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Hardcover
open-in-new
<p>A hardcover, hard cover, or hardback (also known as hardbound, and sometimes as casebound) <a href="/facts/Book/Yylgt4AC">book</a> is one <a href="/facts/Bookbinding/H3F36uH8">bound</a> with rigid protective covers (typically of <a href="/facts/Binder%27s_board/A1Nq26z2">binder's board</a> or heavy <a href="/facts/Paperboard/A1Nq26z2">paperboard</a> covered with <a href="/facts/Buckram/w2oEBFvI">buckram</a> or other <a href="/facts/Cloth/PJrVeM5S">cloth</a>, heavy <a href="/facts/Paper/FUETwwKV">paper</a>, or occasionally <a href="/facts/Calf-binding/H3F36uH8">leather</a>). It has a flexible, sewn spine which allows the book to lie flat on a surface when opened. Modern hardcovers may have the pages glued onto the spine in much the same way as paperbacks. Following the <a href="/facts/ISBN/15AdSPa9">ISBN</a> sequence numbers, books of this type may be identified by the abbreviation Hbk. </p>