the.com/hardcover
A book in armor, pretending the story inside needs protecting too.
means A book bound with a rigid, stiff protective cover, usually cloth or card over boards, rather than flexible paper.
from A plain compound of 'hard' + 'cover,' arising in the 19th century as publishers moved from hand-done leather bindings to mass-produced cloth-over-board casings — the sturdier, pricier alternative that paperback would later undercut.
- price markup
- costs more mostly for the ego, not the paper
- origin
- became standard once books left chains in libraries
- durability myth
- outlasts paperbacks but not your bookshelf space
- first editions
- collectors hunt the dust jacket, not the text