# Why iInverted Brit book spine titles **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [April 10, 2005, 1:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-iinverted-brit-book-spine-titles/298657 "2005-04-10T13:13:41Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Ignatz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/3be4f8/32.png) [@Ignatz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ignatz)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2005, 1:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-iinverted-brit-book-spine-titles/298657/1 "2005-04-10T13:13:41Z")
Why do British (and possibly other) book publishers print the title on the spine so that it reads upside down when the book is lying flat with front cover on top? When I shelve mine vertically I put them upside down so they match all my “normal” book titles. Just something I’ve always wondered. ---
**Author:** ![Legolamb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/4491bb/32.png) [@Legolamb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Legolamb)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2005, 1:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-iinverted-brit-book-spine-titles/298657/2 "2005-04-10T13:19:35Z")
Which books are these? I’d say at least 90% of the books on my shelf are from British publishers and I can’t see a single example of this. ---
**Author:** ![Ignatz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/3be4f8/32.png) [@Ignatz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ignatz)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2005, 2:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-iinverted-brit-book-spine-titles/298657/3 "2005-04-10T14:45:31Z")
Legolamb, I see I’ve overgeneralized in my “Brits” citation. I’ve double checked my shelves and found that the 7 most readily availabe examples I have are NOT Brits but from other European publishers. Minerva-Geneva, La Maison du Dictionnaire-Paris Andorra, Athens, Venice, Belgrade. Most of them are older regional guide books and reference books. ---
**Author:** ![Monstre](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e274bd/32.png) [@Monstre](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Monstre)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2005, 4:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-iinverted-brit-book-spine-titles/298657/4 "2005-04-10T16:44:08Z")
Hey, they drive on the wrong side of the road over there, too… whaddya gonna do…? 😃 ---
**Author:** ![owlstretchingtime](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/958977/32.png) [@owlstretchingtime](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/owlstretchingtime)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2005, 5:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-iinverted-brit-book-spine-titles/298657/5 "2005-04-10T17:20:00Z")
We don’t. Maybe Johnny Foreigner on the continent does - but we don’t. (Tricky cove, johnny foreigner). ---
**Author:** ![GorillaMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/50afbb/32.png) [@GorillaMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GorillaMan)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2005, 7:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-iinverted-brit-book-spine-titles/298657/6 "2005-04-10T19:58:38Z")
**Owl** is right - it’s them damn frogs & krauts. As **Monstre** points out, there’s plenty of differences. There’s no ‘right’ way to label a book - and don’t forget that the earlier traditions were for the binding to be hidden and the ‘pages’ side of the book to be on view. Apparently, the Vatican’s library still works that way. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2005, 11:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-iinverted-brit-book-spine-titles/298657/7 "2005-04-10T23:45:06Z")
The advantage of the American style is that when the book is on the table with the front cover top, the spine writing is right-side up. The advantage of the other style (wherever the heck it’s from) is that if a set of books is in bookshelf order, the titles read in the correct order Example: In the American style, if you turn your head to read the spines, you have Volume 4 Volume 3 Volume 2 Volume 1 while with the foreign style, you’d have Volume 1 Volume 2 Volume 3 Volume 4 So each style has an advantage. Which advantage is more advantageous? Well, that’s subjective. ---
**Author:** ![lizardling](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f4b2a3/32.png) [@lizardling](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lizardling)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2005, 2:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-iinverted-brit-book-spine-titles/298657/8 "2005-04-11T02:03:33Z")
> [@GorillaMan](#): > > **Owl** is right - it’s them damn frogs & krauts. As **Monstre** points out, there’s plenty of differences. There’s no ‘right’ way to label a book - and don’t forget that the earlier traditions were for the binding to be hidden and the ‘pages’ side of the book to be on view. Apparently, the Vatican’s library still works that way. … _blink_ Uh. If the page side of the books are on view, then how does one know which book to reach for if you can’t see which book is which? ---
**Author:** ![Cunctator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/43a26b/32.png) [@Cunctator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cunctator)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2005, 2:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-iinverted-brit-book-spine-titles/298657/9 "2005-04-11T02:38:28Z")
> [@lizardling](#): > > … > > _blink_ > > Uh. If the page side of the books are on view, then how does one know which book to reach for if you can’t see which book is which? Presumably there’s a very good catalogue and all the volumes are numbered in some way. ---
**Author:** ![WhyNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c77e96/32.png) [@WhyNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WhyNot)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2005, 2:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-iinverted-brit-book-spine-titles/298657/10 "2005-04-11T02:47:16Z")
> [@lizardling](#): > > … > > _blink_ > > Uh. If the page side of the books are on view, then how does one know which book to reach for if you can’t see which book is which? In “earlier” tradition, there were only about 250-500 books in an excellent library - far less if you were in a backwater monastary. It’s not so hard to keep track of so few. (I have that many on just one bookcase, and I could find any one for you without looking at the titles.) Of course, the Vatican has many more, so they don’t have that excuse. I suspect it has to do with the same reason the Vatican still subscribes to so many outdated and nonsensical methods - tradition. ---
**Author:** ![GorillaMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/50afbb/32.png) [@GorillaMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GorillaMan)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2005, 5:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-iinverted-brit-book-spine-titles/298657/11 "2005-04-11T05:10:20Z")
Using the earlier system, titles would be written on the page-ends, during binding, at the same time as gold leaf was often applied. ---
**Author:** ![Antonius\_Block](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/51bf81/32.png) [@Antonius\_Block](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Antonius_Block)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2005, 7:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-iinverted-brit-book-spine-titles/298657/12 "2005-04-11T07:02:21Z")
Browsing through my book collection, I see find that all books published in the “Anglosphere” have spines oriented in the Anglo-American way, and all books published elsewhere are the other way. In my CD collection, all UK or American CDs follow the “Anglo” book orientation, and CDs from non-Anglophone countries seem split about 50/50 as regards orientation. This includes Spanish CDs that have a very low expected market outside Spain (i.e. are not listed in [Amazon.com](http://Amazon.com), but are only available via niche importers). I own very few DVDs, and only one that is in PAL format from Spain (Carlos Saura’s 1983 flamenco version of [Carmen](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0085297/) ), and that follows the Spanish book format (i.e. spine reversed from English).