The Rise and Fall of the Paperback Book

A brief history of the English paperback book and how it rose to prominence despite skeptical publishers and the destruction of World War II. WANT TO BUY ANY OF THE BOOKS IN THIS VIDEO? Some are still available in my bookshop - Cotswold Internet Books! Sixpenny Paperbacks: https://tinyurl.com/cib-sixpenny Tauchnitz Paperbacks: https://tinyurl.com/cib-tauchnitz Albatross Paperbacks: https://tinyurl.com/cib-albatross Vintage Penguin Books: https://tinyurl.com/cib-penguin Pocket Books: https://tinyurl.com/cib-pocketbooks USA Armed Services Editions: https://tinyurl.com/cib-armedservices Pan Books: https://tinyurl.com/cib-panbooks Corgi Books: https://tinyurl.com/cib-corgi SUPPORT SQUIRRELLY NERDY JESS If you like my content and would like to support me with a small tip, please use this link (1% of all donations are being donated to help the environment): https://ko-fi.com/squirrellynerdyjess TABLE OF CONTENTS Intro 00:00 The First (Cheap) Paperbacks 01:10 A Better Quality Paperback 05:52 Paperbacks in the UK 09:00 Paperbacks in the USA 13:11 The Impact of World War II 15:28 The Elevation of Content 16:59 The Death of Mass Market Paperbacks 19:39 Conclusion 21:24 Bloopers 22:45 THINGS MENTIONED Dime Novels Penny Dreadfuls Half-penny Periodicals (Comics) Sixpenny Novels Tauchnitz books Albatross books Paper Books and Bonibooks Penguin Books War Economy Standard books Pan Books Pocket Books Armed Forces editions New York Times piece: https://www.nytimes.com/2026/02/06/bo... ADDITIONAL RESEARCH MATERIALS USED The Paperback: Its Past, Present and Future: A Paper read to The Double Crown Club in April 1959 by Desmond Flower Penguin by Design: A Cover Story 1935-2005 by Phil Baines FOR FURTHER LEARNING Series of Series: https://seriesofseries.com/paperback-... Paperback Revolution: https://paperbackrevolution.wordpress... Vintage Paperback Books: http://www.satiche.org.uk/paper/pengu... Quality Paperback Series: https://www.qpbseries.com/home Penguin First Editions: https://penguinfirsteditions.com/ CREDITS Music by Daniel Hines www.danielhines.co.uk Stock Videos by: AttilaPergel from Pixabay seyhmuskino from Pixabay Alejandero Ferreyra from Pixabay Alex Agrico from Pixabay Tham Nguyen from Pixabay CONTACT JESS Follow me on Instagram if you’d like: @squirrellynerdyjess Want to get in touch?: [email protected] I am currently reading: The Testaments, Margaret Atwood Number of subscribers when this video was published: 9,247 #books #bookhistory #publisher #penguinbooks #paperback #vintagebooks #bookseller