Pastedowns

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. Paper or cloth pasted to the inside of a book cover to conceal the binding and form the first page of the book
2. Sheets glued to the inner surface of book covers to hide the binding structure and create the initial endpaper
3. Materials attached to the interior of a book's covers to mask the binding and serve as decorative or structural endpapers

Etymology: Pastedowns are the sheets glued to the inside of a book's front and back covers, which hide the raw ends of the cloth or paper that attach the cover to the text block. The word is the plural of "pastedown," a term formed from the verb phrase "paste down," meaning to fix something to a surface with adhesive, so the name describes exactly what bookbinders do: paste a sheet down onto the board. The "-down" here is part of a phrasal verb rather than a suffix, and the noun was made from that verb by dropping the "to" and treating the phrase as a single thing. The sheet is named for the action of pasting it down, not for the look of the finished book.

Synonyms: endpapers, flyleaves, pasted sheets