Food for thought - paperback revolution
First of all I have to confess to my English publishing friends: I never understood the hype about Penguin books and I don´t know most of the works that decorate mugs, bags and stationery articles advertising this brand. The only copies I own by Penguin are Jane Austen novels I fancied to read in English at the age of 15. I associate Reclam (founded in 1828) with successful and revolutionary paperback publishing; their books accompanied me since I was 15 in all their colours: yellow (German), blue (interpretation keys), red (foreign language text with glossary) and, since my university days, orange (bilingual). |
Nevertheless I can somehow understand that for English speakers, Penguin is that what Reclam is for me: a cheap way to read good quality literature (essential for students without money!). Therefore, I guess the creation of Penguin books in 1935 is considered the cause of the reading revolution of the 1930s and 40s in Britain.
Inspired by Tauchnitz and later Insel (both German publishing houses - and this is said without national pride), Allen Lane created the first modern British paperback to provide "cheap light reading for [travellers] journeys." (Feather:207). The clue that made him the "progenitor of the 'paperback revolution'" (Feather: 207) (although he did not invent it but just popularise it) was combining reprints with a cheap paper-cover.
I guess the conservative British publishing industry did not have this kind of book before (as French and German ones did), because they were too dominant and could fight any ideas that would threaten their income. However, after Lane's contract with Woolworth's, the paperback revolution in Britain started as readers were connected directly to the publisher who carefully selected the literature for a middlebrow audience.
The success can be found in the "new techniques of selling and promoting" (Feather: 213) that "put books into the hands of many who would have otherwise never buy or read a book at all." (Feather 213).
Can we say than that Penguin books radically changed publishing and reading culture in Britain in the 1930s and 40s? In my opinion this can be answered with a yes: they gave a new shape to the publishing industry and expanded the reading public. All the other paperback publishers afterwards demonstrate as well that the Penguin´s success had a great impact and influence on the industry.
Still, my heart will always belong Insel and, especially, to the yellow (red and orange) books since 2009, when my "Horror in Yellow" (as we called Reclam during school time) turned into my "World in Yellow".
Inspired by Tauchnitz and later Insel (both German publishing houses - and this is said without national pride), Allen Lane created the first modern British paperback to provide "cheap light reading for [travellers] journeys." (Feather:207). The clue that made him the "progenitor of the 'paperback revolution'" (Feather: 207) (although he did not invent it but just popularise it) was combining reprints with a cheap paper-cover.
I guess the conservative British publishing industry did not have this kind of book before (as French and German ones did), because they were too dominant and could fight any ideas that would threaten their income. However, after Lane's contract with Woolworth's, the paperback revolution in Britain started as readers were connected directly to the publisher who carefully selected the literature for a middlebrow audience.
The success can be found in the "new techniques of selling and promoting" (Feather: 213) that "put books into the hands of many who would have otherwise never buy or read a book at all." (Feather 213).
Can we say than that Penguin books radically changed publishing and reading culture in Britain in the 1930s and 40s? In my opinion this can be answered with a yes: they gave a new shape to the publishing industry and expanded the reading public. All the other paperback publishers afterwards demonstrate as well that the Penguin´s success had a great impact and influence on the industry.
Still, my heart will always belong Insel and, especially, to the yellow (red and orange) books since 2009, when my "Horror in Yellow" (as we called Reclam during school time) turned into my "World in Yellow".
For further reading, here a nice article about author´s concerns with paperback: Why size matters!
http://www.theguardian.com/books/2001/aug/11/gettingpublished
http://www.theguardian.com/books/2001/aug/11/gettingpublished
Bibliography: John Feather, ‘Alan Lane’s Idea’ in A History of British Publishing (London: Routledge, 1988) Raymond N. MacKenzie, ‘Penguin Books’ in British Literary Publishing Houses, 1881-1965, edited by Patricia J. Anders and Jonathan Rose (Detroit: Gale Research, 1991) Steve Hare, ed. ‘Myths of Creation’, Penguin Portrait: Allen Lane and the Penguin Editors, 1935-1970, London: Penguin, 1995 |