2007-07-02 08:55:00 · 1 answers · asked by dullerd 2 in Arts & Humanities ➔ Books & Authors
You know, I never gave this serious thought before, even though I used to be a book production editor. I bet it has something to do with the weight of the paper versus the standard paper sizes that printing presses are designed to use. I wonder if it also has something to do with the number of folds that can be completed neatly on a piece of paper. A child's trick I once heard was that there was a maximum number of folds a paper could be folded into. Maybe 3 is enough to keep page size appropriate and not wreck the paper.
Overall it is probably a throwback to whatever was easiest when signature binding was first economically available. Publishing is notoriously slow to change its processes :)
Any other thoughts?
2007-07-02 09:43:20 · answer #1 · answered by Used_to_know 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