Course:LIBR548F/2012WT1/Dollar Books

Dollar Books

In 1930, three New York publishers (Simon & Schuster, Coward-McCann, and Farrar & Rinehart) introduced a plan to lower prices of books within specific genres to one dollar; Doubleday joined them soon after. Their announcement caused a great debate over the role of the book in the lives of Americans, as well as what books represented in terms of culture and education. By 1931, the plan was cast aside, with only one publisher continuing to release a limited selection of dollar books.

Background

The Economic Climate

Before WWI, books had been noticeably cheaper, and they were now more expensive than most people could afford or justify. The country was also in a depression, which meant potential book buyers were more cautious with spending. This led to publishing houses having to seek new ways to remain profitable. Reducing book prices to one dollar was based on the principle that larger print runs would reduce overhead costs and allow books to be sold for less; the lower prices would then encourage more people to purchase more books.

Other forms of entertainment, such as radio, films, magazines and dancing, also posed a threat to book publishers, as they not only competed for the attention of the public, but were often less expensive. In 1925, the New York Times was already warning that books were too expensive and could result in an "abandonment of the reading habit."

Little Blue Books

Before the dollar book plan was introduced in 1930, another publisher, E. Haldeman-Julius, had experimented with the idea in the 1920s. His Little Blue Books were popular and easy to purchase through the mail or Little Blue Bookstores. Haldeman-Julius promised that his series of paper-covered books, each of which cost only five cents, would lead to “widespread cultural uplift of the masses” through exposure to literature and practical how-to guides. Haldeman-Julius believed the content was of utmost importance, refusing to print any work he considered “trash,” namely the popular adventure and romance series of the time .

Critics of the small books pointed out that they were mass-produced and often of poor quality. Critics also objected to Haldeman-Julius’s influence on readers as he had not completed high school.

Issues

Culture

Debates about the dollar books highlighted “tensions between mass and elite culture.” W. Pitkin, a professor, described dollar books as being made for “people with thirty cent minds or thirty cent culture.” For other critics, the presence of dollar books would make buying books a “vulgar” experience, as dollar books were to be sold in drug stores and supermarkets, in addition to bookstores.

Education and Intelligence

For supporters, dollar books represented the democratization of reading; the wealthiest citizens should not have a “monopoly of intelligence.” On the other hand, some critics thought the public was to blame for the high prices; according to Lewis Mumford, “prices of good books would come down only when Americans developed better taste in literature.”

Critics blamed the education system for what they considered to be sub-standard levels of intelligence in the population.

Mass-production

For some, books held a specific and cherished place in American culture. They saw reading as a noble past time and representative of education and class. Mass production went against this romanticised ideal because it turned the book into a commodity and a source of profits.

Critics

Many critics of dollar books approached the debate from an elitist view point. They worried that the dollar books would not be literary, but would instead be written to appeal to the masses in order to sell more copies. Although this would certainly raise overall readership, critics believed that popular fiction was simply not worth the paper it was printed on.

Edward L. Bernays

Alfred A. Knopf led a group of publishers opposed to dollar books. This group hired Edward L. Bernays, a public relations counselor, to convince the public not to support dollar books. Bernays created a group called The Book Publishers Research Institute to conduct research that would support the interests of his clients. Bernays himself described his work as propaganda. One study by the institute concluded that only quality literature was “insurance against bad taste, stupidity and boredom,” while a contest sought to shame those who borrowed books from friends (which he believed “deprived authors of earned royalties”) by creating an unfavorable name for them.

Supporters

Supporters of the plan applauded the attempt to make books more accessible. They predicted that it would lead to a rise in literacy. Although people might start off reading popular novels, they would surely move on to more literary works as they made reading a habit; even if the novels were “bad,” at least people would be reading.

For some, dollar books were simply an answer to the current financial situation. The Commercial and Financial Chronicle predicted that dollar books would help sales of all books, which would in turn keep the prices of other genres of books low.

Annotated Bibliography

• Cowley, M. (1930): Cheaper and better books. Forum and Century 3, p. 167. and Pitkin, W. (1930): Dollar books - A debate. Dollar books and thirty-cent readers. Forum and Century 3, p. 162.

These articles were published together and show the arguments that were used for and against dollar books. They make great sources because they were written in 1930 and illustrate the passion exhibited by each side.

• Haugland, A. (2000) Book propaganda: Edward L. Bernays's 1930 campaign against dollar books. Book History 3, pp. 231–252.

Haugland's article is an in depth examination of the dollar books and the role played by Bernays in turning people against the dollar book plan.

• Brown, M. (2006) Five-cent culture at the "university in print": Radical ideology and the marketplace in E. Haldeman-Julius's Little Blue Books, 1919--1929. University of Minnesota.

Brown's thesis explores the Little Blue Books in detail. The story of Haldeman-Julius's publishing company buts the later introduction of dollar books into context.