Pocket books

A pocket book is a book printing format that has three main characteristics: small size, moderate price, and relatively high volume production.

Primarily intended for a wider audience, the pocket book is of relatively lower quality, close to the fascicle (shaping in unsewn notebooks, rather than bound). In the traditional form of collections, it is the place for reprints of works that have already had sufficient success in their original format.

Among the first books in pocket format were sometimes stories of an erotic or sentimental nature, a format which made it possible to hide the book out of sight – we could speak here of a format of discretion.

History of a format

Practices and modes of reading

The pocket-format book is an invention that will challenge the relationship that readers have with regard to their practices or modes of consumption of this object that is the book. Its method of manufacture changes: the binding and the cover are flexible, the paper used is thinner, the pages are not previously grouped into booklets sewn together, but trimmed on the four sides, one of which is directly glued to the cover. Its physical characteristics contribute to the transformation of the functioning of the world of publishing in the 20th century. This format also changes the relationship with the traditional bookstore trade: readers find this type of format in other points of sale (stations, shopping centres, service stations, etc.).

The inexpensive pocket-sized book, increasingly easy to manufacture in large print runs, is characteristic of the emergence of a mass market in terms of reading, a momentum that originated in the 19th century thanks to the industrialization and the possibility of reducing the unit cost of production. This production is part of the evolution of the consumer society. A format that was very decried in its infancy, some saw in this evolution a distortion of the value of the book.

The pocket book before the “pocket”

 (Advertisement for the New Century Book collection published by Thomas Nelson and Sons in New York: a small format, bound in soft leather, but sold for 1 dollar, a large sum in 1899.)

The idea of the inexpensive, space-saving book dates back to the 17th century. In the 17th and 18th centuries, chapbooks (such as those in the Blue Library in France, the English chapbook, the German Volksbuch, etc.) were works of popular literature which, by their format and to some extent their design, are reminiscent of the current pocket book: taking the form of a sheet folded 2, 4 or 8 times, these unbound publications are roughly printed and rarely sewn, they are ultimately to be compared to the fascicle.

In France, for example, we find the expression “petit livre de poche” in 1727 from the pen of Demoz de La Salle who suggested having small collections of liturgical songs made and intended for the faithful of the Church in order to popularize this practice.

In the 1830s, some publishers in Brussels, for political and censorship reasons, published small books (in-8 and in-16 format). These booklets inspired Gervais Charpentier, French bookseller-publisher “father of the pocket book” (with the printer Eugène Roulhac on his instructions) who launched in 1838 his collection of the “Charpentier Library” in the format 11.5 × 18.3 cm at half price (3.50 francs) and in three years published all the classics of the time (Balzac, Hugo, Musset, etc.) with success. Shortly before the revolution of 1848, the Barba brothers settled in Paris, launched small books at 20 centimes or “novel at 4 cents”. In 1853, Louis Hachette with his “Railway Library” was the first to invest in the points of sale that are railway stations. In England, the house of George Routledge & Co launched the same year a collection called “Railway Library”. In 1856, the publishing house Michel Lévy frères launched the “Michel Lévy collection” at one franc and in small format. In 1867, the German house Reclam launched the Universal-Bibliothek (about 40 cents per volume) also taking advantage of the stations. Another German publisher, from Leipzig, Tauchnitz, launched in the second half of the 19th century a collection of reissues by authors, translated into English and from around the world, printed in pocket format, sold for 2 francs each, which remained expensive.

In the years 1870-1880, publishers such as Jules Rouff embarked on periodical publication: in small format, taking the form of stapled notebooks, they declined the works of famous writers such as Victor Hugo and sold for 20 cents a piece unit.

In the early years of the 20th century, the British collections Everyman’s Library and Nelson published small-format works, hardcover, canvas and covered with an illustrated dust jacket sold for 1 shilling. In 1905, Fayard launched the “Popular Book”, popular novels at 65 centimes in small format. In 1915, Éditions Jules Tallandier marketed a collection called “Le Livre de poche”, popular novels sold for 30 centimes from 64 to 128 stapled pages; this formula will continue until 1941; Hachette will have to buy this brand in 1953 from Pierre Trémois, as well as the brand “Le Livre Plastic”, a collection created in 1948 by Marabout). From 1919, Éditions du Sagittaire (ed. Simon Kra) launched the “European Collection” (1919-1951, formally “Collection of the European Review”) in pocket format 13 × 18 cm.

(Includes texts from Wikipedia translated and adapted by Nicolae Sfetcu)