Paperback Book Day

One of the things that led to lighter books being developed was the commonality of the railway. The railway was indeed a faster form of travel across vast distances, but one could still easily spend a week or more in a carriage as it covered the great expanses of countryside.

While books were a fine way to pass the time, they were dearly expensive and quite large and heavy, making them both risky to carry and inconvenient to read while on the road. So it was that the first paperback books were aimed at railway passengers.

Since that time paperback books have become increasingly popular for both their reduced price, as well as their portability. While modern advances have produced books even lighter yet in the form of digital readers and documents one can pull up on their phone, there’s still just nothing quite as satisfying as holding a book in your arms and curling yourself around it of a quiet evening. Paperback Book Day honors and exalts this practice of comfort and leisurely days.

Paperback Book Day is observed as the anniversary of the date that the first Penguin paperbacks were published in England back in 1935. Back in the day, only the hardcover books were of good literature. A lot of people did not have the money to purchase the harcovers, though.

They were also heavy to carry and very bulky. Times needed to change! Of course, paperback books existed prior to 1935. However, they were very cheap and the quality was poor. The paperback revolution was started by Sir Allen under the name penguin. Books were published under Penguin of some of the greater fiction authors, from Ernest Hemingway to Agatha Christie.