"Hey, you know what's more lexically elite than using deckle-fetish in a sentence?
Yeah, it's complaining that others aren't using it correctly."
?from a 2005 thread on tribe.net
Deckle edges were the subject of conversation here last week. Someone had phoned our customer service center to say that the edges of the book he bought from us were "defective." Since our customer service folks have approximately 400 combined years of bookstore experience, it didn't take them long to realize that the man was talking about a Knopf publication, and the book wasn't defective.
The edges weren't trimmed close. Instead of the fore-edge looking like this:
... it looked like this:
The good people at Knopf had their binder do that on purpose. They employ people who are book designers, who think a lot about how the book is going to look and feel when it comes back from the bindery.
Those edges on the Knopf books are an added element, something that sets their publications apart. This isn't found in just hardbacks; the Penguin trade paper edition of Umberto Eco's The Island of the Day Before also sports edges that have not been trimmed close.
Perhaps books, like cars, look so alike to most people that any unexpected detail only serves to confuse. But books, just like cars, come in many sizes, shapes, price ranges, and sometimes have elegant touches, even at the mega-publishing level.
Our geeked-out conversation about fore-edges led, of course, down the dark bibliographic road to the term "deckle edges." John Carter defines the term as "the rough, untrimmed edges of a sheet of hand made paper....Much prized by collectors."
Deckle is not merely "untrimmed." It is sort of "untrimmed" on steroids. Here's what deckle edges look like:
The top only of this book has been trimmed, and then gilt has been applied. The term for this is "top edge gilt" or T.e.g. Here's a fetish-worthy photo:
The French have been known to produce books with an edge that Carter calls "Gilt on the Rough," which means that gilt has been applied to the deckle edges as well as the close cut top edge. How very French!
Edges can also be sprinkled, stained, marbled, or gauffred. They can be the recipient of folk paintings, erotic scenes, and landscapes. They can be shaped to serve as a three dimensional index. And, they can be the object of book lust.
Did the customer end up returning the Knopf book to us? I haven't heard. I've been busy taking pictures like this:
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Want to learn more about book crafts? Browse our bookbinding and book arts aisle online.