The Great American Paperback : An Illustrated Tribute to Legends of the Book [Hardcover]

Richard A. Lupoff (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: July 24, 2001

Few realized in 1938 that a revolution was about to take place. A little book appeared in drugstores and on newsstands that would fit into the jacket pocket of an ordinary person. There was no real binding, no dust jacket, just a colorful, laminated cover. It was an experiment, and the pocket book was born. Copies jumped off the shelves. The publisher was encouraged to bring out more, and by summer of 1939 people were reading them everywhere. Regarded by many as disposable distractions, a few people put them aside and started collections that we realize today are a precious archive of American culture. From the glittering images of square-jawed cowboys to the gritty slum-dwellers of social realism, The Great American Paperback is a bountiful museum of over 600 brilliant covers, each of them a miniature gem, evocative of the fashions and attitudes of its era. This book is destined to become a classic among librarians and graphic designers alike.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Penzler Pick, October 2001: There may be some irony in the notion that a book devoted to paperbacks (the most inexpensive book format--small, easily transportable and disposable) is a huge, expensive, beautifully produced hardcover volume that is certain to be a gem in any collector's library.

For several centuries books in America customarily were pages bound between hardcovers and, in this century, had dust jackets wrapped around them, initially just to protect the cloth covers, but eventually as an attention-grabbing advertising poster.

In 1938, an experiment was launched. The cloth cover was exchanged for a paper one, and the colorful illustration and information that appeared on the dust jacket (author, title, publisher, a few lines about the book) was printed directly onto those paper covers. Cheaper paper was used, since these artifacts were no longer expected to form part of a permanent library, but were to be as disposable as a newspaper or magazine. And they were cheap: a 25-cent price made books affordable for a huge portion of the population. They became immeasurably successful almost overnight.

Today many of those books are highly sought-after collectors' items. In spite of the huge numbers printed, they are scarce now simply because almost no one ever thought to save them in colorful, pristine condition. The Great American Paperback illustrates in glorious full color more than 600 of the most interesting and collectable paperbacks, each with an informative caption that provides as much fascinating anecdotal information as the text, which is a masterly and scholarly history of the American paperback, tracing its roots to the early 19th century and concluding with a look at the future.

There are samples of the paperback originals of Ed McBain, Richard Stark, Jim Thompson, Harlan Ellison, and James M. Cain, as well as illustrations of such rarities as The Maltese Falcon, which was issued as a paperback with a dust jacket, and Ellery Queen's Halfway House, which was offered in two formats by the publisher, one bound the usual way, the other bound at the top edge.

If this massive work hadn't been produced in Hong Kong, it would have cost twice as much and is, believe it or not, a bargain, even at a price as hefty as the book itself. --Otto Penzler

From Library Journal

This pair of paeans to the paperback offers two diverse focuses, with some crossover. Culture historian Lupoff's heavily illustrated account traces the paperback's roots to the 1800s but focuses primarily on the era from 1920 onward, with emphasis on the many players who took the penny dreadful and morphed it into a legitimate publishing form to create empires. Stryker, executive director of the Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender Historical Society in San Francisco, focuses on the tawdry side of paperback publishing, which in some cases was an extension of the pornography trade tailored for the reading middle class. Though some of these pulp books were penned by serious scribes trying to elevate writings with a homosexual focus into a legitimate art form, most failed to get beyond the sleazy cheap thrills for which they were intended. Many of the trashier ones e.g., Hot Pants Homo, Lesbo Lodge were so bad that they have become kitschy collector's items. Both volumes are profusely illustrated with loads of covers from the sublime to the ridiculous, making them quite browsable. Libraries needing a straight (no pun intended) history of paperback publishing should consider Lupoff's title, strangely available as a pricey hardcover, while those serving gay communities will do well with Stryker. Michael Rogers, "Library Journal"
Copyright 2001 Reed Business Information, Inc.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 320 pages
• Publisher: Collectors Press; First Edition edition (July 24, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1888054506
• ISBN-13: 978-1888054507
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (12 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #500,841 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars JUST GREAT!, February 7, 2002

By 

Tim Hewitt (Columbia, SC USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Great American Paperback : An Illustrated Tribute to Legends of the Book (Hardcover)

I received "The Great American Paperback" as a Christmas gift and hardly a week goes by that I don't dip into it. It's an overwhelmingly great book about a fascinating era of American publishing. Lupoff covers artists and writers well-known and unknown. There's a surprise on every page and visual treasure upon treasure. The text is equally interesting as Lupoff tells the stories behind the publishers, but it's clearly the book covers themselves that take center stage here. The layout (which sometimes presents covers slightly overlapping other covers) might have been improved, but overall the images are bright, sharp and big. Very few thumbnail views here. I for one hope we'll one day get to see a "Great American Paperback Volume 2" because as good as this one is, there's enough stuff out there to easily fill a second volume. Buy this book without reservation. If you have any love of Americana in general and pulp/paperbacks in particular, you'll fall in love with this book.

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great research, beautiful book, November 20, 2001

By 

Andrea Shechter (Seattle, WA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Great American Paperback : An Illustrated Tribute to Legends of the Book (Hardcover)

We've been waiting for this book from writer and fan Dick Lupoff since we first heard of it. The main complaint we have is "it's not big enough" but then, readers would need a forklift to look at it.
This is a major undertaking; the Collectors Press folks have once again done a fine job here. The colors and layout work very well. I can't imagine how Lupoff or anyone could have chosen from all the material available. With the information offered by someone who clearly appreciates the genres, who knows his stuff and wants to share it with others, this is a book to be savored and enjoyed over and over. We have Frank Robinson's gorgeous s.f. appreciation by this same company and it's a favorite in our house. We're fans of mystery and s.f., and while we recognized many of the covers show in this book, we loved learning about the others. This book is a must for folks who appreciate and love books, especially paperbacks with their rich and fascinating history.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Covers the history and rise of pulp fiction, November 10, 2001

By 

Midwest Book Review (Oregon, WI USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Great American Paperback : An Illustrated Tribute to Legends of the Book (Hardcover)

Great American Paperback covers the history and rise of pulp fiction, from its experimental appearance in 1938 to the growth of an industry which reached its heyday from the 1940s-1960s. Beautiful covers from all genres of pulp paperbacks are reproduced in full color in a title which presents the history and archives of the best of these paperbacks. An outstanding, beautiful coverage in a keepsake collector's edition.