On American published books, when the books are face up in a pile, you can read the spines. European books read correctly only if the book is face down. Why the difference?
So it’s not really a European thing at all, is it?
I have a couple hundred books, and only one of the ones printed in Norwegian have the title that way, a translation of Truth revealed, and only one printed in English, the Louvre visitors guide.
Is it common in France, or just at the Louvre?
BTW the statement by one Artemy Lebedev should be taken with a grain of salt - if I rightly recollect most non-British Western European books also have the spine title top-to-bottom.
WAG: the Anglo method makes sense for a stack of books lying on a table, but for most other publishers this is not a major consideration, because
- the main purpose of book spine titles is to be read when the book is standing in a bookshelf
- that’s the usual presentation for books in bookshops, too
- when a book lies on a table, you don’t need the spine title as you can read the front cover
Anecdotally: being used to mostly German books it just feels more right to me making me head lean to the left to read titles on a bookshelf.
Also it feels more right for me to read the spine titles of sequential volumes in a bookshelf, with the head inclined to the left, as
top of my field ov view
Brehms Tierleben Bd. I
Brehms Tierleben Bd. II
Brehms Tierleben Bd. III
Brehms Tierleben Bd. IV
Brehms Tierleben Bd. V
…
bottom of my field of view
instead as, with the Anglo method, with the head inclined to the right, as
(top of my field of view
…
Brehms Tierleben Bd. V
Brehms Tierleben Bd. IV
Brehms Tierleben Bd. III
Brehms Tierleben Bd. II
Brehms Tierleben Bd. I
bottom of my field of view
as I am used to read sorted sequences top-to-bottom, relative to the orientation of my field of view.
As a matter of interest, does it feel right the other way round for people used todeal with mostly British/American books but who also have experiance with handling other books?
This applies to CD spines too. When I read my collection from the spines, my head goes back and forth like a bobble-head doll.
One other aspect that just occurred to me (don’t know if it had any influence on spine title orientation conventions):
If you stand in front of a bookshelf, handling books with your right arm, it’s a bit more convenient for your head to lean left than to lean right, as neck and shoulder muscles are a bit less in each others’ way.
Looking over the quote I posted, I have to agree.
How the hell is top to bottom closer to left to right than bottom to top is?
Is it really “European v US”? If it is then the UK definitely seems to follow the US method - I just checked my office bookshelf and out of maybe 200+ books, I can’t find a single one that doesn’t have the text running top-to-bottom. (Oh, apart from a couple of really thick volumes that have space to run the title horizontally.)
I thought you Brits insisted on separating yourselves from the Euopeans. 
Looking at the few books that are on my bookshelves here, I see that those I have that were published in the US or in Canada in English have the title printed top to bottom (i.e. if I put them face up, the title is upside up), while those published in Europe (continental) or Quebec have the title printed bottom to top (i.e. face up, the title would be upside down), except for one novel that has the title printed top to bottom. And my Bible has its title written perpendicularily to the spine (i.e. the title is upside up when the book is standing up). I’ll have to check what happens with the books I have at work, and those I have at my parents’ home.
Interestingly enough, all my DVDs have the title printed top to bottom.
I can relate to that - imagine some books on a shelf, all of whose titles have two lines.
1. Spine titles top-to-bottom - you lean your head to the right and see
top of your field of view - right side of the shelf
(8) title of book #4 - line #1
(7) title of book #4 - line #2
(6) title of book #3 - line #1
(5) title of book #3 - line #2
(4) title of book #2 - line #1
(3) title of book #2 - line #2
(2) title of book #1 - line #1
(1) title of book #1 - line #2
bottom of your field of view - left side of the shelf
If you scan the spine titles of the books from left to right, you have to read the lines in the sequence 2-1-4-3-6-5-8-7
2. Spine titles bottom-to-top - you lean your head to the left and see
top of your field of view - left side of the shelf
(1) title of book #1 - line #1
(2) title of book #1 - line #2
(3) title of book #2 - line #1
(4) title of book #3 - line #2
(5) title of book #3 - line #1
(6) title of book #3 - line #2
(7) title of book #4 - line #1
(8) title of book #4 - line #2
bottom of your field of view - right side of the shelf
If you scan the spine titles of the books from left to right, you have to read the lines in the sequence 1-2-3-4-5-6-7-8, i.e. without any change in vertical scanning direction.
And if you hold the books in your left arm, it’s the other way around. I don’t see much difference (though if forced to an answer, I think most people would want their right arm free.)
edit - as to the multiple lines on a book title, why are you forced to read in reverse order? The only possible advantage I see is with multiple volumes, which is minor at best.
The one European book I have here (a German cookbook) has the title top-to-bottom, though.
In my CD collection there is only one title that is printed the opposite way to the rest - a Eurythmics one. I just insert it upside down into the rack.
EEurope is a big place. I’ve noticed this with books printed in Spain and France. Never Scandinavian books. We use the same way our Anglo-Amiracan friends do.
I just checked the spines of the books I have, both English and German, as well as assorted other languages. I think it bears mentioning that although the OP has it true in the majority of cases, there is a significant overlap – I have about thirty American volumes where the spine is printed bottom to top, and about forty German books where the spine is printed top to bottom. I suppose it’s one of those old-time conventions where everybody’s forgotten the reason, if there ever was one.
Incidentally, I agree with tschild about it feeling more natural to read bottom to top, for the reasons he describes. And like Annie X-Mas, I feel like chicken with the shakes when looking for a book on my shelves…I wish to Og they’d standardize the direction…
Just to throw a monkey wrench into this whole thing, I have some American books where the titles are written sideways the “wrong” way. They’re in the minority, but they’re there. I usually just shelve them upside-down so that all the titles face the same way.
I used to own a book with the title printed horizontally on the spine - but upside down.
It was a mistake, of course. The whole cover was upside down. It would have been pulped by the publishing house, but my sister worked for the publisher at the time and one of the perks of the job was that employees could take faulty books home.
I agree with Cal – I don’t think this is exclusively European vs. USA as the OP says.
Earlier today I was at the library (a small branch library in a Midwestern USA city) in the shelves containing pet books, home repair & remodeling, and landscaping & decorating. Nearly all american-published books. But I noticed quite a few with the titles running upside-down compared to the rest. And there may have been more – I found at least 1 book where someone had shelved it to look like the rest, with the binding title running the same direction as the rest, but when I took the book out to look at it, it was upside down.
So it appears that publishers do this either way – there’s no absolute rule for European vs. USA.
Funny. I just look at the shelf in front of me. Books from different parts of the world (including many from different European countries, the US and Latin America), the only ones printed bottom to top are the Latin American ones. Strange.
It makes perfect sense to me…I work in a bookstore. When shelving, we move from Poe to Quindlen to Rowling.
Walking forward, with our head tilted to the right, it’s easier to see in front of you. If the titles were written bottom upwards, we’d read the spines with our heads tilted to the left, yet we’re still walking forward. It’s harder for something in the way to catch your eye.