Sunday, March 2, 1958

THE MICHIGAN DAILY MAGAZINE

Page Fifteen

The Prevalence of Paperbacks
A Cultural Sign of Our Times
of financial success with a mini- This same browser, in the pres- financial sense in purchasing
mum of concern over what the ence of the increasing number of paper-bound books.
book in question does in the hard- paperback racks at his bookstore, The prevalence of paperbacksi
back form. would be able to confirm the last plications as well. Welcomed
observation to be made here, the wherever they appear, paperbacks
-SOME PAPERBACK publishers market is still growing and every- are probably nowhere more ap-
have become completely rnde- day the paperbacks are increasing. preciated for their convenience and
pendent and bargain competitively It would appear safe to say they economy than on college campuses.
in the open market for the original are here to stay for some time, American students today can buy
material of writers. One firm until something ingenious is de- the best of the world's books in the
vised that will eclipse their tre- same handy, inexpensive form in
offers $3,000 for original short mendous simple and direct appeal, which they have been available to
novels. And an advance of $1,500 For the student population partic- European students for many gen-
to the author of a paperback ularly there's unmistakable good erations past.
original is commonplace today.

Accountable in great
the success of the paper
the fact that they satis
tional need. America is ar
literate nation. True, we
hind Belgium, Holland, C
the Scandinavian count
others in degree of liter
those of us who have le
read make an almost cons
active use of the talent.
The place of the pap
book on the campus isas
distinct. The college stud
more serious, scholarly tit
the average paperback bu
he reads less of those
than does the common reo
almost religiously reads ev
that he purchases. The
paperbound books in class
up one of the most admir
of the cheaply-bound vol
conscientious student co
out of college with a h
and meaningful library
at a cost that would hf
unapproachable ten year
By DONALD A. YATES stimulant to reading. We suspect
THE PAPERBOUND book, a rel- that it is winning over a new HERE IS Al -example
atively recent innovation in audience as well as gratifying the a literary-minded 1
publishing, is rapidly becoming a mass of inveterate book-readers. browser cosild pick up1
copy of the late Erich At
cultural sign of our times. From Comic book sales are on a decline, excellent Mimesis, subtit
the point of view of the reader, noticeably so. It does not seem Representation of Reality
the inexpensive paperback is a unreasonable to think those read- er Literature. The boo
boon. From the publisher's stand- ers who were not lost to television eally published in 1953,
point, it could be regarded as a have moved on up the line to a had today as a title in Doi
form of suicide. However, to judge type of printed material made Anchor Book series for $1
from the large number of front- available in paperbacked form.
line publishers who have cleared Publishers have observed that A specialist would find1
out the spare office, picked up an- the paperback audience is so large phile Gerald Brenan's woi
other editor and jumped into the and responsive that it can virtually ume, The Literature of t1
paperback trade, it is a healthy guarantee a financial success for a ish People on the list of I
sort of suicide. book which, in hardback edition Books. Originally publi
It is undeniable that the im- alone, would not have made 1951. it is sold today for l
plied promise of a cheap edition money. So it is that many hard- A student of American I
to follow within months of the back books are making print on could add the following
original hardback edition of any the basis of the earnings enviisoned his library at a minimum
given title will have a depressant in the subsequent inexpensive edi- The Modern Novel in An
effect on that book's sale in the tion. In fact, it is not uncommon Frederic J. Hoffman, liste
initial three-dollar bracket. Yet today for an author to get his Regnery's Gateway Books,
this is not so serious a problem as contract with a publisher only $1.25; and representative
one might think. On the contrary, after a fixed agreement has been books that make their ori
as we shall see, the paperback made between the publisher and pearance in paperback for
sales are giving life to many a a paperback editor regarding the other Doubleday Anchc
hardbacked book. reprint rights. In this fashion, the Richard Chase's The
The paperback serves as a great publisher establishes a guarantee Novel and its Tradition, $

part for
rbacks is
fy a na-
relatively S
are be-
xerman y,
ries and
acy; but
arned to
tant and . NATIONALLY
erbacked ADVERTISED
mewhat . IVY LEAGUE r
ent buys
tiles than WASH-TROUSERS
iyer; but
he buys
ider who ..va
aewh ".$2 erything amidtip
use of
es points ASSORTED COLORS
able uses
ume. The
an come
andsome SAEYSTORE
acquired
ave been 122 E. Washington
s ago.
of what SAM J. BENJAMIN, '27 Lit.-Owner
bookshop

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