Deckle Edge. Yay or nay?

I don't like it at all. I've only encountered it in "how to make hand made cards" guides and every time I've thought "meh, I'd rather a nice straight edge."

Jamesaritchie said:

I don't think any publisher ever used Deckle Edge because anyone liked it. It's simply a much cheaper way of printing a book, and goes back to a time when you had to cut the pages of a book apart with a knife before reading it.

Click to expand...

No James, not exactly.

The deckle was a product of the wire mesh or underlayment used in making high-fiber content paper. The deckle was the edge of the paper along the frame. Cutting the page doesn't produce deckling; the impression of the edge of the frame produces it.

It became associated with hand-made paper, and hand-made books. It became, like the hand-colored early printed books, a sign of expense because you were using hand-made paper, not milled paper.

Modern deckled edges are produced by crimping, and then cutting, or by a rolling blade the imitates the effect of the crimping and cutting.

I'm not very impressed by it. If I want a book to purposefully look old, it better be the real thing or tie somehow into the actual story inside.

Never really come across it. May have once or twice come across it, but I don't really have any opinions on it because it is a bit alien to me.

I voted "dislike."

I first came across it when researching my wedding invitations 15 years ago, and I didn't like it. A few years later, when I learned it was something that could be used with books, I still didn't like it.

Those were unlearned opinions. However, having read this thread and having learned more about it, I still don't like it.

Take or leave or toss out the window as you see fit.

I like the look, though I like it partly because it's rarer; I'd probably not be as fond if every other book was printed that way. I'm particularly fond of the way it looks on a collection of eddas that I own. It says 'classic' vaguely in the way an all-text cover without glossy imagery does.

I hate it.
I wouldn't go so far as to not buy the book only because it has a deckle edge, but pretty close.

I'm conflicted. It would seem strange if a new hardback were made that way. On the other hand, it pushes my nostalgia button by bringing back the many hours I spent in the ETSU library in my youth, often looking through old books with (what I just now found are called) deckle edges.

I hung out there even when I wasn't signed up for classes. One subzero night when I was homeless, I slept there, downstairs in the reference section. In better times, I once had a memorable amorous interlude down there.

Adam, why do you torture me with memories of vanished youth?

Oh, about the edges. Generally, nay.

I'm going to play the devils advocate and say you're all wrong

I win

I'm not fussed either way, to be honest. THE THIRTEENTH TALE has deckled edges and I barely noticed after saying, "Hey, deckled edges!"

However, I picked up a trade paperback copy of Stephen King's UNDER THE DOME and the paper is...weird. It has this strange, slippery feel that gives me the willies to touch.