Under Cover : an Illustrated History of American Mass-Market Paperbacks

by Thomas L. Bonn

A history of soft-cover book publishing in the United States, from the boom in novels prior to the Civil War to the "trade paperbacks" and die-cut-cover bestsellers of the early 1980s.

Genres: Nonfiction, Art, Books About Books

144 pages, Library Binding

First published June 24, 1982

Reviews

[Lobstergirl · Rating 3 out of 5]

It saddened me deeply that a book on book design could be so poorly designed. I know, what do you expect from 1982? There's a mishmash of typefaces, confusingly placed captions, a strange colophon at the top of the table of contents ("Reading For Eternity," with an open book and some type of church window), and worst, on the color plates, book covers of different sizes are placed on uniformly sized, unnecessary black rectangles. Whoever designed these color plates needs to be roughed up. The front cover - with title at a rakish angle - well, it's even worse on the back. The reasonably informative text covers the history of paperback publishing from the 19th century, cover art and design, and finishes with a short section on collecting.

[Tim · Rating 2 out of 5]

Paperbacks From H...arold's drug store on the corner

This one is a bit of a slog. I thought they'd delve more into the books themselves (like Paperbacks From Hell does), but it's more focused on telling the history of paperbacks and how popular they were in their heyday. They then start to briefly talk about the cover art of these books, but it feels like the author wasn't super interested in this side of things, as he doesn't delve nearly as in depth as he does with the history. The third and final section is about collecting paperbacks, which is odd and not really something I've heard of people doing. I guess maybe it fell out of favor during the 80s 🤷

[Peter · Rating 4 out of 5]

Published in 1982 I had to pick this one up as I love old paperbacks. Inside you'll find a brief history, dime novels, pocket books, childhood and maturity of an industry, leading publishers, cover art and design, the cover artists, genre and other design, collecting... you get some great covers, even in color and an excellent overview over the paperback industry back then. Really recommended!

[Gene · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fascinating to an old bookstore worker, not sure if anyone else would be interested. I’ve had this book for years, published in 1982, and it recently jumped out of my shelves at me when I was looking for a nonfiction read.

[Keith · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good book on history of mass market paperbacks in America.