paper book

English

Noun

paper book (plural paper books)

1. Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see paper,‎ book.
2. (law, England), A document prepared in English legal practice containing a record or summary of the pleadings.
3. A traditional hardback or softback book, as opposed to an e-book
   • 2002, Richard Curtis et al., How to get your e-book published: an insider's guide to the world of ...:

     "Instead of cases of books moldering away in warehouses, your inventory consists of a single digital file, which any "bookmaking" machine can use to crank out a paper book."

   • 2003, Susan L.Gibbons et al., E-book Functionality: What Libraries and Their Patrons Want and ...:

     "The evidence strongly indicates that libraries and end users expect e-books to have the same functionalities of the paper book, and yet do much more."

   • 2013, Joost Kircz et al., The Unbound Book:

     "The link with the Internet disrupts the concentration that the paper book facilitates."

4. (dated) A paperback book.
   • 1919, The Bookseller, Newsdealer and Stationer, volume 51, page 11:

     Publishers of the paper books are uncertain whether their old reading public has tired of the motion picture or whether a new class of readers has arisen.

   • 1959, The Catholic Library World, volumes 29-30, page 464:

     Even more important to those promoting paper books was the stark fact that there were not enough book stores to produce an adequate volume of sales to sustain quarter books.

   • 1959, Stores, volume 41, page 34:

     The ad—the first the department ran in more than three years—was inserted after the department had enlarged its space, using the additional area for paper books.

Related terms

• hard copy

Further reading

• “paper book”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.