A book which has a rigid and protective cover is called a Hardcover Book . The Hardcover Books are also known as ‘Hardbound Books' and ‘ Hardback Books' . These books are usually bound with cardboard. For protection as well as beautification the cardboards are covered by cloth, hard paper or leather. Nearly all the Hardcover Books were covered in cloth until the middle of the 20 th century when publishers started using a kind of texture paper known as ‘clothette'. Most of the Hardcover Books have spines glued to the pages and some of them may have flexible sewn spine. These flexible spines allow the book to open flat. Hardcover Books are much more durable than any paperback books.
Hardcover Books most of the time are printed on ‘acid-free papers'. These papers are mainly produced from cotton fibers, rags, jute and wood pulp etc. The manufacturing cost of a Hardcover Book is much more than a paperback.
Hardcover Books are usually expensive than Paperback Books. Most of the printed popular books have both
Hardcover and Paperback editions. The
Hardcover Books are always released in the market first followed by the Paperback edition because the paperback editions are more cost effective and increases the sale.
Though back in the year 1978 an executive of a well known finishing industry predicated that
Hardcover bindings
would obsolete within the next ten years, it is noticeable that 58% of the books sold today are still
Hardcover Books.
Most of the Classics are still available in
Hardcover bindings
and are very popular among the book collectors.
