THE HALF-TITLE

Do You Know may finally be off to the printers, but that doesn't mean I'm going to stop talking about its production. Especially considering I didn't really talk about it while designing it.

This is CMP's second physical book. A lot of the decisions we make on how our books should look are based on 1) observations about how we, and others, use books, and 2) beautiful bits and pieces from other books, both old and new. As such, sometimes we include things without really knowing why. Like, for instance, the half-title.

The half-title is the name given to what is usually the first page of a book — the page with the abbreviation of the full title and maybe a small, whimsical typographic indulgence. Following immediately after is the title page, with full title and even more typographical indulgence (or restraint). These two pages form a sort of secret code among book designers. As Hochuli puts it, "Here, on the title page, the designer is revealed."

Not much thought ever went into why we needed a half-title — it was just a piece of the book, like the cover. It had to be there. There was no maybe. A book just isn't a book without starting with this obtuse, somewhat useless and redundant piece of extravagance.

It wasn't until I was thumbing through Designing Books: Practice and Theory by Jost Hochuli that the mere existence of the half-title was brought to my attention. Let me allow Hochuli to explain:

"The half-title derives from the time when books were sent out by the publisher (printer) without a binding. The first page had the function of giving an abbreviated reference to what was inside, and of protecting the title page itself against dirt or damage."

Hochuli also sums it up this way: "If the main title page is the gateway to the book, then the half-title is perhaps the garden gate."

When I read this over the phone to Bruce, you could feel the collective "Ahhhh" in the air.

So now that the mystery of the half-title has been solved, go and grab a handful of books off your shelf and see if there's any particularly elegantly designed half-titles poking around that you hadn't yet noticed.