Ninety years ago, a revolution took place in the book market

In principle, the release of the first books by Penguin Books in July 1935 can be compared in its impact on the readership to the advent of the accessible Internet.

Of course, paperback books had been published before, but there was a clear gradation in publishing. Paperback was for "second-rate" literature, hardcover was for classics and "first-rate".

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The pioneer was the Englishman Allen Williams, who first headed a family publishing house, the name of which is safely forgotten by everyone, and then Penguin Books.

Williams had several revolutionary ideas that were immediately put into practice. First, the main one was to print classics and high literature in editions whose cost for the reader (and the cost price for the publisher) was several times lower than that of hardcover books. Secondly, to reduce the cost of such paperback editions to a minimum, so that, for example, it would not be a pity to leave them on the train (it was originally assumed that such books would be bought to pass the time on the road) on the train.

The third idea was not so obvious, but equally brilliant - to help the reader with a quick choice (paperback books were also sold at train stations, newsstands and supermarkets), print books of the same genre in covers of the same color. That is, detectives - in green, fiction, including classics - in yellow, biographies - in blue.

The first ten books that were published in the new format belonged to the pens of famous authors - Agatha Christie, Ernest Hemingway, Andre Maurois. The price for all the books was the same - six pence, like a pack of cigarettes. (Here it should be noted that at that time no one was fighting smoking and cigarettes were cheap).

The idea was so fruitful that when after the Second World War a new series of Penguin Classics was launched, no less than a new translation of Homer's Odyssey, it became the best-selling book until 1960.

And another interesting detail - according to legend, the image of a penguin was chosen as the emblem of the publishing house because the penguin looks both important and funny.

Photo: Wikipedia