Have you ever thought about what the different parts of a book are called? Between the front and back cover are parts that affect the overall design and appearance of a physical book. Let’s dive in…
Book Anatomy
Not to be confused with parts of the book like the title, preface, prologue, and forward, we’re talking about the physical parts such as the spine, hinge and leaf.
Headband / Tailband – Headbands are coloured threads sewn through the signatures, filling the space between the spine and the book block. It’s meant to lessen book damage when you remove a book from a shelf by its head cap.
Edges (Top, Bottom, Fore) – The outer surfaces of a book’s leaves or text block.
Spine – The spine is where the signatures and text blocks are bound. It usually features basic information about the book like the title, name of the author and publisher’s name making it easy to be found while on a shelf. It is also referred to as the back and backbone.
Hinge – The Hinge is the section between the cover boards and the spine. It’s the part that bends when you open a book.
Dust Jacket – Also known as a Dust Wrapper or Dust Cover, it’s a decorative wrapper used to protect hardcover books from scratches and dust.
Tail – The Tail is the bottom part of the book.
Corner – The right angles on the unbound edges of the front and back covers of hardcover books.
Gutter – The inner margin of the leaves of a bound book.
Leaf / Leaves – A leaf is a single sheet in a book, front (‘recto’) and back (‘verso’).
Interested in finding out more about the anatomy of a book, watch this video or check out the book terms in AbeBooks’ glossary of book terminology.