Creating a book is an exciting and daunting experience for many of our clients. There are many elements to consider: What should it look like? How big will it be? What information do we need to include? And the list goes on. To help guide you through the process, here’s a breakdown of some useful terms when considering the anatomy of your coffee table book.

What makes a book a coffee table book?

First, let’s familiarise ourselves with the medium. Coffee table books are designed to be seen, displayed and flicked through at one’s leisure. They are a blend of art and literature, so form is just as important as function. They tend to be large hardcover books that are designed to last, so they’re the perfect medium for celebrating milestones and sharing stories, photos and achievements.

A coffee table book should include the following elements.

Cover

The cover is the outer layer of the book. It includes the front, back and spine. The style limitations are endless, from soft to hard cover, fabric, leather, sleeves, dust jackets and a long list of embellishments. This is a blog post in itself!

There are multiple options for binding. This will usually depend on the scale of the book. Perfect binding, where pages are glued together along the spine, is a durable option for bigger books.

Endpapers

On the inside of the front and back cover are the endpapers. In hardback books, one half of the spread is glued down to the inside cover. The endpapers give the book greater stability while providing extra decoration. They are a useful place to add contextual elements such as maps or photographs.

Preliminary matter

The book begins with a half title. This will be adapted from the cover and includes the book’s title and author.

A foreword or acknowledgment is a nice way to kick off the text, engaging readers on a more personal level.

A table of contents is necessary for content-heavy books that are designed for flicking. Often in these styles of books, chapters will be broken into subsections. These can also be listed in the contents page to help guide readers to specific stories.

End matter

The end matter depends on the project, but it can include an appendix, glossary or endnotes. We usually place the imprint page in the end matter too. The imprint page contains everything we need to know about the book, like the publisher, printer and copyright information.  It’s an important section of the book but not one that most people will read at their own leisure – hence why we stick it at the back!

We’re here to help

It is helpful to know the basics of a book’s anatomy as you start to think about your project. Of course, there is a lot more to say on each element, but that’s what we’re here for! We’ll walk you through what’s needed at each stage and help shape it into your very own coffee table book – a celebration of your story.

– Jane Heriot, Junior designer