# Paper type Never by Ken Follett **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [December 5, 2021, 7:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/paper-type-never-by-ken-follett/955552 "2021-12-05T19:10:50Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 16\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![dauerbach1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/67e7ee/32.png) [@dauerbach1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dauerbach1)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2021, 7:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/paper-type-never-by-ken-follett/955552/1 "2021-12-05T19:10:50Z")
There is something different about the paper used. It is thin and smooth but feels substantial It allowed a book of over 700 pages to be relatively thin. I think it may be clay coated, but there is no color in the book so I am likely wrong. Googling did not find me an answer. What kind of paper is this? ---
**Author:** ![Roderick\_Femm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/roderick_femm/32/14875_2.png) [@Roderick\_Femm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Roderick_Femm)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2021, 8:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/paper-type-never-by-ken-follett/955552/2 "2021-12-05T20:08:05Z")
Recognizing the name Ken Follett as someone who writes books, I assumed that “Never” is the title of one of his books, and so it was. One question remains, after I remark that for someone asking for help you give surprisingly little of it: paperback or hard cover? I’m going to assume hard cover, but for the following speculation it probably doesn’t matter. Now for the proper investigative part: the publisher is Pan McMillan, so I looked up their online blurb for the novel, from November 2020, and another one from April of this year. There is also, somewhat puzzlingly unless they are a subsidiary of Pan McMillan, a blurb page online from Penguin Random House. None of them speaks about the paper used in the book. Therefore I assume that the paper is not particularly unusual or original to this book. From my fountain pen hobby, I have learned that there are a lot of lightweight coated papers available. For example, Tomoe River paper from Japan is only 52 gsm (grams per square meter) and quite thin, but it is quite capable of being printed on both sides with little or no show-through. So it is probably a paper something like that, although a quick search of google seems to indicate that uncoated paper is usually used in books. Another quick google search reveals that coated writing paper is, in fact, usually coated with clay. Whether that is what is used on the paper of that particular book may be something that only the publisher can elucidate upon. ---
**Author:** ![suranyi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e36b37/32.png) [@suranyi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/suranyi)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2021, 9:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/paper-type-never-by-ken-follett/955552/3 "2021-12-05T21:40:53Z")
The book was just published a couple of weeks ago, so only the hardcover exists at the moment. I just checked my own copy and I don’t notice anything special about the paper. ---
**Author:** ![Roderick\_Femm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/roderick_femm/32/14875_2.png) [@Roderick\_Femm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Roderick_Femm)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2021, 10:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/paper-type-never-by-ken-follett/955552/4 "2021-12-05T22:17:21Z")
I saw a paperback copy apparently available on Amazon, but it is in Spanish, so that’s probably a special case. ---
**Author:** ![bob\_2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bob_2/32/3341_2.png) [@bob\_2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bob_2)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2021, 10:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/paper-type-never-by-ken-follett/955552/5 "2021-12-05T22:20:33Z")
Bible paper or Lightweight Offset Paper Aso known as scritta paper is a thin grade of paper used for printing books that have many pages, such as bibles and dictionaries. Technically, Bible paper is a type of woodfree uncoated paper. This paper grade often contains cotton or linen fibres to increase its strength in spite of its thinness. ---
**Author:** ![Roderick\_Femm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/roderick_femm/32/14875_2.png) [@Roderick\_Femm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Roderick_Femm)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2021, 10:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/paper-type-never-by-ken-follett/955552/6 "2021-12-05T22:21:48Z")
Tangent: it’s sort of disheartening to me that a writer only just realized that WWI was something that no country really wanted, and that it was started more or less accidentally. I mean the man is 3 months older than I am (72). Somehow I thought this was common knowledge, at least among reasonably educated people (he graduated from University College London). End tangent. ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Strangelove](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dr.strangelove/32/6613_2.png) [@Dr.Strangelove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Strangelove)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2021, 12:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/paper-type-never-by-ken-follett/955552/7 "2021-12-06T00:08:12Z")
> [@Roderick\_Femm](#): > > and that it was started more or less accidentally That contradicts what I’ve always been taught. The trigger may have been “accidental,” but the tensions were already there and had been building for a long time. Any number of minor events might have triggered it at the time. And had the tensions not already been there, a minor assassination wouldn’t have caused such a war. ---
