optical spacing
1. The spacing of the raised bands on the spine of
a book in such a manner that the bottom panel is
slightly larger (the amount depending on the size
of the book) than the other panels, so as to give
the spine a balanced appearance. If the bands were
so spaced that all of the panels were in fact the
same size, the lowest (bottom) panel would appear
to be much smaller. The bottom panel usually has
the date, or extra (and different) tooling of some
nature, at the very tail of the spine, and the
size of the panel above this tooling is the same
as the panels above it. 2. The spacing of the
lettering on the spine of a book in such a manner
as to make all of the letters of a word appear as
though they are the same distance apart. In the
combinations OO, OL and NN, for example, the OO
combination would be spaced closer together than
the OL, which in turn would be closer together
than the NN, in the relative distance of 1 to 1
1/2 to 2 spaces. optimum binding method. An
expression some times applied to the method used
to secure the leaves or sections of a book, e.g.,
fold sewing, oversewing, adhesive binding, side
sewing, etc., which will offer the best (optimum)
binding for a given book in terms of usability,
including openability and durability (strength and
longevity). It is conceded that there is no one
method which can satisfy all requirements for all
books.
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