Bunkobon
Encyclopedia
In Japan, bunkobon are small-format paperback
books, designed to be affordable and portable.
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 published in bunkobon format initially.
Paperback
Paperback, softback or softcover describe and refer to a book by the nature of its binding. The covers of such books are usually made of paper or paperboard, and are usually held together with glue rather than stitches or staples...
books, designed to be affordable and portable.
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 published in bunkobon format initially.
See also
- Japanese booksJapanese booksThe book in Japan has had a long history, beginning in the late eighth century AD. The majority of books were hand-copied until the Edo period , when woodblock printing became comparatively affordable and widespread...
- TankōbonTankobon, with a literal meaning close to "independently appearing book", is the Japanese term for a book that is complete in itself and is not part of a series , though the manga industry uses it for volumes which may be in a series...
: Many mangaMangaManga is the Japanese word for "comics" and consists of comics and print cartoons . In the West, the term "manga" has been appropriated to refer specifically to comics created in Japan, or by Japanese authors, in the Japanese language and conforming to the style developed in Japan in the late 19th...
are reprinted in bunkoban (or "bunko edition") format. - ReclamReclamthumb|A 1902 catalogReclam Verlag or just Reclam is a German publishing house, established in Leipzig in 1828 by Anton Philipp Reclam. It is known for its "little yellow books", in particular those of its "universal library" ....
- German publishing house. Their "universal library" (Universal-Bibliothek) series was a model for Iwanami Bunko started in 1927.