Deckle me not

[mollyringle]

Spotted on Amazon on some new hardcover book listing:

This Book Is Bound with "Deckle Edge" Paper. You may have noticed that some of our books are identified as "deckle edge" in the title. Deckle edge is when the pages of a book are made to resemble handmade paper by applying a frayed texture to the edges. Deckle edge is an ornamental feature designed to set certain titles apart from books with machine-cut pages.

...They do that on purpose? And here I thought such books were just cheaply made and sloppily left unsmoothed. Give me machine-cut any day if deckle-edge is your idea of ornamental.

And actually I prefer paperbacks to hardcovers anyway. So there.

Comments

[ladymurmur.livejournal.com]

And actually I prefer paperbacks to hardcovers anyway. So there.

And I strongly prefer NORMAL sized paperbacks over this new trend for extra-tall paperbacks. My purses and book covers, and indeed my bookshelves have all been purchased or configured around standard sized paperback books. The extra-tall pb's spoil everything. (end rant)

[mollyringle.livejournal.com]

Yeah--those new paperbacks are often very pretty, but they're a bit too big. I prefer mass-market paperback size and secretly (or I guess not so secretly) wish my own novels were printed as such!

[astroman-rich.livejournal.com]

Oh, printers will do all sorts of stuff like that. Heck, I have it on good authority that they make hardcover books with little plastic inserts on the spine that are supposed to look like the threads of a sewn ( as opposed to glued ) binding. :-)

People actually request that sort of thing.

[mollyringle.livejournal.com]

I have a new business idea: people can pay me to leave their books out in the rain and let them dry in the sun and wind. They'll look really old then!

[astroman-rich.livejournal.com]

If you're looking for business opportunities without work, I suggest something having to do with high-end audio. For example, start a business in which you will break-in people's speaker cables for them.

I bet you think I just pulled that one out of my hat... now Google for it. :-)

[mollyringle.livejournal.com]

Wow. That's some creative enterprising! I'm surprised they stay in business.

[archersangel.livejournal.com]

This Book Is Bound with "Deckle Edge" Paper. You may have noticed that some of our books are identified as "deckle edge" in the title. Deckle edge is when the pages of a book are made to resemble handmade paper by applying a frayed texture to the edges. Deckle edge is an ornamental feature designed to set certain titles apart from books with machine-cut pages.

i figured it was some fancy-pants thing or someone trying something different.

[mollyringle.livejournal.com]

Evidently it is. :)

[neadods.livejournal.com]

I always thought it was the sign of something cheap too. I hate it, because it makes the pages harder to flip through.

[mollyringle.livejournal.com]

Indeed it does. Good point!

[shmuel.livejournal.com]

...conversely, I confess I'm amazed Amazon has to explain this. The most evocative line in The Westing Game for me is near the start: "And she'd have stationery made -- blue with a deckle edge, her name and fancy address in swirling type across the top: Grace Windsor Wexler, Sunset Towers on the Lake Shore."

[mollyringle.livejournal.com]

I love that book! But never knew what "deckle edge" meant, nor did I even notice it, to my recollection...