Why are German books like this?

4 comments

1. I guess thats because when you walk through a library on the right side (which is the correct side where you’re supposed to walk), you can read them correctly.

2. I had a hunch and luckily Wikipedia agrees

   > When the book is upright, the lettering can be either vertical or horizontal, i.e. parallel to the spine fold or perpendicular to it.

   > In the majority of cases in Germany, France and Italy, lettering parallel to the fold is to be read from bottom to top (i.e. with the head tilted to the left), in English-speaking countries from top to bottom (with the head tilted to the right). Books from continental Europe that are to be stored horizontally and where the spine lettering should be legible are therefore stored with the title page facing downwards. Labeling from the bottom up allows the book to be easily turned 90° clockwise to read the spine when it is pulled from the shelf with the left hand (so that the front of the book is visible). This type of labeling makes it easier to find a title in the vertical stack (bookshelf).

   > Labeling from top to bottom, on the other hand, allows the book and especially stacks of magazines to be stored horizontally, where the first cover page, i.e. the title page of a magazine, or the outer cover page of the front cover of a book, and the spine of the book or a labeled magazine can be easily read at the same time. This makes it much easier to find a particular title in a horizontal stack.

3. Typically, you would store books upright on a shelf. To read the labels, you lean your head to the left, and the titles are easy to read.

4. if it’s top to bottom or bottom to top isn’t really a language thing.

   i have plenty of english language books that go bottom to top and plenty of german books that go top to bottom.