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  3. Book Clubs and Book Commerce
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  • Cited by 10
Publisher:
Cambridge University Press
Online publication date:
December 2019
Print publication year:
2020
Online ISBN:
9781108597258
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108597258
Creative Commons:
Creative Common License - CC Creative Common License - BY Creative Common License - NC Creative Common License - ND
This content is Open Access and distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution licence CC-BY-NC-ND 4.0 https://creativecommons.org/creativelicenses
Subjects:
Literature, Printing and Publishing History, Literary Theory
Series:
Elements in Publishing and Book Culture
Information

Book description

In the twentieth century, cumulative millions of readers received books by mail from clubs like the Book-of-the-Month Club, the Book Society or Bertelsmann Club. This Element offers an introduction to book clubs as a distribution channel and cultural phenomenon, and shows that book clubs and book commerce are linked inextricably. It argues that a global perspective is necessary to understand the cultural and economic impact of book clubs in the twentieth and into the twenty-first century. It also explores central reasons for book club membership, condensing them into four succinct categories: convenience, community, concession and, most importantly, curation. This title is also available as Open Access on Cambridge Core.

References

Bibliography

Websites

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Unpublished and Archival Materials

  • Bibliotheek van de Universiteit van Amsterdam

    1. – Nederlandse Boekenclub (1938–87) Bedrijfsdocumentatie Nederlandse Boekenclub – Den Haag, OTM: KVB PPA 366:5–367:7.

    2. – Nederlandse Boekenclub (1948–57) Nieuws, UBM: KVB t 624.

    3. – Siebenga, H. [1987] Boekenclub en boekhandel; wedijverende verkoopkanalen, Tilburg: Katholieke Universiteit Brabant, UBM: KVB VG 99:156.

  • Book-of-the-Month Club [1927] An outline of a unique plan for those who wish to keep abreast of the best books of the day [brochure], New York: BOMC. Digital copy, owned by author.

  • Deering, J. (2016) I never noticed how quickly … In Strange Brew (Feb. 15), archived in CartoonistGroup, www.cartoonistgroup.com/store/add.php?iid=139258.

  • Interviews

    1. – with N. Acksteiner (PR representative of the Büchergilde Gutenberg), Frankfurt/Main (Feb. 5, 2019).

    2. – with G. Fuchs (Community Manager of the Wissenschaftliche Buchgesellschaft), Darmstadt (Feb. 13, 2019).

    3. – with S. Pauli (former employee of Bertelsmann Club), Berlin (March 27, 2019).

    4. – with S. Krysciak (former employee of Bertelsmann Club and Büchergilde Gutenberg), Berlin (March 28, 2019).

  • Mainzer Verlagsarchiv Syndikat, Syn 28.

  • Schulz, C. (1971) Beagle Book Club. In Peanuts (April 8), archived in GoComics, www.gocomics.com/peanuts/1971/04/08.

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