches or staples. Paperbacks tend to be lighter weight, more affordable, and more portable than hardbacks.
They are found in two main forms in the US, as trade paperbacks and mass-market paperbacks. Mass-market paperbacks are a small, usually non-illustrated, inexpensive bookbinding formats. These include small pocket books as well. They are usually printed on cheap paper, printed after hardcover editions, and can be easily picked up in places where books are not the main business, such as airports, drugstores, and supermarkets.
Meanwhile, trade paperbacks are higher quality paperbacks and tend to be printed on acid-free paper. They only entered the American market in the 1960s. When it comes to pagination, book size, and margins, they tend to be similar to hardcover books.
History of paperbacks
Inexpensive books bound with paper have been around since even the 1800s, existing in the form of saddle-stapled or unbound leaflets and pamphlets, yellowbacks are printed on glazed paper that turned yellow with age in the United Kingdom, and dime novels, an umbrella term for cheap story papers, five- and ten-cent weeklies, and early pulp magazines in the United States.
Early paperbacks in the US were characterized by cheap, paper-bound books marketed to wide audiences. Early publishers like Bernhard Tauchnitz who founded the Collection of British and American Authors in 1841 and Reclam Verlag published direct predecessors of mass-market paperbacks, running thousands of volumes.
Early years of paperbacks
Paperbacks experienced their first "wave" of popularity in the 1930s. German publisher Albatross Books pioneered many innovations of paperback publishing, including sans-serif fonts, simple logo and type on the cover without an illustration, and color-coding covers by genre. However, this was cut short by World War II. British publisher Allen Lane launched a line of ten reprint paperback titles in 1935 using many of Albatross' innovations, creating the Penguin Books imprint.
Lane intended to publish inexpensive books. The first book on his list was André Maurois' 1924 novel Ariel. He bought paperback rights from publishers, ordered large print runs, and looked for nonconventional places to sell books to keep costs low. He was initially unsuccessful, until British retail conglomerate Woolworth's put in a large order, encouraging other vendors to order his books. He became very successful, with Penguin books becoming synonymous with paperbacks in Britain.
In the US, Robert de Graaf created the Pocket Books imprint in collaboration with Simon & Schuster in 1939 to issue a similar line of reprints. Unlike Lane, he used illustrated covers for his books and, to reach an even broader market, he used newspaper and magazine sellers because they had a history of selling to wide audiences. The books were small and only cost 25 cents. With larger sizes, price also increased to 35 and 50 cents.
The first mass-market, pocket-sized paperback sold in the US was a reprint of Pulitzer prize-winning novel The Good Earth by Pearl S. Buck, produced as a proof-of-concept by Pocket Books sold in Macy's in New York City in late 1938. The first ten Pocket Book titles were officially published in May 1939 with about 10,000 copies each printed. They included:
Lost Horizon (1933) by James Hilton
Wake Up and Live (1936) by Dorothea Brande
Five Great Tragedies by William Shakespeare
Topper (1926) by Thorne Smith
The Murder of Roger Ackroyd (1926) by Agatha Christie
Enough Rope (1926) by Dorothy Parker
The Way of All Flesh (1903) by Samuel Butler
The Bridge of San Luis Rey (1927) by Thornton Wilder
Bambi, a Life in the Woods (originally published in 1923, Pocket Books reprinted the 1928 English translation) by Felix Salten
The success of Pocket Books emboldened many other American publishers to begin selling paperback novels. For example, in 1941, American News Company, a magazine publisher, bought a publisher of dime novels partially owned by brother-sister duo Joseph Meyers and Edna Meyers Williams and hired them to start a new company, Avon Publications. The look of Avon's books was near-identical to the look of Pocket Books, but while Pocket Books could be described as "greatness for the masses," Avon Publications was more like "mass appeal reaching for greatness." Many publishers began to enter the game, leading a new explosion of paperback publishing in the 1950s.
The paperback original revolution
At first, paperbacks were only reprints of existing novels. This changed in 1950, when Fawcett Publications' imprint Gold Medal Books was created. Paperback originals, books that are originally printed as paperbacks, were created when Roscoe Kent Fawcett decided to print them. He did this because his company, Fawcett Publications, had negotiated a contract with New American Library to distribute their Mentor and Signet titles in 1945 that prevented them from printing their own paperback reprints and becoming a competitor. Kent Fawcett decided that printing originals wouldn't void the contract, and, voilà, the paperback original was born!
Fawcett initially printed two anthologies reprinted from Fawcett magazines never published in books. They announced in 1949 that they would publish original fiction including westerns and mysteries for 25 cents in a paperback format the following year. Though they were similar in appearance and cover allure to typical paperbacks, they differentiated themselves by printing original content never-before-published. In February, they published four original novels, one western and three mysteries.
Fawcett's actions lead to an immediate and incensed furor; Doubleday Publishing's LeBaron Russell "Lee" Barker remarking that paperback originals had the potential to "undermine the whole structure of publishing." Sales soared, however, with Fawcett printing over nine million books in a six-month period. In 1950, they introduced thirty-five titles. Two years later, in 1952, they introduced another sixty-six.
Paperback originals took off to astronomical levels, becoming instant bestsellers and provoking hordes of publishers to begin offering their own paperback originals. The industry has evolved to what it is today.
What is World Paperback Day?
World Paperback Day is an annual celebration that commemorates the paperback, a style of books that forever changed the way people read. Observed every year on July 30th, the day commemorates the anniversary of the release of the first mass-market, pocket-sized paperback in the United States: The Good Earth by Pearl S. Buck, sold by Pocket Books in 1938.
It celebrates not just a publishing innovation, but a broader change in reading and how people read. Paperbacks made books more portable, affordable, and accessible, allowing stories to travel beyond bookstores and into grocery aisles, train stations, and beach bags. Wherever they are, paperbacks are a testament to the resilience of books and readers.
World Paperback Day isn’t just a look back at publishing history. It celebrates the lasting legacy of paperbacks in bringing stories to more people, in more places, than ever before. At the library, we are staunch fans of World Paperback Day and we encourage you to join this year.
How can you celebrate World Paperback Day?
Browse paperbacks at the library. Try a classic you've never read, read something you never normally would, or go for a beloved favorite. Paperbacks make it so the choice is yours!
Join a book club at the library. Is there any way more fitting to celebrate a day about paperbacks than to join one of UCL's many wonderful book clubs?
Donate to the library. Help us make more paperbacks available to more people!
Read a paperback somewhere cozy. Curl up when it's raining outside with a paperback from the library!
Why we love World Paperback Day
It's a celebration of books
It's a celebration of paperbacks
It's a celebration of readers
It's a celebration of authors
It's a celebration of reading
It's a celebration of libraries
Join us at the library this July 30th for World Paperback Day!
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