The Soldiers’ Pocket Books That Legitimized Paperbacks
Here is something else that began during WWII that we now take for granted.
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
Soldiers in Virginia wrangle with hardcover books donated through the VBC. Image via Atlas Obscura.
Then, war came. In September of…
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Posted on October 14, 2017, in Home Front, Uncategorized, WWII and tagged Books, History, Military, Military History, WW2, WWII. Bookmark the permalink. 84 Comments.
This was news to me. Interesting the way difficult changes occur out of necessity.
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My father used to always say, “Necessity is the mother of invention.” I suppose it applies here.
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Never knew this. I read a ton of paperbacks as a kid.
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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!
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My father would have gravitated to any SciFi type books available at that time.
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That would probably have been in the comic book section back in those days.
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Check out this link, GP, on the golden age of Science Fiction. Falls into the war years.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Golden_Age_of_Science_Fiction
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This is fantastic, Lavinia. I have always loved sci-fi [especially being a science major in school], but somehow I never connected the dots on those dates. I’ve got to look into this for a post – thanks !!!!
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Great bit of history. Those paperbacks mean so much to me.
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Everything started somewhere, eh Don? I’m glad these had a positive impact on you!
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Paperbacks and Classic Comics
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There you have it!! 🙂
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Interesting side-light on something we take for granted these days.
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I never knew it went back that far myself.
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Live and learn – the magic of blogging…
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I tell people I also learn as I do this research – I love it!!
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That’s true for me too.
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As a bibliophile, I really enjoyed this post.
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I figured there were some of us around, Bart, but I was amazed by the reaction to this post!! Took me completely by surprise!
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You may appreciate my latest post. It looks at letters between a wife and her GI husband during WWII.
http://www.papersleuth.com/2017/10/08/no-dear-john-letters-here/
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Great letters, Bart – just returned from your site – I hope my ‘follow’ sticks this time.
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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.
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I imagine they would be. I doubt too many survived the tropical weather! Maybe we should look into that?
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🙂
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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.
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Yes, I follow Charly and he is a good example. Being from Spain he adds an international flavor to the views of the war/PTSD situation.
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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
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I always consider reading a book as going on an adventure, so thank Peggy for bringing that to so many people!
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I passed it on. 🙂
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Thank you.
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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!
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We both learned something new, eh?
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Always good to learn something new GP; it’s what keeps us young and alive.
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You said it Beari. My father-in-law [yes he’s still alive and taking care of his wife], says reading is his only escape.
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an educated man
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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.
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I would imagine the entire paperback system had its roots there.
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Wow! I had no idea!
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The things they don’t teach you in school – right?! 🙂
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Right!
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Fascinating
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I’m so glad I checked into his site!
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Absolutely amazing! Great article, I had no idea.
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I love giving people a new look into what they thought was past history, because i also learn as we go along! Thanks, Mia.
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Many thanks for sharing, GP! I’m thrilled to read all the comments here 🙂
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You wrote an excellent article and I knew my readers and friends would enjoy it. You are more than welcome.
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Thanks! Although kudos belongs to Cara Giaimo, the original author 🙂
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You had the good fortune to find it for us!
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There’s even more for you to read.
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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!”
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It does take a village to educate the world (just me too!! 🙂 ) Klausbernd is highly educated and books are his Number One!!
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Well YOU are my go to for back-filling my education about the history of the freedoms so many of us take for granted.
xx,
mgh
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That’s quite a compliment.
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Acknowledgment – 🙂
xx,
mgh
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“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.
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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.’
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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…)
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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.
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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)
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haha, need to get back to reading your books, Nasuko? I agree, every book is an adventure – so who wouldn’t want to read?!
Have a great week, my friend.
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Super recount of the birth of the paperback, GP Thanks to Nicholas Rossis as well.
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My pleasure (especially since Nicholas did all the work here!) haha
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Ha ha ha. You supplied the digital space after all. 😀
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🙂
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My father remarked about reading, “A Tree Grows In Brooklyn” while in the hospital.
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Good to know his hospital had the books for their patients. Thanks for sharing that, Adam.
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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! 🙂
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I always considered reading as going on an adventure – so who wouldn’t want to read?!! Thanks for stopping by!
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My how things change. I’m finding more to like with digital–note-taking, small size, not always price. Thanks for this perspective.
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We share each others thoughts and research nearly every day, Jacqui, and I love it.
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Thanks for Sharing GP
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I figured my readers would enjoy this, so it was my pleasure!
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so interesting , i never knew this –
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What went behind the scenes, eh?
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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
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Thank you very much for including this additional information for me and the other readers. I appreciate you taking the time to bring it here!
GP Cox
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You are very welcome 🙂 🙂
Wishing you an easy week
Klausbernd 🙂
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thanks to war
we can carry
smaller books 🙂
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Isn’t it weird when you say it that way!?
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This was an enjoyable read. As you know, I first saw this on the original blog.
Best wishes, Pete.
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You helped to create this reblog, Pete – how could I forget. I always know I can count on my real friends.
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Thank you for sharing the story.
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