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A paperback (also known as softback or softcover) is a type of book characterized by a thick paper or paperboard cover, and often held together with glue rather than stitches or staples. In contrast, hardcover or hardback books are bound with cardboard covered with cloth; although more expensive, hardbacks are more durable. Paperback novels were typically bound with parchment, a type of Sheepskin. This was the cheapest means of production but for more expensive paperbacks they were bound together with vellum, a type of calfskin. 〔Schick, Frank L. The Paperbound Book In America; The History of Paperbacks and Their European Backgrounds. R.R. Bowker Company (1958). HATHI TRUST. Web. 10 October 2015.〕Inexpensive books bound in paper have existed since at least the 19th century in such forms as pamphlets, yellowbacks, dime novels, and airport novels.〔See, for example, the Tauchnitz editions.〕 Modern paperbacks can be differentiated by size. In the US there are "mass-market paperbacks" and larger "trade paperbacks". In the UK, there are A-format, B-format and the largest C-format sizes. Paperback editions of books are issued when a publisher decides to release a book in a low-cost format. Cheap paper, glued bindings, and the lack of a hard cover contribute to the inherent low cost of paperbacks. Paperbacks can be the preferred medium when a book is not expected to be a major seller, or in other situations where the publisher wishes to release a book without putting forth a large investment. Examples include many novels, and newer editions or reprintings of older books. Since hardcovers tend to have a larger profit margin, many publishers try to balance the profit to be made by selling fewer hardcovers against the potential profit to be made by selling more paperbacks with a smaller profit per unit. First editions of many modern books, especially genre fiction, are issued in paperback. Best-selling books, on the other hand, may maintain sales in hardcover for an extended period in order to reap the greater profits that the hardcovers provide. ==History== The early 19th century saw numerous improvements in the printing, publishing and book-distribution processes, with the introduction of steam-powered printing presses, pulp mills, automatic type setting, and a network of railways.〔(The British Library - Aspects of the Victorian book ) 〕 These innovations enabled the likes of Simms and McIntyre of Belfast,〔(The British Library - Yellowbacks - The Parlour Library ) 〕 Routledge & Sons (founded in 1836) and Ward & Lock (founded in 1854) to mass-produce cheap uniform yellowback or paperback editions of existing works, and distribute and sell them across the UK and Ireland, principally via the ubiquitous W H Smith & Sons newsagent found at most urban British railway stations. These paper bound volumes were offered for sale at a fraction of the historic cost of a book, and were of a smaller format (110x175mm) aimed at the railway traveller.〔The Cambridge History of the Book in Britain, volume 6 1830–1914, edited by David McKitterick, ISBN 0521866243〕 The Routledge's Railway Library series of paperbacks remained in print until 1898, and offered the traveling public 1,277 unique titles.〔 (The British Library - Yellowbacks - Routledge's Railway Library. ) 〕 The German-language market also supported examples of cheap paper-bound books: Bernhard Tauchnitz started the Collection of British and American Authors in 1841. These inexpensive, paperbound editions, a direct precursor to mass-market paperbacks, eventually ran to over 5000 volumes. Reclam published Shakespeare in this format from October 1857〔 〕 and went on to pioneer the mass-market paper-bound ''Universal-Bibliothek'' series〔 〕 from 10 November 1867. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Paperback」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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