Architecture…..

The Book:

Covers can be made of either leather, cloth, or vinyl mounted to board and can be embossed or debossed, printed or stamped in color or gold foils, yielding a sculpted image to artwork or type. Edges of signatures (groups of pages) can also be gilt edged, trimmed square or deckled (fringed) edge. Headbands are made of fabric and sewn in, and add more color and finishing to the binding. Inside endpapers are usually decorative, printed patterns with one glued to inside cover and the other to the first signature to secure the body of the book. Fly leaves are also separate paper stock from the body of the book and sometimes used between an illustration and the title page. The body of the book can be manufactured and sewn together from a variety of stocks with finishes that range from smooth to felt, colors usually from whites to cremes, in uncoated (offset) or coated (gloss or matte) surfaces. The earlier editions of books prior to the use of digital technology were printed using hot metal type and rendered a particular pattern on the printed page that some referred to as “lakes”. Running your finger over the page, you can feel the “tooth” of the paper stock and sometimes the impression of the type into the fibers of the paper.