in Production
Hardbacks: case laminate and dust jackets
A hardback's design is either printed on the case itself or wrapped around it as a jacket. Each approach changes how the book is designed and made.
A hardback, or cased book, has its pages bound into a rigid case made of boards covered in paper or cloth. There are two common ways to give it a designed cover: print directly on the case, or cover a plainer case with a separate dust jacket. They look different, handle differently and are designed differently.
Case laminate
A case laminate, also called a printed case or printed paper case, has the cover artwork printed on paper, laminated, and wrapped around the boards. The design is on the book itself, and there is no loose jacket.
It is common for children's books, reference books, textbooks and many illustrated titles, because it is durable and there is nothing to lose or tear. Print-on-demand services commonly offer a case laminate hardback.
Designing a case laminate differs from designing a paperback cover. The printed sheet wraps around the edges of the boards and turns in on the inside, so it needs a much larger margin beyond the visible cover than a paperback's bleed. There is also a hinge, the groove between the spine and each board where the cover flexes, and anything placed across it can crease or be partly hidden. The printer's template gives the dimensions for the board size, spine, wrap and hinge.
Cloth or paper cases with a dust jacket
The traditional alternative is a case covered in cloth or plain paper, often with the title and author blocked in foil on the spine, and a printed dust jacket over the top.
The jacket carries the full cover design and wraps around the book, with flaps that fold inside the front and back boards. The flaps give extra space: the front flap often holds a description of the book, the back flap an author biography and photograph, which frees the back panel for endorsements or a cleaner design.
A jacket is designed as a long flat sheet: back flap, back cover, spine, front cover and front flap. The panels are slightly larger than the pages, to wrap around the boards and allow for their thickness. Again, the printer supplies the dimensions.
Under the jacket, the case can be very simple or quite elaborate: a coloured cloth, foil blocking, a blind-embossed motif, printed endpapers. It is a chance to give the reader something extra when the jacket comes off.
Choosing between them
Case laminate is robust and practical and usually costs less. It suits books that will be handled heavily, and it keeps the design fixed to the book.
A jacketed hardback is the traditional format for new trade hardbacks, especially fiction and general non-fiction. Readers tend to associate it with a first edition and with a book meant to be kept. It costs more to produce, and the jacket can tear or go missing, but the flaps add useful space and the case underneath can carry a second layer of design.
Some books use both: a printed case with a jacket over it.
The other parts of a hardback
A few other elements are specific to hardbacks. Endpapers join the book block to the case, with one half pasted to the inside of each board; they can be plain, coloured or printed. Headbands and tailbands, small strips of fabric at the top and bottom of the spine, are mostly decorative on modern books but give a finished look. The boards are slightly larger than the pages, and the small overhang, called the square, protects the page edges.
Each of these is a small choice. Together they decide whether a hardback feels considered or merely stiff.