4 ms·

I have the paperback, and that stood out as a glaring flaw to me also. I had to compare it to my other paperbacks, which were all made with ample center margin

by Isamu 9y ago

I have the paperback, and that stood out as a glaring flaw to me also. I had to compare it to my other paperbacks, which were all made with ample center margins to account for the stiff binding. But they didn't look nearly as nice although not due to the center margins. In fairness, the author (Robert Bringhurst) probably didn't have final say over the paperback, at least as it was bound in final form. The binding is just too stiff for the form factor which is unusually narrow and tall for a paperback. There are less stiff paperback bindings. Dover used to produce paperbacks with pages stitched into signatures, but that was a more expensive binding.

bordercases 9y ago
> Robert Bringhurst didn't have final say He could have taken the book to a different publisher!
- Finnucane 9y ago
  The number of publishers interested in technical works on typesetting is pretty small.
sampl 9y ago
I noticed this too! > In fairness, the author (Robert Bringhurst) probably didn't have final say over the paperback, at least as it was bound in final form. I’m guessing he had a LOT of influence over the printing. The paper is extremely high quality, there’s red color type every so often, etc. If there’s any book where the author would control the printing, it’s this one. I’m guessing he’s either optimizing for a mathematically or historically “correct” ratio over the reader experience, or we’re supposed to “break in” the book more before reading: http://booksville.blogspot.com/2009/12/how-to-break-in-new-book.html?m=1 http://booksville.blogspot.com/2009/12/how-to-break-in-new-b...
- Isamu 9y ago
  > If there’s any book where the author would control the printing, it’s this one. I agree. My point is that the final, bound form is probably not available for approval. The author sees and approves pages before they are bound. He probably did not have a bound paperback in his hands until the first print run. Only then could you judge how the choice of center margin did not work with the other choices. He may have had approval over the method of paperback binding, but a number of variables are conspiring to make the final spine stiff enough that the pages kind of disappear into the binding. Some of those were the variables the author apparently approved - the paper choice, the page dimensions, the margins. I will add that the layout really looks like a hardback layout. I think that was forefront in the author's mind.
  - sampl 9y ago
    The hardback theory makes sense
- mattkevan 9y ago
  The book is versioned like a software product (I have versions 4.0 and 3 point something), so I’d be surprised if it was a binding error or the author didn’t have control. I think you’re right that it’s about it being the correct ratio and is intended to be broken in. The copy I had as a design student certainly was.

by Isamu 9y ago

bordercases 9y ago

> Robert Bringhurst didn't have final say He could have taken the book to a different publisher!

Finnucane 9y ago
The number of publishers interested in technical works on typesetting is pretty small.

sampl 9y ago

I noticed this too! > In fairness, the author (Robert Bringhurst) probably didn't have final say over the paperback, at least as it was bound in final form. I’m guessing he had a LOT of influence over the printing. The paper is extremely high quality, there’s red color type every so often, etc. If there’s any book where the author would control the printing, it’s this one. I’m guessing he’s either optimizing for a mathematically or historically “correct” ratio over the reader experience, or we’re supposed to “break in” the book more before reading: http://booksville.blogspot.com/2009/12/how-to-break-in-new-book.html?m=1 http://booksville.blogspot.com/2009/12/how-to-break-in-new-b...

Isamu 9y ago
> If there’s any book where the author would control the printing, it’s this one. I agree. My point is that the final, bound form is probably not available for approval. The author sees and approves pages before they are bound. He probably did not have a bound paperback in his hands until the first print run. Only then could you judge how the choice of center margin did not work with the other choices. He may have had approval over the method of paperback binding, but a number of variables are conspiring to make the final spine stiff enough that the pages kind of disappear into the binding. Some of those were the variables the author apparently approved - the paper choice, the page dimensions, the margins. I will add that the layout really looks like a hardback layout. I think that was forefront in the author's mind.
- sampl 9y ago
  The hardback theory makes sense
mattkevan 9y ago
The book is versioned like a software product (I have versions 4.0 and 3 point something), so I’d be surprised if it was a binding error or the author didn’t have control. I think you’re right that it’s about it being the correct ratio and is intended to be broken in. The copy I had as a design student certainly was.