The Soldiers’ Pocket Books That Legitimized Paperbacks

Oct 14

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Here is something else that began during WWII that we now take for granted.

Nicholas C. Rossis

Even though pamphlets and softcover books have been available in Europe since the 16th century, US readers looked down on them until well into the 20th century. As a recent Atlas Obscura post by Cara Giaimo explains, without a mass-market distribution model in place, it was difficult to make money selling inexpensive books.

Although certain brands succeeded by partnering with department stores, individual booksellers preferred to stock their shops with sturdier, better-looking hardbacks, for which they could charge higher prices. Even those who were trying to change the public’s mind bought into this prejudice: one paperback series, Modern Age Books, disguised its offerings as hardcovers, adding dust jackets and protective cardboard sleeves. They, too, couldn’t hack it in the market, and the company folded in the 1940s.

Wartime Reading

Armed Services Editions | From the blog of Nicholas C. Rossis, author of science fiction, the Pearseus epic fantasy series and children's books Soldiers in Virginia wrangle with hardcover books donated through the VBC. Image via Atlas Obscura.

Then, war came. In September of…

View original post 1,156 more words

About GP

Everett Smith served with the Headquarters Company, 187th Regiment, 11th A/B Division during WWII. This site is in tribute to my father, "Smitty." GP is a member of the 11th Airborne Association. Member # 4511 and extremely proud of that fact!

Posted on October 14, 2017, in Home Front, Uncategorized, WWII and tagged , , , , , . Bookmark the permalink. 84 Comments.

  1. Rosaliene Bacchus | October 23, 2017 at 12:05 PM

    This was news to me. Interesting the way difficult changes occur out of necessity.

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply
  2. mitchteemley | October 22, 2017 at 6:53 PM

    Never knew this. I read a ton of paperbacks as a kid.

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply
    • GP Cox | October 23, 2017 at 6:37 AM

      Just as we now learn how much came out of the space program that we use every day – so many things came out of WWII that we just don’t relate to a world war, eh?!! Good to see you, Mitch!

      Like

      Reply
  3. Lavinia Ross | October 19, 2017 at 3:13 PM

    My father would have gravitated to any SciFi type books available at that time.

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply
  4. Don Ostertag | October 19, 2017 at 1:12 PM

    Great bit of history. Those paperbacks mean so much to me.

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply
  5. quercuscommunity | October 17, 2017 at 6:54 AM

    Interesting side-light on something we take for granted these days.

    Liked by 2 people

    Reply
  6. bart ingraldi | October 16, 2017 at 12:49 PM

    As a bibliophile, I really enjoyed this post.

    Liked by 2 people

    Reply
  7. Gallivanta | October 15, 2017 at 11:12 PM

    Fascinating to read about the development of the paper back thanks to the armed services. I imagine ASE books would be sort after by collectors these days.

    Liked by 2 people

    Reply
  8. Anna Waldherr | October 15, 2017 at 9:08 PM

    I don’t know whether you read Charly Priest https://charlypriest.wordpress.com/. He’s a young vet who now writes poetry — sometimes raw, often funny. Among other things, Charly’s work reflects the difficulty soldiers can face in readjusting to civilian life. There is, also, a great video by Sebastian Junger on YouTube called “Why Veterans Miss War” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TGZMSmcuiXM. I found it really profound.

    Liked by 2 people

    Reply
  9. Curt Mekemson | October 15, 2017 at 8:27 PM

    I smiled here, G. A few weeks ago at the height of the fires in our area, the firefighters wanted some books to read in their off time. Peggy, who is President of the local Friends of the Library, put together several boxes of free paper backs. They were sincerely appreciated, like the soldiers did, I expect. –Curt

    Liked by 2 people

    Reply
  10. LordBeariOfBow | October 15, 2017 at 6:57 PM

    How strange; I’d have thought that “paperbacks” would have been something the early Americans would have grabbed onto quickly. We foreigners expect them to be at the forefront of anything “new”, and this wasn’t even new. 16th century ? Wow!

    Liked by 2 people

    Reply
  11. Garrulous Gwendoline | October 15, 2017 at 5:07 PM

    What a fascinating story. Hadn’t come across that before. My book was published in both trade paperback and mass paperback format, the second being the same content but smaller print so that the overall size is smaller. I guess it has its roots in this system.

    Liked by 3 people

    Reply
  14. inesephoto | October 15, 2017 at 8:26 AM

    Absolutely amazing! Great article, I had no idea.

