
A hardcover, hard cover, or hardback (also known as hardbound, and sometimes as casebound
[ (At p. 247.)])
book
A book is a structured presentation of recorded information, primarily verbal and graphical, through a medium. Originally physical, electronic books and audiobooks are now existent. Physical books are objects that contain printed material, ...
is one
bound with rigid protective covers (typically of
binder's board or heavy
paperboard
Paperboard is a thick paper-based material. While there is no rigid differentiation between paper and paperboard, paperboard is generally thicker (usually over 0.30 mm, 0.012 in, or 12 Inch#Equivalents, points) than paper and has certain superior ...
covered with
buckram
Buckram is a stiff cotton, or occasionally, linen or horse hair cloth with a plain, usually loose, weave, produced in various weights similar to muslin and other plain weave fabrics. The fabric is soaked in a sizing agent such as wheat-starch ...
or other
cloth
Textile is an umbrella term that includes various fiber-based materials, including fibers, yarns, filaments, threads, and different types of fabric. At first, the word "textiles" only referred to woven fabrics. However, weaving is n ...
, heavy
paper
Paper is a thin sheet material produced by mechanically or chemically processing cellulose fibres derived from wood, Textile, rags, poaceae, grasses, Feces#Other uses, herbivore dung, or other vegetable sources in water. Once the water is dra ...
, or occasionally
leather
Leather is a strong, flexible and durable material obtained from the tanning (leather), tanning, or chemical treatment, of animal skins and hides to prevent decay. The most common leathers come from cattle, sheep, goats, equine animals, buffal ...
).
It has a flexible, sewn spine which allows the book to lie flat on a surface when opened.
Modern hardcovers may have the pages glued onto the spine in much the same way as paperbacks.
Following the
ISBN
The International Standard Book Number (ISBN) is a numeric commercial book identifier that is intended to be unique. Publishers purchase or receive ISBNs from an affiliate of the International ISBN Agency.
A different ISBN is assigned to e ...
sequence numbers, books of this type may be identified by the abbreviation Hbk.
Overview
Hardcover books are often printed on
acid-free paper
Acid-free paper is paper that, if infused in water, yields a neutral or basic pH (7 or slightly greater). It can be made from any cellulose fiber as long as the active acid pulp is eliminated during processing. It is also lignin- and sulfur-fr ...
, and they are much more durable than
paperback
A paperback (softcover, softback) book is one with a thick paper or paperboard cover, also known as wrappers, and often held together with adhesive, glue rather than stitch (textile arts), stitches or Staple (fastener), staples. In contrast, ...
s, which have flexible, easily damaged paper covers. Hardcover books are marginally more costly to manufacture. Hardcovers are frequently protected by artistic
dust jacket
The dust jacket (sometimes book jacket, dust wrapper or dust cover) of a book is the detachable outer cover, usually made of paper and printed with text and illustrations. This outer cover has folded flaps that hold it to the front and back book ...
s, but a "jacketless" alternative has increased in popularity: these "paper-over-board" or "jacketless" hardcover bindings forgo the dust jacket in favor of printing the cover design directly onto the board binding.
Marketing
If brisk sales are anticipated, a hardcover edition of a book is typically released first, followed by a "trade"
paperback
A paperback (softcover, softback) book is one with a thick paper or paperboard cover, also known as wrappers, and often held together with adhesive, glue rather than stitch (textile arts), stitches or Staple (fastener), staples. In contrast, ...
edition (same format as hardcover) the next year. Some publishers publish paperback originals if slow hardback sales are anticipated. For very popular books these sales cycles may be extended, and followed by a
mass market paperback
A paperback (softcover, softback) book is one with a thick paper or paperboard cover, also known as wrappers, and often held together with glue rather than stitches or staples. In contrast, hardback (hardcover) books are bound with cardboar ...
edition
typeset in a more compact size and printed on thinner, less hardy paper. This is intended to, in part, prolong the life of the immediate buying boom that occurs for some best sellers: After the attention to the book has subsided, a lower-cost version in the paperback, is released to sell further copies. In the past the release of a paperback edition was one year after the hardback, but by the early 21st century paperbacks were released six months after the hardback by some publishers. It is very unusual for a book that was first published in paperback to be followed by a hardback. One example is the novel ''The Judgment of Paris'' by
Gore Vidal
Eugene Luther Gore Vidal ( ; born Eugene Louis Vidal, October 3, 1925 – July 31, 2012) was an American writer and public intellectual known for his acerbic epigrammatic wit. His novels and essays interrogated the Social norm, social and sexual ...
, which had its revised edition of 1961 first published in paperback, and later in hardcover.
[ ]
Prices
Hardcover books are usually sold at higher prices than comparable paperbacks. Books for the general public are usually printed in hardback only for authors who are expected to be successful, or as a precursor to the paperback to predict sale levels; however, many
academic books are often only published in hardcover editions.
Usual structure
Hardcovers usually consist of a page block, two boards, and a cloth or heavy paper covering.
The pages are sewn together and glued onto a flexible spine between the boards, and it too is covered by the cloth.
A paper wrapper, or dust jacket, is usually put over the binding, folding over each horizontal end of the boards. Dust jackets serve to protect the underlying cover from wear. On the folded part, or flap, over the front cover is generally a
blurb, or a summary of the book. The back flap is where the
biography
A biography, or simply bio, is a detailed description of a person's life. It involves more than just basic facts like education, work, relationships, and death; it portrays a person's experience of these life events. Unlike a profile or curri ...
of the author can be found. Reviews are often placed on the back of the jacket. Many modern bestselling hardcover books use a partial cloth cover, with a cloth-covered board on the spine only, and only boards covering the rest of the book.
Gallery
File:Old book bindings.jpg, Old hardcover books at the Merton College
Merton College (in full: The House or College of Scholars of Merton in the University of Oxford) is a constituent college of the University of Oxford in England. Its foundation can be traced back to the 1260s when Walter de Merton, chancellor ...
library
File:Dust jacket.jpg, Dust jacket on a hardcover book
File:Bicentennial Bible.jpg, A King James Bible
The King James Version (KJV), also the King James Bible (KJB) and the Authorized Version (AV), is an Early Modern English translation of the Christian Bible for the Church of England, which was commissioned in 1604 and published in 1611, by ...
bound in blue faux-leather cloth
File:Dickens Great Expectations in Half Leather Binding.jpg, Hardbound book with half leather binding (spine and corners) and marbled boards
File:Harry Potter Book 2, 1st American ed. without dust jacket.JPG, Contemporary hardcover, with partial cloth cover, on the spine only, and boards for the rest
See also
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Book size
The size of a book is generally measured by the height against the width of a leaf, or sometimes the height and width of its cover. A series of terms is commonly used by libraries and publishers for the general sizes of modern books, ranging from ...
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Softcover
References
{{Book Publishing Process
Book formats
Book covers