Quote:
Originally Posted by nana77
May I ask a question? Most of Mass Market Paperback were also abridged versions?
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As Sirtel said, they were mostly all full versions, although you could find abridged versions sometimes - just like you can with other book formats.
The mass market paperback's claim to fame was that it was cheaper than other book formats. The achieved this cost reduction by using lower grade paper and other cheaper printing/construction methods. They were "economy models". Which was fine with me. I would generally buy one, read it, and then give it to a friend or donate it to a library. They were only good for a few readings before they started to fall apart - the binding would start to fail, pages would tear, etc. If you took good care of them they would last OK. But they weren't really built for hard use or abuse. You wouldn't want something like a textbook that you would refer to for many years to be a mass market paperback. They didn't even publish textbooks in that format - no doubt the publishers knew nobody would want that.