    Liked by 2 people

    Reply
  15. Nicholas C. Rossis | October 15, 2017 at 5:46 AM

    Many thanks for sharing, GP! I’m thrilled to read all the comments here 🙂

    Liked by 2 people

    Reply
  16. Madelyn Griffith-Haynie, MCC, SCAC | October 15, 2017 at 1:23 AM

    I read the original as well, but popped over here to see if you had added anything additional and was rewarded to find the Lumbeck comment from Klausbernd. Thanks to BOTH of you for the additional info.
    xx,
    mgh
    (Madelyn Griffith-Haynie – ADDandSoMuchMORE dot com)
    ADD/EFD Coach Training Field founder; ADD Coaching co-founder
    “It takes a village to educate a world!”

    Liked by 2 people

    Reply
  17. Russel Ray Photos | October 15, 2017 at 12:52 AM

    “Cliff Notes” legitimized paperbacks for me. Used them all though K-12 for books that I tried to read but found too boring, things like “Moby Dick,” “To Kill A Mockingbird, “Catch-22”. After reading them decades later, I actually believe that they should be college level reading material instead of middle school and high school.

    Liked by 2 people

    Reply
    • GP Cox | October 15, 2017 at 6:08 AM

      Perhaps when they required us to read such books, they were trying to show they weren’t just novels with a plot – they had hidden meaning for so much more. A way to teach us to ‘read between the lines.’

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply
  18. Anne Clare | October 14, 2017 at 11:47 PM

    Interesting article, and what a great thing to provide for all of those serving far from home. Interesting title choices too, (though I’m pretty sure it was Bill Mauldin who wrote about being so bored they read the labels off their ration boxes just for something to read, so even the knitting book MAY have gone over better than expected…)

    Liked by 2 people

    Reply
    • GP Cox | October 15, 2017 at 6:06 AM

      You may be surprised just how many found the sewing books to come in handy when they needed to repair their uniforms and such. Macrame is great for sailors and boy scouts – they already know all the knots to use! Often used for physical therapy.

      Liked by 2 people

      Reply
  19. Nasuko | October 14, 2017 at 10:30 PM

    Very interesting content! !
    Reading books is like experiencing a different world.
    Soldiers and sick ppl etc.. need to escape from reality and keep their mind.

    Now..,Books of piling up is staring at me…..(T▽T)

    Liked by 2 people

    Reply
  20. John W. Howell | October 14, 2017 at 8:37 PM

    Super recount of the birth of the paperback, GP Thanks to Nicholas Rossis as well.

    Liked by 2 people

    Reply
  21. warturoadam77p | October 14, 2017 at 8:12 PM

    My father remarked about reading, “A Tree Grows In Brooklyn” while in the hospital.

    Liked by 2 people

    Reply
  22. doesitevenmatter3 | October 14, 2017 at 5:22 PM

    Wow! What great and interesting history! I did not know about this!
    Thanks, GP!
    Whenever we can get books into people’s hands (where ever they find themselves), that’s a good thing!
    HUGS and Happy whee-kend, too! 🙂

    Liked by 2 people

    Reply
  23. Jacqui Murray | October 14, 2017 at 5:00 PM

    My how things change. I’m finding more to like with digital–note-taking, small size, not always price. Thanks for this perspective.

    Liked by 2 people

    Reply
  25. ksbeth | October 14, 2017 at 3:26 PM

    so interesting , i never knew this –

    Liked by 3 people

    Reply
  26. Klausbernd | October 14, 2017 at 3:15 PM

    Dear GP Cox
    thanks for reblogging this interesting article.
    One of the breakthroughs for pocket books was the technique of lumbecking, a relatively cheap way of binding a book and which is still used for pocket books. This techniqe was invented by a German company with the name of Lumbeck which, by the way, exists still in Hattingen (a town on the southern border of the Ruhr-district). Lumbeck was asked by fascists to produce cheap books and booklets for their propaganda and so this company invented this kind of binding. After WW II quite a lot of German patents were annihilated (as a kind of reparation) and so lumbecking became a binding used for pocket books worldwide. As binding is an imporant factor for the price producing a book this relatively cheap new way of binding opened the market for pocket books as we know them nowadays. The disadvantage is that after reading such a bound book several times most of the pages are getting loose.
    A mass market for pocket books didn’t start before after WW II which has to do with big distributors started to rule the book business.
    All the best or dear friend ad ave a happy weekend
    The Fab Four of Cley

    Liked by 8 people

    Reply
  27. smilecalm | October 14, 2017 at 2:48 PM

    thanks to war
    we can carry
    smaller books 🙂

    Liked by 2 people

    Reply
  28. beetleypete | October 14, 2017 at 2:01 PM

    This was an enjoyable read. As you know, I first saw this on the original blog.
    Best wishes, Pete.

    Liked by 2 people

    Reply
  29. GP Cox | October 16, 2017 at 1:39 PM

    Thank you for sharing the story.

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

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