A tour-de-force "backless binding" without a spine that according to the bookseller was a showcase of the binder's skill and actually kind of a pain to read.

Reply to A tour-de-force "backless binding" without a spine that according to the bookseller was a showcase of the binder's skill and actually kind of a pain to read. on Mon, 28 Sep 2026 17:38:11 GMT

niels@social.data.coop — Mon, 28 Sep 2026 17:38:11 GMT

@overholt
Are you telling me it's painful to deal with the spineless?

Reply to A tour-de-force "backless binding" without a spine that according to the bookseller was a showcase of the binder's skill and actually kind of a pain to read. on Mon, 28 Sep 2026 17:15:39 GMT

timtfj@mastodon.social — Mon, 28 Sep 2026 17:15:39 GMT

@overholt It looks horribly prone to getting accidentally torn in half if the reader dozes off while holding it wrong. And a nightmare to flick through the pages looking for something, because of the stiffness of the ones which aren't actually pages but booklets for the other half. (I'm unsure whether to call them signatures, given that it sounds as though they aren't sewn.)

Reply to A tour-de-force "backless binding" without a spine that according to the bookseller was a showcase of the binder's skill and actually kind of a pain to read. on Mon, 28 Sep 2026 17:04:48 GMT

_thegeoff@mastodon.social — Mon, 28 Sep 2026 17:04:48 GMT

@overholt I was working in an academic bookshop when a French Lit student returned a "faulty book" where everything was bound as normal but every other page was still attached along the opposite end to the spine, e.g. page 1 to page 2, page 4 to page 5, and so on.
Took it to the boss who explained it was in the style of the original book, cheaper to bind and print, the reader would slice the pages as they read, plus it creates an automatic bookmark on the first read. Kind of cool in a way.

Reply to A tour-de-force "backless binding" without a spine that according to the bookseller was a showcase of the binder's skill and actually kind of a pain to read. on Mon, 28 Sep 2026 16:53:40 GMT

bigjackbrass@social.vivaldi.net — Mon, 28 Sep 2026 16:53:40 GMT

@overholt I’d have given extra marks if it had been a method for teaching the accordion.

Reply to A tour-de-force "backless binding" without a spine that according to the bookseller was a showcase of the binder's skill and actually kind of a pain to read. on Mon, 28 Sep 2026 16:26:27 GMT

bstacey@icosahedron.website — Mon, 28 Sep 2026 16:26:27 GMT

@overholt In some fields, virtue and skill are demonstrated by one's work not calling attention to that skill. Bookbinding, for example. And, contrariwise, arson.