<p>see also<ahref="Being_kind_to_the_reader.html"title="User:Simon/Being kind to the reader">being kind to the reader</a>, <ahref="Bootlegging.html"title="User:Simon/Bootlegging">bootlegging</a>, <ahref="Rebinding.html"title="User:Simon/Rebinding">rebinding</a>, <ahref="Republishing.html"title="User:Simon/Republishing">republishing</a>
</p><p>Making a printed book involves selection of paper stock and decisions on how to economise with the printing method. Often this calls for text to be imposed, 2-up, double-sided, into a booklet. Booklets are useful for thin, staple-bound books, less than 64 pages of ordinary 80gsm paper.
</p><p>A text block of 2-up imposed spreads is cut in the middle first, then the two halves are joined together like a sandwich. Turning a single page document into a 2-up imposed PDF also imposes a constraint. There is no other way to create the text block. So, a book made in this way will result in a visible “split”, and the pages will naturally fall open where the two halves were joined.
</p><p>This is because most commercially bought paper comes with the grain direction aligned with the long edge, not the short edge. The solution is to print pages, not spreads, 1-up, double sided on a page. If you can find a printer that takes sheets of paper smaller than A4 (such as A5) this is perfect, if not, you may have to concede the loss that comes from trimming down to a smaller than A5 size. Although this may seem just a superficial concern, the book will not be split, making for a materiality that emphasises the unity of the text.
</p><p>Image: (clockwise from top left): imposition from a single-page PDF into a booklet, anatomy of a book, a spread
