Do you like books with deckled/uneven pages?

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Do you like books with deckled/uneven pages?

Post by VanessaB16 »

I absolutely love books with deckled pages! It gives an antique kind of look and makes the book more aesthetically unique!

Do you like uneven pages??
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Post by LivreAmour217 »

I do, for the same reasons you listed. I like "old" things :)
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Post by bluemel4 »

I agree with both of you. I like it when the pages have a diary feel. It adds to the mystic and unique feel of the book.
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Post by gali »

Since I read mostly on my kindle, it doesn't make a difference to me.
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Post by V_bansal2912 »

I don't like my books with deckled or uneven pages. I prefer books in good condition.
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Post by Artiste8 »

V_bansal2912 wrote:I don't like my books with deckled or uneven pages. I prefer books in good condition.
The books are in good condition, but the pages are made that way on purpose. It looks really good with certain books. The book "The Thirteenth Tale" had pages like that.
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Post by Keith80 »

The deckled pages seem to be easier to turn. I seldom get two pages at a time with them. However much of my reading is on my Kindle now so they don't really affect that. The appearance of a book with the deckled pages looks a bit untidy to me, but much of my reading in my youth was textbooks, so I am biased towards uniform page size.
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Post by MystAngelBlossom »

bluemel4 wrote:I agree with both of you. I like it when the pages have a diary feel. It adds to the mystic and unique feel of the book.
I have to agree. Especially if the book is set in the 1800s or early 1900s. It makes it feel like I'm reading someone's diary instend of a book.
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Post by ChristanWebb »

I might get a book with uneven pages for my collection because I like the way it looks, but I hate them for reading. It is harder for me to thumb through the pages without flipping who sections. Also the feel of it while reading makes it seem that something is wrong with it and it distracts me from the story.
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Post by zeldas_lullaby »

Yes. My Jane Eyre has it, as does my copy of Radiance by Alyson Noel, and my copy of The Diary by Eileen Goudge. It is a neat effect!
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Post by Raven_Knight »

I don't particularly like having deckled/uneven pages unless it goes with my theme or story of book. Some books I think it works, but usually I prefer that all the pages are even.
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Post by moderntimes »

I'm familiar with this type of binding because I review lots of books and often get galley proofs, which are cheaply bound editions sent to reviewers prior to the actual edition coming out. Some galley proofs are done via "perfect binding" which is a trademark way of binding trade paperbacks, and most final paperback editions these days are "perfect bound" technique. But occasionally the galley proof is a lot cheaper and and so the pages are decked, the cover just plain hard paper with the title and info, no artwork or anything.

Sometimes the lack of proper trimming makes the pages harder to turn but that's no biggie.

I've got some fairly old and rare books which were bound such, before the more precise trimming became prevalent.

I really don't care. I prefer a professional binding because it shows that the publisher put the needed funds into the book and didn't give the author a cheapie edition. I however do know that some books are intentionally "deckled" (rough cut) but I for the life of me cannot discern why, other than to save a step and some money in the binding. If a book is newly written then I don't need faux quaint fixings to try to tell me it's old.

Of course, when I'm reviewing books, having a lesser binding never enters into my review. The contents are what matters.
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Post by Christinar81 »

I also like deckled pages. I agree that it gives the allusion of the book being old and unique. I also find it easier to turn the pages that way.
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Post by moderntimes »

I think you mean "illusion" right?

But a new book really doesn't have to pretend anything as I see it. If it's a genuinely old book, fine. Fake old? Naw.

There are some rare book editions which are early editions with untrimmed pages which make them more rare. I happen to have, among my fairly rare books, a FIRST edition of Joyce's "Ulysses" with its original publisher Shakespeare & Co. Paris, 1924. This book has the early print run of untrimmed pages and is therefore worth a bit more. And no, it's not a first printing (those volumes are worth $100,000 and are under guard) but mine is a first edition, just following the "first printing" which means it's of course quite rare. You can check on the prices via the net.

But those untrimmed pages are "real" not fakey.
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Post by TrisNook »

It does give the book a unique look but I find that it makes it so much harder to turn the pages. As a kid I got The Land of Elyon series and I had such a hard time turing the pages. I loved how the book looked though. So I am kind of in-between with books like that.
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