Penguin Publishes Its First Paperback
In 1935, Penguin Books revolutionized the publishing industry by introducing its first paperback, "Ariel, the Life of Shelley" by André Maurois. This marked the beginning of a series aimed at making quality literature accessible to the general public at an affordable price. Sir Allen Lane, the founder of Penguin, envisioned that a book could be sold for the same cost as a pack of cigarettes, advocating for the motto of providing "a whole book for the price of 10 cigarettes." The initial release included ten titles, all reprints of previously published hardcover works. Despite initial skepticism from the literary community, Penguin's approach proved successful, selling 3 million copies in its first year. This innovation paved the way for the widespread acceptance of paperback books, which have since become a staple in the publishing world, complementing rather than replacing hardcover editions. Today, Penguin Books remains a prominent name in literature, continuing to uphold its legacy of accessible publishing.
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Penguin Publishes Its First Paperback
Penguin Publishes Its First Paperback
On July 30, 1935, the first of the famous Penguin line of paperbacks, recognized by the distinctive penguin logo on their covers, was published by Sir Allen Lane of London, England. This first Penguin paperback was Ariel, the Life of Shelley by the French author André Maurois, first published in 1923 and translated into English in 1924. It was part of an initial series of 10 Penguin books with which Lane hoped to make quality literature available to the ordinary citizen at an affordable price. All of the books were reprints of works that had originally been published in hardcover. Lane's first Penguins cost two and a half pence, the price of a pack of cigarettes, which was in fact his intention: His motto was that he could provide “a whole book for the price of 10 cigarettes.”
In so doing, Lane sparked a revolution in the literary publishing business, which had previously been dedicated to hardcover books. His idea wasn't new, as softcover books had first been published by Christian Bernhard Tauchnitz of Leipzig, Germany, in 1841, but Lane was the first publisher to achieve success with quality literature in this format. Despite considerable skepticism among his peers, Lane was able to sell 3 million copies of his Penguin books within the first year. Today paperback books are a mainstay of the publishing business, although they have not replaced hardcover books, and Penguin Books continues to thrive.