Why are books stored vertically?

Question

Books

It is customary to store books vertically, but why? In my opinion, when stored vertically, the pages of most books will “hang” on the spine, respectively, creating a load on the spine itself and, if its quality is low, will deform it.

No convincing answers to this question have been found. Many answers in the spirit of "it happened."

Answer 1

1. Paper is a rather heavy thing. A stack of books creates a lot of pressure on the lower books, which causes deformation (sticking of pages, imprints of text on pages stuck together. To the point that if you try to separate, the pages will be torn).
2. Horizontal storage makes it easy to take out any book and put it back in. Each book has its own pressure, you need not worry about the spine - it is enough to hold the pages of one book.
3. It's easier to make shelves for horizontal storage than for vertical storage.

Answer 2

How do you imagine being able to quickly pick up a book from the middle of a vertical stack?

Answer 3

firstly, it is not so easy to remove a book from a vertical stack
; secondly, the printed layer will move from one page to another

Answer 4

It's easier than it seems. Books were and are of different heights. If you put them in a pile, then you need to build it like a pyramid, from large at the base to small at the top. If you try to make a chaotic stack, then the book covers will simply deteriorate, and, as the previous speaker of Armenian Radio said , "Try to get the book from the middle of the stack"

Answer 5

I don't think it's just a matter of convenience. You can imagine how much pressure will be exerted on the lower book. Deformation will occur.
But a couple of books can be put in a pile.

Answer 6

You should familiarize yourself with the technology of making a book. The cover is usually hardcover, and each sheet in the book block is hemmed in several places and glued together. Thus, the "trunk" of the book block is monolithic and solid, it can carry the load of sheets, relying on the cover. And do not forget that a book located diagonally harms the bound sheets, and a book located in a stack has the pressure of not its own weight, but of all the books lying on top, and this has a more destructive effect on the binding, besides, in this case, diffusion of sheets occurs between themselves.