Much twittering and blogging occurred yesterday about a new publishing format called the “flipback” – a species of compact paperback. Word first reached me from Canada, and doubtless the conversation spread even further than that. The main talking point was the clever headline that a subeditor on the Guardian had given the story: Could this new book kill the Kindle? But I was more interested in the official pitch for the flipback, because it sounded oddly familiar:
“I am keen to see what the hype is about so I take a pre-released copy on my travels: Chris Cleave’s The Other Hand. Nearly 370 pages long in its original format, the flipback version has more than 550, but still fits easily in my pocket. The book’s not called The Other Hand for nothing. It’s so small that I can perch it in one fist, and keep my other hand free for shopping. How? The paper is wafer-thin.”
This, it appears, is the return of the India-paper edition. They’re cool things, India-paper editions: look at the derisory width of this complete set of Dickens. They were associated in Britain with the Oxford University Press, which had great expertise with printing on very thin paper from its work in the Bible industry. And despite what Patrick Kingsley says in that Guardian bit, the trick did work with War and Peace: I have a three-volume World’s Classics copy that takes up less space – albeit in a different shape – than an average paperback novel.
I am increasingly convinced that there is nothing old under the sun. Every apparently obsolete idea will one day be revived. Soon, we may even be in need of circulating libraries again.
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