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In Japan, are small-format
In Japan, are small-format paperback
A paperback (softcover, softback) book is one with a thick paper or paperboard cover, and often held together with glue rather than stitches or staples. In contrast, hardcover (hardback) books are bound with cardboard covered with cloth, ...
books, designed to be affordable and space saving.
The great majority of ''bunkobon'' are A6 (105×148mm or 4.1"×5.8") in size. They are sometimes illustrated and like other Japanese paperbacks usually have a dust wrapper over a plain cover. They are used for similar purposes as Western mass market paperbacks: generally for cheaper editions of books which have already been published as hardbacks. However, they are typically printed on durable paper and durably bound, and some works are initially published in ''bunkobon'' format.
''Bunkobon'' take their name from the publisher Iwanami Shoten
is a Japanese publishing company based in Tokyo.Louis Frédéric, ''Japan Encyclopedia'', Harvard University Press, 2005, p. 409.
Iwanami Shoten was founded in 1913 by Iwanami Shigeo. Its first major publication was Natsume Sōseki's novel ''K ...
, which in 1927, launched the Iwanami Bunko (Iwanami Library), a series of international works aimed "to bring the classics of new and old, east and west to the broadest possible audience." The original Iwanami Bunko series is credited for transforming books in Japan into affordable, mass-market commodities.
The ''bunkobon'' format began to flourish during the late 1920s, following the development of printing technology able to mass-produce cheap books and magazines. During this period, the Japanese industry further developed the ''bunkobon'' format based on German Reclam's Universal-Bibliothek book formats.
See also
* Japanese books * ''Tankōbon
is the Japanese term for a book that is not part of an anthology or corpus. In modern Japanese, the term is most often used in reference to individual volumes of a manga series: most series first appear as individual chapters in a weekly or ...
'' – Many manga
Manga ( Japanese: 漫画 ) are comics or graphic novels originating from Japan. Most manga conform to a style developed in Japan in the late 19th century, and the form has a long prehistory in earlier Japanese art. The term ''manga'' is ...
are reprinted in '' bunkoban'' (or "''bunko'' edition") format.
* Reclam – German publishing house. Their "universal library" (Universal-Bibliothek) series was a model for Iwanami Bunko started in 1927.
References
1920s neologisms Anime and manga terminology Japanese books Book formats {{Japan-lit-stub