If you have decided to print and publish a book, congratulations! Believe it or not, writing a book is a way to unleash your imagination and, regardless of whether or not you are read, whether you are successful or not, you already have to feel proud of having done it. But, when publishing it is important that you know what the parts of a book are, both external and internal.
And that's where we want to help you. Next we are going to talk about what are the Parts of a book, both the best known and the least known. Interested? Go for it.
The book and its parts
For anyone, a book is made up of a cover where the front and back cover is and the inside, where the story is. But he doesn't know much else. However, this cultural asset that has so little recognition today (and use) it is actually made up of many parts of the book, and each of them has a specific function, which helps the reader to have a good experience, feeling ...
Knowing them all is not difficult. And you don't have to be an editor or designer to be interested in them. It is a way of valuing everything that is part of this object. Do you want to know what it has?
Types of parts of a book
We start by telling you that a book can be divided into two parts: the external and the internal.
The external part is the one that includes the front, spine and back cover, but in reality there is much more that is unknown. For its part, the internal part is the one that encompasses the pages where the story is told. And yet there is an order and parts that are essential.
External part of a book
La The outer part of a book has today been simplified to a simple "cover." But there are actually many elements that are part of it. These are:
Dust jacket
It's about that cover that covers the book totally protecting another cover. In other words, it is the case that some books bring (mainly hard covers) to further protect the book.
This can be the same as the cover it protects, or it can be different from one to the other.
Cover
La cover we could say that it is now understood by cover. It is the entire external part that protects the internal, that is, it is both the front cover, the spine and the back cover.
On the cover you will find the title of that book, the author, the publisher, as well as a synopsis of the work (on the back) and the work's ISBN registration code.
Back cover
As you can see, the back cover is the back of the cover. In other words, it is the part where an attractive summary of what the reader is going to find within the book is left.
Belt
Surely right now you are thinking about that piece of clothing and imagining something similar in a book. And the truth is that you are not wrong, but not entirely. The girdle is that strip of paper that usually hugs the cover or dust jacket and that is normally used to highlight something about the book, for example the edition number, the copies sold, that it is the original of a series adaptation, etc.
Actually, it is not essential, but it only serves decoratively and they are less and less seen.
Lomo
The spine, together with the cover and back cover, is what is part of the entire external part. It is the place where they hold all the internal sheets that the book has, and its size will depend on the number of pages it has.
As in other parts of the book, here It includes the title, author's name, publisher and, if it is part of a collection, its name or stamp.
Flap
Finally, within the external parts of the book, we have the flap. It is an internal fold that is often part of the dust jacket to hug and fix it to the book, which contains information about the author, the publisher or other books that are part of the writer or the collection and publisher.
Inner part of a book
Now that we have the external part divided into its different parts, it is time to know the internal one. However, before getting into that topic, we want to talk to you about the Guards.
These many the classified as elements of the external part, but they are inside. These are pages that are glued to the inside cover in the form of a diptych, joining the cover and the first sheet inside the book (its gut).
They are only used in hardcover books, and their function is to give more consistency to the interior so that it does not lose its pages. Especially since in many of these books the spine does not act as a link to the inner pages, but rather the end caps do that function.
That said, now we will talk about the internal parts of a book, which are:
Courtesy sheets
They are a pair of leaves that are left, both at the beginning and at the end, which serve as a "prelude" and as a protection against deteriorating everything else. Some forget to leave them but, really, they are essential.
Bastard title
Also called a title page, this is a single page on which the title of the book is written, nothing more. It is not used much, in fact, few know it, but it is the ideal page for writers to sign books (and in fact that is its function).
Interior cover
Here again the title of the book is repeated along with the author and, on some occasions, the label and publisher that publishes it. This is the best known and is still used.
Credits or rights page
It reflects a more detailed information on a technical level such as the edition number, year of publication, authorship, translation, legal deposit, printing press, image data used, authorship of the cover ...
Dedication
Usually it is a couple of lines, where the book is dedicated to one person or several.
Foreword, preface, introduction
Are the texts that speak in a general way about the theme of the story. However, nowadays it is used to start the plot of the book, something wrong but that is being seen more and more.
In fact, both the foreword, the preface and the introduction serve as a prelude for the author to explain the reasons why he decided to write that book, or for someone else to talk about the author.
Body of the book
This would be the central part of the work, where the narration takes place. Is usually divide into chapters or parts to help the reader to end the story little by little (and have pauses).
Epílogo
It is optional, some authors put them or not to give the final touch to the work.
Acknowledgements
It is a page where the author addresses the reader and where he comments on his work and thanks the people who have made it possible for him to come out.
Table of Contents
In it, the chapters or interior parts are collected, as well as the page on which they begin, so that the reader can see the book in general and go to the specific page that interests him.
Glossary of terms
It is a clarification of certain terms that are used. Although many authors use footnotes, sometimes the comment is so long that they need a specific part in the book.
Bibliography
A list of works, web pages, etc. consulted.
Now you can really know all the parts of a book.