The modern book has shed its skin. It is a light and flexible shadow of its illustrious forefathers: the paperback.
The nineteenth century turns up its fair share of paperbacks, but the format comes into its own in the twentieth century. Sturdily, but lightly bound the paperback titles circulate widely. Expensive publications and first editions are still issued in hardcover but the twentieth century is the century of the paperback. Publishing houses begin to stylize their covers to identify their brand rather than a title.
Paperbacks are small, durable, light and practical. They accompany the reader and are not relegated to a shelf. They are companions, nuzzled in a pocket, smuggled in handbags, racing with its reader through a new world of subways, waits and flight. Gallimard’s iconic “Blanche” collection one of the first incredibly successful paperback series quickly becomes the foundation of the modern library. Novels, essays, classics and non-fiction of all walks are printed between its subtle bindings.
The paperback is the cornerstone of the modern book collection and we stock a rich variety of titles and editions from Gallimard to Editions de Minuit, Grasset to Calmat-Levy and P.O.L to Folio.