Dear sir or madam won’t you take a look?
Dime Novels, they called them. Cheap, mass-produced instant fiction for Everyman, introduced to America in 1860 by publishers Erastus and Irwin Beadle as “Beadle’s Dime Novels,” paperback books became an instant sensation with the public, and before you could say Pluck and Luck Stories of Adventure, the masses were hooked on phonics, and today is
NATIONAL PAPERBACK BOOK DAY!
The success of the Beadle brothers pulpy crime fiction, star-crossed romances and impossible fables of the Western Frontier got the attention not only of the public, but publishers of every other type of book as as well.
Today, hardcover books are expensive rarities, and softcover is the way to go for most of our reading.
While all books are facing stiff competition from electronic tablets, they can never be replaced completely. There’s nothing like the look, feel and smell of a book, old or new, and the anticipation of opening it for the first time to see where this one takes you.
Some wannabe sages are saying that the Kindle Era will change writing, and the concept of books as we know them will be phased out, replaced by… what? That, they never say, what with them being wannabe sages and not writers. So far, there is no danger of there being any shortage of great book writers, or book lovers, especially of the paperback variety. Besides, you can’t keep your place with a matchbook on a Kindle.
•Suggested Activities: Finding an empty shelf someplace for these new ones.