I went on a bender over the last couple years of reading almost exclusively non-fiction books. Probably averaging about 2 a week; sometimes more, sometimes less. One thing I never could figure out was why the pictures were tossed in so randomly. They’re not at the back, they’re not opposite the corresponding page, they’re not between chapters, they’re not even placed after a paragraph break. More often than not, they’re right in the middle of a sentence. You’re reading, the page ends mid-sentence, then there’s ~15 pages of pictures, and then your sentence picks back up. This is so universal in my experience that there has to be some logical explanation for it. It’s in books I picked up off the new wall at the library, and goes at least as far back as Kon Tiki, published in the 1950s. I’m stumped. Anyone?
Are they grouped at the middle of the book? This could happen because the book would be completely typeset, then the picture pages could be inserted. The picture pages on different paper stock or needs different processing, so it could be done separately and easily inserted during book binding.
No, they tend to be around 2/3 to 3/4 of the way through the book.
Printing is usually done in signatures – groups of 8 or 16 pages that are printed on a single sheet, then cut apart and placed in page order. Groups of photos or other art – esp. art that is printed on glossy paper – is usually a separate signature inserted between two signatures of text. The “jump” in the text is between one signature and the next, a break that’s invisible when you’re running text signatures sequentially.
Why the art signature (betcha it’s 8 pages worth) is at the halfway mark, the 2/3 mark, or wherever, in the book as a whole is somewhat arbitrary.
Yes. It’s the signatures that cause the pictures to show. If you notice, the pages with pictures are often glossy compared to the matte finish of the text. You can’t scatter that sort of thing within the book. So you pick locations – one set of pictures are in the middle; two sets are at 1/3 & 2/3; three sets are at 1/4, 1/2, & 3/4. This is chosen by counting signatures. It’s not easy to make sure that these are placed in chapter breaks.
I thought it might be something like what you two say, but why not just put them all at the end?
I don’t know if there’s a technical reason why you can’t put them all at the beginning or the end, but it seems logical to me that if you’re binding two media (glossy and matte paper) together, you’d put the one with fewer pages between the parts of the one with more pages.
I think part of it is that the material at the end of the book is generally not what the author expects everyone to read – footnotes and index. People might miss the photos; whereas if they’re in the middle, readers will stumble upon them.
Or it may be just, “That’s how they’ve always done it.”
I don’t understand that logic, can you explain?
As others have said, it’s because the pages in full colour are printed separately and added to the rest of book as one ‘signature’ among others.
Inserting the colour pages in the middle is as much as matter of tradition and convention as anything else. Yes, these pages could be put at the beginning or at the end of the book. There are pros and cons for every option. I guess one could argue that putting these pages in the middle gives them as much protection as possible, and also optimises how accessible they are no matter where you happen to be in the book. It also gives the completed book a ‘balanced’ look and feel, especially if - as is normally the case - the colour pages are printed on noticeably different stock.
But you’re right… this practice does interrupt the flow of the text and some readers dislike this.
I’ve even seen them give implicit spoilers - like adventure books where it shows the party safe and sound after the ordeal, for instance.
Generally speaking the paper goes in in groups that are sets of four pages. This is because the same sheet of paper is used for all four pages of the book. A 12 page book with glossy paper with photos on pages 3 and 4 (different sides of the same sheet) will therefore also have glossy paper on pages 9 and 10 (opposite side of the same sheet sticking out the other side of the book). (Though of course these glossy pages are usually numbered separately.) Putting the pages in the middle balances it out, otherwise they are going to be spread out evenly on either side of the center of the book. It works in the same principle as putting a magazine together with folded pages, it just gets trimmed at the center and either glued or saddle stitched to the spine instead of stapled. So if you put a bunch of glossy pages at the end you end up with a bunch sticking out the front too, which most people don’t want.