Today’s post is for my readers who read traditional books.
I have nothing against ebooks, but today I want to talk about the physical cover of books, which ebooks don’t have.
I was at Walmart, and I saw that someone new was writing Ralph Compton westerns. Out of curiosity, I picked up an older Ralph Compton book and felt a surge of happiness. The reprint had a textured matte cover. It’s hard to describe, but the book felt like it wanted to be held. It wasn’t going to slip through my fingers like a slick, glossy cover.
Matte covers are becoming popular, which seemed odd when I googled the idea. It appears that a lot of authors don’t like the look. I love both the appearance and feel of matte covers, and I’m curious about what you think.
Let me know in the comments if you like the new matte look or prefer glossy. There is no right answer, I’m just curious if this fresh feel could be the future or just a fad.
Ah, the history of printed materials. Pictographs, clay and wax tablets, colored sands, scrolls, illuminated manuscripts, and so much more.
How does one make an impact on the reader. Six hundred years or so of mechanical printing. I imagine that even before the Sumer civilization, people ran their hands in awe over the communication method of choice. Large boulders, cliff faces, caves.
My brief sprint through the world of commercial and industrial printing, heck, even stone block litho, left me fascinated every day for decades.
But you specifically speak of covers for printed goods. Leather, board, cloth, paper, parchment, the choices are extensive. But I think even more specifically, you speak of soft cover paperbacks. In my world, perfect bound not sewn. Although the choices once again are wider than that.
So, we are talking paper covers say from 100# up to maybe 10 or 12 pt. Stamped, embossed, foiled perhaps. Coated stock probably, one or two sides. Matte, glossy, perhaps somewhere at the extremes. Aqueous or uv coating for resistance to wear and finish. Oil or water-based inks, maybe toners if you are digital.
Although a board cover wrapped in leather and cloth, stamped with foil, hand painted or embossed with a sigil of some kind. That leaves an impression on the hand and mind. But, we are speaking of perfect bound.
I still remember the first time I picked up a paperback whose cover had been embossed, the title, etc. done in metal foil, both gloss and matte inks, aqueous coatings. The sheer technical skill and knowhow to accomplish that left me in awe. That was thirty or more years ago. I can’t remember the name of the book or the author. It was a beach read, I think. But the feel and feeling of holding it, that’s still with me. That was the heyday of commercial litho. Perhaps, up to now, the peak of commercial printing.
Standing in the foil shop, running my hands over the flat stock on skids, standing at the end of the perfect binder with the bindery foreman picking up books off the line, sitting in a conference room with the customers laughing with them. Back up in my lab, holding a copy and shaking my head. Yeah, those kinds of memories will stick with you.