Bernhard Tauchnitz’s Achievements for the Dissemination of the English Paperback Book

This chapter deals with important entrepreneurial decisions of the Leipzig publisher and printer Bernhard Tauchnitz, which led to the spread of the English paperback in the nineteenth century. In 1840 he decided to specialize on the printing of English books in Leipzig and to pay the authors for their works despite non-existing copyright treaties at that time. With a high output of titles, affordable prices and excellent quality of the volumes, he had competitive advantages that he knew how to capitalize on. In order to better understand the general conditions at the time, the German-English book trade via Leipzig that existed before Tauchnitz is presented. Special attention is also given to Tauchnitz’s efforts to create an early form of the modern paperback. Four basic characteristics of paperbacks are introduced in this respect and analysed with reference to the Tauchnitz Edition.