Dos-à-dos binding

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See also: dos-à-dos

In bookbinding, a dos-à-dos binding (from the French meaning "back-to-back") is a binding structure in which two separate books are bound together such that the fore edge of one is adjacent to the spine of the other, with a shared lower board between them serving as the back cover of both. When shelved, the spine of the book to the right faces outward, while the spine of the book to the left faces the back of the shelf; the text of both works runs head-to-tail.[1][2][3]

The term dos-à-dos is also used often, though incorrectly, to refer to a single volume in which two texts are bound together, with one text rotated 180° relative to the other, such that when one text runs head-to-tail, the other runs tail-to-head. This type of binding is properly termed tête-bêche (from the French meaning "head-to-toe").[4] Books bound in this way have no back cover, but instead have two front covers and a single spine with two titles. When a reader reaches the end of the text of one of the works, the next page is the (upside-down) final page of the other work.

The dos-à-dos format dates back at least to the 16th century, though they were most common in England was in the first half of the 17th century.[5] Two books frequently bound in this form were the New Testament and Psalter, presumably because both were needed during church services. Regardless of content, the outer boards of dos-à-dos bindings were usually embroidered, or covered with leather and then finished with gold.[6]

The tête-bêche format has been used for devotional books since the nineteenth century, and possibly earlier. It has also been used for secular works -- for example Irvin S. Cobb's Oh! Well! You Know How Women Are! bound dos-à-dos with Mary Roberts Rinehart's Isn't That Just Like a Man!, was published by George Doran in 1920.[7] The format became much more widely known in the 1950s, when Ace Books began to publish its Ace Doubles. This was a line of tête-bêche genre paperbacks that ran from 1952 until the early 1970s. The Ace Doubles binding was considered innovative, if somewhat gimmicky, at the time; the October 18, 1952 issue of Publishers Weekly describes it as a "trick format." [8]

[edit] Notes

  1. ^ Carter, John; Nicolas Barker. ABC for Book Collectors. New Castle, DE: Oak Knoll Press and The British Library date=2004 page=81. ISBN 1-884718-14-0. 
  2. ^ Glaister, Geoffrey Ashall (1996). Encyclopedia of the Book. New Castle, DE: Oak Knoll Press & The British Library, 144. ISBN 1-884718-14-0. 
  3. ^ Prytherch, Ray (1990). Harrod's Librarians' Glossary. Brookfield, VT: Gower, 206. ISBN 0-566-03620-7. 
  4. ^ Joan M. Reitz (2006). Online Dictionary for Library and Information Science. Retrieved on 08-03-07.
  5. ^ Glaister, 144.
  6. ^ Glaister, 144; Etherington, Don; Matt Roberts (1982). Bookbinding and the Conservation of Books. Washington, DC: Library of Congress. ISBN 0-8444-0366-0. 
  7. ^ Copy description located in second-hand bookstore Robert Wright Books. Retrieved on 9 May 2006.
  8. ^ "News" (October 18, 1952). Publishers Weekly 199: 1719–1729.