Part 15 (1/2)
I thought those things but the only thing I said was, ”Call the airline. See if you can get a reservation for me on the flight you're taking.”
Allison nodded wordlessly and went to the telephone. While she was dialing the number I sat down on the couch and lit a cigarette. If she could get a reservation for me, I'd have to leave in a few minutes and go home to pack. That cigarette would be the last one I'd ever have in that apartment.
I listened while Allison talked to the airline ticket agent. She didn't make a reservation for me. She confirmed the one she had made the day before for both of us.
AFTERWORD.
A new revolution was underway at the start of the 1940s in Americaa”a paperback revolution that would change the way publishers would produce and distribute books and how people would purchase and read them.
In 1939 a new publis.h.i.+ng companya”Pocket Booksa”stormed onto the scene with the publication of its first paperbound book. These books were cheaply produced and, with a price of twenty-five cents on their light cardboard covers, affordable for the average American.
Prior to the introduction of the ma.s.s-market paperback, as it would come to be known, the literary landscape in America was quite different than what it is today. Reading was primarily a leisure-time pursuit of the wealthy and educated. Hardcover books were expensive and hard to find, so purchasing books was a luxury only the rich living in major metropolitan areas could afford. There simply werenat many bookstores across the country, and only gift shops and stationary stores carried a few popular novels at a time.
The Pocket Books were priced to sell, however, and sell is what they dida in numbers never before seen. Availability also had a great effect on sales, in large part due to a bold and innovative distribution model that made Pocket Books available in drugstores, newsstands, bus and train stations, and cigar shops. The American public could not get enough of them, and before long the publis.h.i.+ng industry began to take notice of Pocket Bookas astonis.h.i.+ng success.
Traditional publishers, salivating at the opportunity to cash in on the phenomenal success of the new paperback revolution, soon launched their own paperback ventures. Pocket Books was joined by Avon in 1941, Popular Library in 1942, and Dell in 1943. The popular genres reflected the tastes of Americans during World War IIa”mysteries, thrillers, and ahardboiled detectivea stories were all the rage.
Like many of the early paperback publishers, Dell relied on previously published material for its early books, releasing acomplete and unabridgeda reprints under different t.i.tles by established authors. Within a couple of years it was focused exclusively on mysteries, identifiable by the Dell logo on the covera”a small keyhole with an eye looking through it. Many of the Dell mysteries also featured a colored map on the back cover representing the various locations pertaining to the storyas crime. These amapbacka editions became extremely popular and by 1945, Dell was publis.h.i.+ng four new books a month.
The new paperback industry was faced with some difficult challenges during World War II. In particular, the War Boardas Paper Limitation order placed serious restrictions and rations on the use of paper. Publishers began to worry whether they would have enough paper to satisfy both the civilian and military appet.i.te for paperbacks. Manpower shortages and transportation difficulties were also proving to be difficult challenges. In response, some publishersa”Pocket Books, for instancea”reduced their publication schedules and reset their books in smaller type thereby reducing the number of pages per book. Others simply rejected longer books in favor of shorter ones.
In the end, World War II proved to be a boon to the emerging paperback industry. During the war, a landmark agreement was reached with the government in which paperbound books would be produced at a very low price for distribution to service men and women overseas. These booksa”Armed Services Editions, as they were calleda”were often pa.s.sed from one soldier or sailor to another, being read and re-read over and over again until they literally fell apart. Their stories of home helped ease the soldieras loneliness and homesickness, and they could be easily carried in uniform pockets and read anywherea”in fox holes, barracks, transport planes, etc. Of course, once the war was over millions of veterans returned home with an insatiable appet.i.te for reading. They were hooked, and their pa.s.sion for reading these books helped launch a period of unprecedented growth in the paperback industry.