Technology
The particular copy of "The New Jim Crow" in this exhibit is a paperback or softcover book. Due to the copy’s size, being 5 3⁄8 x 8 1⁄2 inches, it is classified as a trade paperback which is at the higher-quality end of the paperback book spectrum.
The technology used to create paperback books has changed since the mid-19th century and have become more dependent on digital technology. Authors will send their completed manuscripts to their publishing house. Since the manuscript is typed in a digital document, the publishers will open the file on a computer including the cover, and ensure that the size, artwork, and colours are ready. The digital printer will be filled with the correct paper stock for the cover which will be printed and then coated in a protective plastic coating called cello-glazing at high heat. Once the cover is printed and coated, the printer is filled with paper stock for the book pages and printed. When the cover and pages are printed they are brought to the guillotine which cuts the cover and pages so they can be bound. The covers and pages are bound by a machine using hot glue and pressure and are finally sent to a three-way trimmer that trims the book down to their desired size.
The manufacturing and publication processes of paperback books have evolved and rely upon many fairly new technological devices that are not accessible to everyone. Publishers are often privatized, have their own in-house manufacturing operations, and are responsible for bringing the majority of books to market. This was the norm until the late-20th century when the internet and companies that were not focused on publishing like Amazon enabled individuals to publish their work without the need of a well-established publisher.
Paperback books have been in production since the mid-19th century and were seen as cheaper and easier to produce than earlier formats naming them mass-market paperbacks which are still around today. This cheaper, easily transportable format allowed authors to publish their works faster and at a lower-cost making books more accessible to the general public. Paperbacks helped to create a thriving popular literary scene and assisted in the process of creating publicity and promotion for certain books.
Although paperbacks are alive and well, they have always had opposition. The main competitor to paperbacks were hardcover books which were more aesthetically pleasing, higher quality, and therefore more durable. As of the 1970s however, paperbacks faced a new competitor; that of the microprocessor which allowed for the digitization of books. From the 1980s until the present, books have been made available on CDs, the internet, and e-books read on e-readers such as the Kindle. The paperback has stood its ground against the hardcover as well as the internet age technologies although there has been a dramatic rise in the popularity of e-books. Paperbacks face certain challenges going forward as they are less durable and are seen to some as old-fashioned which as time passes could make them more of a novelty than a necessity.