In keeping with the discussion of “the spine of a book on a table is irrelevant because you can read the cover”, I personally shelve my books so that I can read them eastern-european-style, that is, bottom-to-top. Sure, many of them are “Upside down”, but really, that doesn’t matter because if you can see the front cover of a book on your bookshelf, why haven’t you bought more books to fill the space up?
I asked this same question here a year or more ago and none of these folks happened to see it and give such fine answers. It pays to stick around. Thanks.
Cal & t-b, I have to confess, every time I peruse the shelves at Barnes & Noble and see one of the European-style, or whatever, spine titles, I turn the book upside down so it reads right(ly). Did it this week.
Likewise. I have just checked 200+ books bought in the UK and the US and none of them are “upside down”.
stares at a paperback copy of The Soloist by Mark Salzman
blink
picks it up, turns it top-to-bottom and then bottom-to-top
You guys are nuts.
I’ve never noticed it being European or from anywhere else. To me, it seems quite rare. In fact, just looking at the covers of the books on my bookshelf, the only book like that that I have was published by the US government.
Side question: why do American coins have the image on the two sides upside-down in relation to each other? I don’t think I’ve seen that anywhere else.
If the spines are printed top to bottom then they are easy to read when stacked on a table or when in a bookcase. If they are printed bottom to top then then they are marginally easier to read when on the bookcase but much harder to read when stacked flat. The argument that a book laying flat exposes the cover only works for the top book an I rarely have only one book out.
Top to bottom therefore makes more sense to me but in the grand scheme of things this is pretty far down the list of concerns!
I just checked my bookshelves, which have about 1000 volumes.
Of books in English published in English speaking countries, including the US, UK, Australia, NZ, and South Africa, which are the great majority, all but one, an obscure bibliography published in New Zealand, have the titles top to bottom.
Almost all books in French (one exception) or Spanish (all those published outside of Panama, including Spain and several Latin American countries) have the titles bottom to top.
The major exceptions are books published in Panama. Some of the books in English read from bottom to top, and some of the books in Spanish read from top to bottom; others follow the “normal” convention for their language. It seems almost random which convention is applied. I think the prevalence here of books in both languages has tended to confuse the issue when it comes time to chose one or the other.
Hmmm. I happen to have some Thai coins in my desk, and they’re minted that way, too. The logical explanation would be that if you are examining one side of the coin, and flip it over to read the other side, it’s still right side up (provided that you flip it over vertically, which seems the “natural” thing to do).
I have a book " Hunters sacred biography"1836. The words inside the binder are upside down. are they supposed to be this way? Thank you