Tramp books
Under the name Tramp book the published Pelican Publishing 1978-1984 paperbacks in extremely miniaturized format:
- Width: 4.9 cm
- Height: 7.0 cm,
- Thickness: on average 0.5 cm (about 100 pages, depending on the content).
The publisher stated in the blurb that these “mini paperbacks” were called Tramp because they could be taken anywhere in your pocket, wallet or neck pouch - they would hitchhike in the reader's pocket, so to speak. The price of the tramp books was at that time at 1.00 DM, later partly at 1.50 DM. The "Pelikan Tramp books" were part of the Pelikan mini-series that was successfully launched at the end of the 1970s and the beginning of the 1980s Examples included "mini games", "mini puzzles" or card games in the aforementioned DIN-A8 format. Production of the trampoline books ceased in the late 1980s. Several reasons were decisive for the discontinuation of production: among other things, a significant streamlining of the range due to the comparison made at Pelikan in 1982 made it no longer possible to continue this range. Other reasons, however, also lay in the further development of the toy market, which was reflected in the fact that action figures or electronic play devices increased competition. In addition, the novelty effect of the "mini range" was exhausted by this development and the technical innovations and the market was saturated.
The logo of the series shows a cowboy sitting on the ground and leaning against a tree stump reading a tramp book. Many early books initially had a denim look with an embossed surface.
The following were published as trampoline books:
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TKKG book no. 9 Adventure in the holiday camp by Stefan Wolf , broken down into 5 tramp books
- (1) The thief in the red jacket.
- (2) Grandma and the ghosts.
- (3) The threatening letter.
- (4) The fight against the rockers.
- (5) Margit shows what she can do.
- Tom and Locke 5 youth crime novels by Stefan Wolf
- Die Funkfüchse 5 youth thriller by Franz Kurowski alias Rüdiger Greif
- Science fiction short stories (with silver cover)
- Race against time. ISBN 3-8144-0006-2 .
- Danger on the planet of the cat-wolves. ISBN 3-8144-0010-0 .
- Adventure with the spaceship Vathor. ISBN 3-8144-0010-0 .
- Journey to Infinity. ISBN 3-8144-0010-0 .
- Somewhere in space. ISBN 3-8144-0010-0 .
- Dream of tomorrow. ISBN 3-8144-0010-0 .
- View in the future. ISBN 3-8144-0016-X . (Tramp-Band 100, in gold)
- Smuggling into space. ISBN 3-8144-0016-X .
- Settlers from another planet. ISBN 3-8144-0016-X .
- 1. Mission in space. ISBN 3-8144-0016-X .
- The future will be different. ISBN 3-8144-0016-X .
- Scary stories (with black cover), including by Alfred Hitchcock
- Ghost voices. ISBN 3-8144-0015-1 .
- An eerie night. ISBN 3-8144-0015-1 .
- Robbery on the ghost ship. ISBN 3-8144-0015-1 .
- Ghosts on the hunt for criminals. ISBN 3-8144-0015-1 .
- Mysterious game at midnight. ISBN 3-8144-0015-1 .
- various horse stories
- Youth adventure in the Wild West
- 14 volumes about the adventures of Pete, written by Rolf Randall (all without ISBN):
- 1. Pete and the night ghost.
- 2. Pete and the Fire Spirits.
- 3. Pete and the Puma gang.
- 4. Pete and the Haunted Circus.
- 5. Pete and the cave devil.
- 6. Pete and the hooded rider.
- 7. Pete and the ghost carriage.
- 8. Pete and the wrong governor.
- 9. Pete and the red devils.
- 10. Pete - One knows too much.
- 11. Pete - Under false suspicions.
- 12. Pete - When it hits 13.
- 13. Pete - The Big Bluff.
- 14. Pete - Watson's Night of Horrors.
- various collections of jokes , including by Karin Mönkemeyer
- Formulas for mathematics and geometry - advertised by the publisher as "cheat sheet" (cheat sheet)
- Espana 82. ISBN 3-8144-0023-2 . (for the 1982 World Cup)
A total of at least 159 tramp titles were published, plus a few "super tramp books". There are also other books in almost identical formats, e.g. B. the series Fast Knowledge , also from Pelikan.