According to AmortizationTable.org, 25 cents in 1939 is equivalent to $5.79 today, adjusted for inflation.

There are very few new books available for less than $6.00 these days, let alone the convenience of a Pocket Book format. I was lucky to grow up during their peak of popularity, buying and reading a dozen or two each year. A whole book at the cost of two or three chocolate bars, when I was young.

With all the improvements in technology in the past 50 years, it is difficult to understand how the cost hasn't come down. But instead, it has gone up. These days, if I find an interesting new book for under $60, I consider it a bargain.

Remove easy access to books, remove proper journalism, remove facts.

Welcome to the future.

I'm a big fan of paperback originals that were published in the 50s-70s. These are books that were first published in paperback at a time when more respectable books were always first published in hardcover. Most of them are genre (sci fi, detective, spy, romance, crime, horror, action) and prioritize entertainment over literary appeal. They were the sort of books that people would buy near the cash register and read at the bus stop or during their lunch break.

My local non-used book stores barely stock any of the mass market format books that spawned the paperback original; everything has moved to the more expensive trade format. Fortunately there are decades of books still available in the old mass market format. You can certainly find them online and at used bookstores, but I recommend checking out your local library annual sale (https://booksalefinder.com/) for a fun and cheap way to acquire reading entertainment.

Well this spurred me to buy 4 paperbacks from Abe books. Been buying them used from there for a while, and they always turn up great. Each like $5 or less.

My bi-weekly trips to the library for the last 50 years has made me ignorant of issues like this.