Book Essay #1: Book Spine
Book Essay is a series of narrative/descriptive essays on the parts of a book. From the spine to the back cover, each essay will convey my thoughts (largely subjective) on the components of each part of a book—one essay for a book part. These essays will create the awareness that a book is made of many parts, and show how these parts, put together, make the beauty that a book is. I hope that these musings get us into a conversation in the comments. For me, it is a setup that makes me dig deeper to understand the parts of a book. Therefore, these essays will not be preceded by extensive research on the book part. You can be sure to find errors in factual details. But let me be wrong, this one time, since I would do research afterwards. (But flag down my errors, please!) Worry not, the essays are numbered!
I am so sorry for the delay in today’s despatch; blame it on the electric power suppliers!
Dear Fellow,
The first part of a book you interact with on a shelf is the spine. It is just as much as the story the book is all about. I am writing this despatch at the Jenta-Reads Community Library (inside the Reserved Section). To my right is a bookshelf stacked with books that are rare in my city, books that mustn’t leave the library.
I look at the shelf, I see What’s Right by David Frum (I cannot make out the publisher’s imprint).1 I look again, and I can see The Sword and the Cross by Fergus Fleming (the publisher is Faber & Faber).2 I look again, and I can see Prophet by Frank E. Peretti (I cannot make out the publisher).3 I look again, and I can see Piercing the Night by Roell (I cannot make out the publisher).4 I spotted each of these labelled, bounded papers from the spine of each.
The Merriam-Webster dictionary defines the spine as:
a: “Spinal Column”
b: “Something resembling a spinal column or constituting a centra; axis or chief support.”
c: “The part of a book to which the pages are attached and on the cover of which usually appear the title and author’s and publisher’s names.”
A book spine has three major features: 1. The Book’s Title 2. The Author’s Name 3. The Publisher’s Imprint (and sometimes the name). The most appealing of these three is the title. It is the bait. It draws you into wondering what the book is about. This means that a book spine is dependent on the title of the book for it to be a great selling point. On the spine, there’s limited space for significant visual representations. Therefore—maybe for the author, marketers, and designers of a publishing house—the spine which is the first contact with a book relies so much on the title to do its job; so you want to make the most of words where visuals fall short.
All three features of a book spine are baits to capture a reader. However, by comparison, for me, the author’s name will go next to the book’s title if we are to rate the effect of each feature on a reader. The last on that scale will be the publisher. But I am having quite a tough time comparing the title and the author’s name to say which is more effective bait. (Maybe we should do a poll.)
But here’s something about author’s names on the spine: people share names (search your name on Facebook and see). Lewis, Chesterton, Gladwell, Tolkien, Yancey, Achebe, Tolstoy, and Dostoevsky—all writers I admire and seek to learn from.5 Those are their last names, but they could be the last names of other people too. Yet, I am more likely to pick up books with just these names on the spine even before finding out if they are the real folks I have in mind. The effectiveness of the author’s name on a book's spine largely depends on the writer's reputation—and that is, work a writer does, quite unconsciously.
The publisher’s name must remain the last on the scale comparing the three features on the spine of a book. While the author and his story rely much on the publisher to get seen and heard, the publisher thrives based on the quality of both. I mean, how much do you, my good fellow, care to know who the publisher of a book is before reading it? All anyone cares about when he picks up a book is first the story, and second the author. Except in the realm of academia, publishers aren’t given much attention by comparison among a general category of readers. But a publisher deserves some credit for helping us get books to read. So, I have taken an interest in telling apart a publisher from another by their colophon.
Not every book has a spine like the ones in the theme photo for this despatch. Some books are bounded by pins (accurately called booklets). To get a spine for a smaller volume of writing, the paper size can be reduced to get a width suitable enough to make a spine that bears the title, author’s name, and publisher’s name.
Good fellow, do you have any fond memories of your interaction with a book spine? I’d love to read about it in the comments! I believe others would be interested too.
See you in the next book essay—and in the next despatch. Thank you for stopping by.
Your LetterMan,
Tongjal, W. N.
David Frum, What’s Right: The New Conservation and What It Means for Canada (Toronto: Vintage Canada, 1996).
Fergus Fleming, The Sword and the Cross (London: Faber and Faber, 2004).
Frank E. Peretti, Prophet (Illinois: Crossway Books, 1992).
H. Eberhard Roell, Piercing the Night: A Life on the Edge in Post-Amin Uganda (New York: S.D.G Publishing).
Here, I am referring to these writers:
Clive Staples Lewis (1898-1963)
Gilbert Keith Chesterton (1874-1936)
Malcolm Gladwell (1963-still alive)
John Ronald Reuel Tolkien (1892-1973)
Chinua Achebe (1930-2013)
Leo Tolstoy (1828-1910)
Fyodor Dostoevsky (1821-1881)
I'll definitely pick a book with a well known authors name first, if not the book title does it for me, but also a recognition of the publishers will be nice, they do play an essential role in getting the books to readers.