a blank or decorated leaf of paper at the beginning or end of a book, especially one fixed to the inside of the cover.[/quote]
Do you know what’s one of the prettiest part of a book design? The endpapers. When books have patterned or illustrated endpapers, my heart swells in joy! Why don’t all books have endpapers? (I know it has to do with the cost and such, but let’s have more please!) Endpapers give the book an extra personal touch that I love seeing. I could line by walls with them and make my house look all Victorian if I wanted. (I always associate wallpapers with Victorian houses.) They never fail to give me heart eyes. If I see a book with endpapers, I will run straight for it, pushing every book without it out of my way to get to it.
I wish I owned more books with endpapers. I would fill my shelves with them, and they’d look so fabulous. Here are the books I own that have gorgeous endpapers:
(Note: Click on the square photos to see the full spread of the endpapers.)
[row][column size=”1/2″]| A MONSTER CALLS |
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| A SERIES OF UNFORTUNATE EVENTS |
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| ALL THE WRONG QUESTIONS |
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| THE ARCHIVED SERIES |
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| BANDETTE |
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| THE CAVENDISH HOME FOR BOYS & GIRLS |
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| HARK! A VAGRANT |
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| MOSQUITOLAND |
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| THE REST OF US JUST LIVE HERE |
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| STEP ASIDE, POPS! |
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| WELCOME TO NIGHT VALE |
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| WINTERSPELL |
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Special mention to the books I don’t own: The Dark Days Club, the Rifle Paper Co’s books, and these over at Epic Reads blog.
(Excuse the lighting for some of these pictures. I wasn’t able to take pics of the books in natural light, so there’s that glare and weird yellow coloring for some of them.)
I love pretty endpapers! They add a little something extra to the book. :)
So many pretty endpapers. I love hidden gems like that in a book. I’m a big fan of the Carry On endpapers with it’s brightly coloured map. I wish I could remember endpapers I like but my poor memory strikes again.
LOVE ENDPAPER. I remember our librarian (when I was about six or something) introducing us to them in falling in love with books right then and there. The illustrated Harry Potter also has exellent endpapers :)
Omg this is a most fabulous post and I want to creepily stroke all these books. YESSS to end paper, in Australia I have paid $30+ for that HC, it had better have as much shiny stuff on it as possible to justify that price. I love the one for Winterspell because MAPS. I also really loved the one for Red Queen, the book was sorta crap but holy lord they have a good designer on their hands.
Ah, I love endpapers. They’re always so pretty! I also really like Red Queen / Glass Sword!
Endpapers are so pretty in books! In An Ember in the Ashes I loved the map endpapers, so beautiful! Also LOVE the Red Queen HC endpapers, unfortunately don’t own those *sobs* Great post!
I love endpapers! They’re so beautiful and add some textures to the book. My favorites are the Vintage Classic Jane Austen editions. They’re so gorgeous!
This is such a great post! I love endpapers. They give my heart feels and make me so happy to see when I open up a book. I think Welcome to Nightvale is my favorite out of these. Although I love each of these because they are so unique and beautiful.
Oh my gosh, those are so pretty I think my heart skipped a beat!
Not a fan of those bugs but The Archived by Victoria Schwab YES! Also Red Queen by Victoria Aveyard, Fairest by Marissa Meyer (I got the hardback purely for the endpapers), this Harper edition of Peter Pan I have, the Barnes & Noble Hans Christian Andersen fairy tales, The Wrath and the Dawn, Perfect Ruin, The Queen of the Tearling, just to name a phew. I feel like doing a post on pretty endpapers too now.
I 100% agree endpapers are just the icing on the cake. When I find a cover I love I just squeal and endpapers with lovely patterns or a map is just the best! I also like how Morgan Matson did underneath the dust jacket on Since You’ve Been Gone. I know it costs extra to get in all those goodies, but they really are worth it!
I had no idea there was a Welcome to Nightvale book. I mean, the endpapers are kind of grotesque– I hate flies! But, I still have to have it even though I haven’t even com close to catching up on the podcast.
ohmygod I am absolutely TRASH for Endpapers, they’re just absolutely gorgeous, they’re hoenstly one of the main reasons I go for certain editions of books like the hardcover editios of The Night Circus, Carry On , Red Queen, so many!
I did not realize there were names for these, though I’ve always noticed them! I should totally start collecting books with them! Hardcovers are expensive, though…. and I’m a broke bunny! :(
Does it make me bad if I barely notice endpapers? I guess I’m always so keen to start reading that I flip straight past them . . . but the illustrated edition of PHILOSOPHER’S STONE has undeniably gorgeous ones. I could stare at that painting all day.
Have you seen the fairest ones? They are gorgeous.
I ABSOLUTELY LOVE ENDPAPERS! I always get really obsessed with finding out what the endpapers are like when I’m looking at new hardcovers, and I’m sometimes pleasantly surprised by what I can find in stores! :D Loved the ones you’ve shared in this post!
I too love endpapers! They just make the book just a little more special. I love when I get a new book and they have beautiful endpapers. Makes me smile every time. I loved Fairest, Mosquitoland, and the Archived endpapres. I also remember Zombies vs. Unicorns and that one just cracked me up! Great post!
I’ve seen some in books but never knew the name for them. These are beautiful. I will certainly be searching for more in books.