**Author:** ![Bootb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e19b73/32.png) [@Bootb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bootb)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2021, 12:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/paper-type-never-by-ken-follett/955552/8 "2021-12-06T00:08:12Z")
> [@bob\_2](#): > > Bible paper or Lightweight Offset Paper > > Aso known as scritta paper is a thin grade of paper used for printing books that have many pages, such as bibles and dictionaries. Technically, Bible paper is a type of woodfree uncoated paper. This paper grade often contains cotton or linen fibres to increase its strength in spite of its thinness. Also called onion skin paper. ---
**Author:** ![beowulff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beowulff/32/542_2.png) [@beowulff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/beowulff)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2021, 2:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/paper-type-never-by-ken-follett/955552/9 "2021-12-06T02:15:48Z")
Onionskin paper is translucent, so it would be terrible for use in a book. I doubt that scritta is the same as onionskin. ---
**Author:** ![suranyi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e36b37/32.png) [@suranyi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/suranyi)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2021, 3:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/paper-type-never-by-ken-follett/955552/10 "2021-12-06T03:53:42Z")
As I said, I have this book. It’s not onion skin paper, that’s for sure. ---
**Author:** ![Bootb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e19b73/32.png) [@Bootb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bootb)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2021, 4:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/paper-type-never-by-ken-follett/955552/11 "2021-12-06T04:46:40Z")
> [@beowulff](#): > > Onionskin paper is translucent, so it would be terrible for use in a book. I doubt that scritta is the same as onionskin. > [@suranyi](#): > > As I said, I have this book. It’s not onion skin paper, that’s for sure. It’s amazing to me how so many people on this board spew ignorant nonsense without bothering to do even a modicum of basic research. I grew up in religious circles. I can **absolutely assure** you that many church-goers use the term “onion skin” to describe the type of paper used in Bibles. _This terminology is very common._ But if you don’t believe me, perhaps you’ll believe one of the biggest Bible publishing companies in the world. > Bible paper is lightweight and there are several types, known by names such as Free Sheet, Bible paper, onionskin, and India paper. They have a high level of titanium dioxide to increase their brightness and opacity. They typically range between 25-40gsm. > **[Why Is Bible Paper Important? - Thomas Nelson Bibles](https://www.thomasnelsonbibles.com/blog/why-is-bible-paper-important/)** > > Paper is one of the most important features of a Bible. Learn how legibility and usability are affected by the type of paper it is printed on. ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2021, 4:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/paper-type-never-by-ken-follett/955552/12 "2021-12-06T04:52:20Z")
> [@Bootb](#): > > I grew up in religious circles. I can **absolutely assure** you that many church-goers use the term “onion skin” to describe the type of paper used in Bibles. _This terminology is very common._ It is the term I always heard, and didn’t hear otherwise until literally this thread. > ---
**Author:** ![suranyi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e36b37/32.png) [@suranyi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/suranyi)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2021, 5:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/paper-type-never-by-ken-follett/955552/13 "2021-12-06T05:49:08Z")
I don’t understand what you’re so upset about. Of course I know about onion skin paper. Of course I know it’s commonly used for Bibles. I’m just saying that this specific book, “Never” by Ken Follett, is not printed on onion skin. ---
**Author:** ![bob\_2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bob_2/32/3341_2.png) [@bob\_2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bob_2)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2021, 11:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/paper-type-never-by-ken-follett/955552/14 "2021-12-06T11:02:13Z")
I strongly suspect that for those of us not in the publishing or printing world. terms like Onion Skin, Bible paper, Scritta and Lightweight Offset Paper all pretty much describe the same thing. They are not the same, of course, but does it matter to the layman. Personally, I would say that my bible and my copy of the Complete Oxford Dictionary are both printed on ‘Bible’ paper, but who cares, really? I would expect ‘onion skin’ to be more translucent too. ---
**Author:** ![engineer\_comp\_geek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/engineer_comp_geek/32/504_2.png) [@engineer\_comp\_geek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/engineer_comp_geek)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2021, 12:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/paper-type-never-by-ken-follett/955552/15 "2021-12-06T12:01:25Z")
**Moderator Note** > [@Bootb](#): > > It’s amazing to me how so many people on this board spew ignorant nonsense without bothering to do even a modicum of basic research. Dial it back, please. Just stick to the facts in this forum. ---
**Author:** ![Roderick\_Femm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/roderick_femm/32/14875_2.png) [@Roderick\_Femm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Roderick_Femm)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2021, 5:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/paper-type-never-by-ken-follett/955552/16 "2021-12-06T17:17:53Z")
> [@bob\_2](#): > > They are not the same, of course, but does it matter to the layman. Maybe not, but the OP asked a very specific technical question – is it a coated paper, and what is it coated with?. Since I haven’t seen a copy of the book I can’t say more about it than I already have.