<p>This is a bit of a guess, but I reckon the printer had 2 different batches of paper on the go, of different qualities.  Look carefully next to the spine and you'll see it's bound in 9 <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Section_(bookbinding)" rel="noreferrer">signatures</a>, 2B, 2W, 2B, 1W, 1B, 1W where B=brown and W=white.  It's likely that the same effect will be visible in other copies from the same print run.</p>
<p>Each signature is printed and stitched, then assembled into the cover.  The brown signatures were presumably printed on more acidic paper.  As the acid can migrate from one page to the next, the sheet or two of white nearest a brown page to be a little yellowed. The effect is probably greater near the edges as ambient sources of acid also contribute.  The brown pages/regions should be noticeably more brittle as well.</p>
<p>That looks like the 1961 (or '62 depending on source) cover; books I have of similar age show varying degrees of yellowing (e.g. 50s textbooks look good as new, many 70s novels are browned and have to be handled with care), so at roughly the same period a variety of papers were used.</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2021-08-11T15:29:03.117Z
Thanks for the info. You're right -- the browned pages are much more brittle. I suppose the printer either was forced out of logistical necessity to use two different types of paper; or the printer adopted it as a tactic to save money. I'm pretty sure this kind of page-color alternation is the first of its kind that I've seen.
Lijishe
CC BY-SA 4.0
2021-08-12T08:47:14.267Z
They may have run out or may even have accidentally used the wrong stuff (cheap as used for the novels of that age I have, or expensive as used for textbooks which were meant to last) for some of the printing.  The impression I get is that this book is serious non fiction but not an academic text, so far from a cheap novel, so I'm not sure what they'd use by default.
Chris H
CC BY-SA 4.0
2021-08-11T08:13:02.910Z
2021-08-11T08:13:02.910Z
Chris H
<p>Is what happened a rare anomaly or common? (Apologies if this is the wrong substack; I couldn't find a more relevant one.)<a href="https://i.sstatic.net/ptudc.jpg" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.sstatic.net/ptudc.jpg" alt="book" /></a></p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2021-08-11T06:30:16.490Z
@Trae Thanks for the reply. The alternating colors of the pages isn't intentional; I'm almost certain of this. The darker pages became that way over time--all of the pages originally being of the same color (creamy white). I'm wondering why only a pattern of the pages happened to change like this. Was it at one time a tactic that publishers used to save money--by alternating cheaper paper (that degrades quickly) with more expensive paper, or what?
Lijishe
CC BY-SA 4.0
2021-08-11T06:33:06.540Z
Nazis are considered to be "brown" because of their brown uniforms. That has nothing to do with these pages.
Elmy
CC BY-SA 4.0
2021-08-11T09:04:35.593Z
Are the non-discoloured pages perhaps those that contain printed images? As far as I know, it is common to use higher quality paper for that.
Joachim
CC BY-SA 4.0
2021-08-11T13:04:41.830Z
Interesting thought @Joachim, and would be a good reason for the 2 batches in my answer.  That's a large proportion of the book to have colour plates though, and books bound like that tend to use full signatures of plates. Now you mention it, some of my oldest books with unyellowed paper use the same smooth stuff as used for colour plates, for their plentiful and very detailed B&W line drawings, that wouldn't be clear on cheap pulp.
Chris H
CC BY-SA 4.0
2021-08-11T15:31:55.927Z
@Joachim Nice guess, but the book contains no images.
Lijishe
<book-binding>
What happened to this book?
Lijishe
# What happened to this book?

(Asked by: username_0 on 2021-08-11)

Is what happened a rare anomaly or common? (Apologies if this is the wrong substack; I couldn't find a more relevant one.)[![book](https://i.sstatic.net/ptudc.jpg)](https://i.sstatic.net/ptudc.jpg)

**Tags:** book-binding

> **Comments:**
> **username_0**: @Trae Thanks for the reply. The alternating colors of the pages isn't intentional; I'm almost certain of this. The darker pages became that way over time--all of the pages originally being of the same color (creamy white). I'm wondering why only a pattern of the pages happened to change like this. Was it at one time a tactic that publishers used to save money--by alternating cheaper paper (that degrades quickly) with more expensive paper, or what?  
> **username_1**: Nazis are considered to be "brown" because of their brown uniforms. That has nothing to do with these pages.  
> **username_2**: Are the non-discoloured pages perhaps those that contain printed images? As far as I know, it is common to use higher quality paper for that.  
> **username_3**: Interesting thought @username_2, and would be a good reason for the 2 batches in my answer.  That's a large proportion of the book to have colour plates though, and books bound like that tend to use full signatures of plates. Now you mention it, some of my oldest books with unyellowed paper use the same smooth stuff as used for colour plates, for their plentiful and very detailed B&W line drawings, that wouldn't be clear on cheap pulp.  
> **username_0**: @username_2 Nice guess, but the book contains no images.  

---

## 1 answers

### Answer by username_3 on 2021-08-11. Score: 8

This is a bit of a guess, but I reckon the printer had 2 different batches of paper on the go, of different qualities. Look carefully next to the spine and you'll see it's bound in 9 [signatures](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Section_(bookbinding)), 2B, 2W, 2B, 1W, 1B, 1W where B=brown and W=white. It's likely that the same effect will be visible in other copies from the same print run.

Each signature is printed and stitched, then assembled into the cover. The brown signatures were presumably printed on more acidic paper. As the acid can migrate from one page to the next, the sheet or two of white nearest a brown page to be a little yellowed. The effect is probably greater near the edges as ambient sources of acid also contribute. The brown pages/regions should be noticeably more brittle as well.

That looks like the 1961 (or '62 depending on source) cover; books I have of similar age show varying degrees of yellowing (e.g. 50s textbooks look good as new, many 70s novels are browned and have to be handled with care), so at roughly the same period a variety of papers were used.

> **Comments:**
> **username_0**: Thanks for the info. You're right -- the browned pages are much more brittle. I suppose the printer either was forced out of logistical necessity to use two different types of paper; or the printer adopted it as a tactic to save money. I'm pretty sure this kind of page-color alternation is the first of its kind that I've seen.  
> **username_3**: They may have run out or may even have accidentally used the wrong stuff (cheap as used for the novels of that age I have, or expensive as used for textbooks which were meant to last) for some of the printing.  The impression I get is that this book is serious non fiction but not an academic text, so far from a cheap novel, so I'm not sure what they'd use by default.  

---

