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A hardcover (or hardback or hardbound) is a book
Book

A book is a set or collection of written, printed, illustrated, or blank sheets, made of paper, parchment, or other material, usually fastened together to hinge at one side....
 bound
Bookbinding

Bookbinding is the process of physically assembling a book from a number of folded or unfolded sheets of paper or other material. It also usually involves attaching covers to the resulting text-block....
 with rigid protective covers (typically of cardboard
Paperboard

Paperboard is a paper-like material, usually over ten mils in thickness. Some types of paperboard are used in the construction of Corrugated fiberboard....
 covered with cloth, heavy paper
Paper

Paper is thin material mainly used for writing upon, printing upon or packaging. It is produced by pressing together moist fibers, typically cellulose pulp derived from wood, rags or grasses, and drying them into flexible sheets....
, or sometimes leather
Calf-binding

Calf-binding is a book bookbinding with rigid protective covers typically made of binder's board and covered in leather, usually from a calf. Being usually bound in the same way as hardcovers, they may have flexible sewn spines which allow the book to lie flat on a surface when opened....
). They may have flexible sewn spines which allow the book to lie flat on a surface when opened, although most modern commercial hardcover books have glued spines.

Hardcover books are often printed on acid-free paper
Acid-free paper

Acid-free paper is paper that has a neutral or basic pH . It addresses the problem of art conservation and restoration documents for long periods....
, and are much more durable than paperback
Paperback

Paperback, softback, or softcover describe and refer to a book by the nature of its bookbinding. The book covers of such books are usually made of paper or cardboard, and are usually held together with adhesive rather than stitches or Staple s....
s, which have flexible, easily damaged paper covers and glued spines.






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Latin Dictionary
A hardcover (or hardback or hardbound) is a book
Book

A book is a set or collection of written, printed, illustrated, or blank sheets, made of paper, parchment, or other material, usually fastened together to hinge at one side....
 bound
Bookbinding

Bookbinding is the process of physically assembling a book from a number of folded or unfolded sheets of paper or other material. It also usually involves attaching covers to the resulting text-block....
 with rigid protective covers (typically of cardboard
Paperboard

Paperboard is a paper-like material, usually over ten mils in thickness. Some types of paperboard are used in the construction of Corrugated fiberboard....
 covered with cloth, heavy paper
Paper

Paper is thin material mainly used for writing upon, printing upon or packaging. It is produced by pressing together moist fibers, typically cellulose pulp derived from wood, rags or grasses, and drying them into flexible sheets....
, or sometimes leather
Calf-binding

Calf-binding is a book bookbinding with rigid protective covers typically made of binder's board and covered in leather, usually from a calf. Being usually bound in the same way as hardcovers, they may have flexible sewn spines which allow the book to lie flat on a surface when opened....
). They may have flexible sewn spines which allow the book to lie flat on a surface when opened, although most modern commercial hardcover books have glued spines.

Hardcover books are often printed on acid-free paper
Acid-free paper

Acid-free paper is paper that has a neutral or basic pH . It addresses the problem of art conservation and restoration documents for long periods....
, and are much more durable than paperback
Paperback

Paperback, softback, or softcover describe and refer to a book by the nature of its bookbinding. The book covers of such books are usually made of paper or cardboard, and are usually held together with adhesive rather than stitches or Staple s....
s, which have flexible, easily damaged paper covers and glued spines. Hardcover books are also marginally more expensive to manufacture and usually much more to purchase. Hardcovers frequently come with artistic dust jacket
Dust jacket

The dust jacket of a book is the outer cover, which is often detachable and often illustrated. This outer cover has folded front and back flaps, by which it attaches to the front and back book covers themselves....
s.

Marketing

If brisk sales are anticipated, a hardcover edition of a book is typically released first, followed by a "trade" paperback edition (same format as hardcover) the next year. For very popular books these sales cycles may be extended, and followed by a mass market paperback edition typeset in a more compact size and printed on thinner, less durable paper. This is intended to, in part, prolong the life of the immediate buying boom that occurs for some best sellers. After the attention to the book has subsided, a lower cost version, the paperback, is released to entice further sales.

Costs

Hardcover books tend to cost more than paperback versions of the book. This is due to price discrimination
Price discrimination

Price discrimination exists when sales of identical good or Service are transacted at different prices from the same provider. In a theoretical market with perfect information, no transaction costs or prohibition on secondary exchange to prevent arbitrage, price discrimination can only be a feature of monopoly and oligopoly markets, where...
 by booksellers who observe that consumers are willing to pay a premium for hardcover editions over paperbacks beyond the extra costs in materials and production. Hardcover editions are usually reserved for authors who are (or are expected to be) successful.

Differences in structure

Old Book Bindings
Hardcovers generally consist of pages, two boards, and a cloth covering them. Their pages are glued into a flexible piece between the boards, and it too is covered by the cloth. A paper covering, usually artistic in nature, is put over the cloth, folding over each horizonal end of the boards. On the folded part over the front cover is generally a blurb
Blurb

A blurb is a short summary or some words of praise accompanying a creative work, usually referring to the words on the back of the book but also commonly seen on DVD and video cases, web portals and news websites....
, or a summary of the book. On the back folded part is where the biography
Biography

A biography is a description of someone's life, usually published in the form of a book or essay, or in some other form, such as a film. An autobiography is a biography by the same person it is about....
 of the author and/or illustrator can be found. Reviews are often placed on the back of the jacket.

See also

  • Paperback
    Paperback

    Paperback, softback, or softcover describe and refer to a book by the nature of its bookbinding. The book covers of such books are usually made of paper or cardboard, and are usually held together with adhesive rather than stitches or Staple s....


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