A bookbinder’s planning desk
Count the pages. Check the fold. Then print.
Practical calculators for handmade books, zines and small print runs. Plan signatures, inspect page pairs and estimate a paper block before committing your sheets.
01 / Workbench
Choose the problem you are solving.
Bookbinding signature calculator
Calculate full signatures, folded sheets and blank pages from your document length and sheets per signature.
CALCULATORBooklet page order calculator
See front and back page pairs for one left-bound folded booklet or signature, with blank padding clearly marked.
CALCULATORPaper block thickness and weight calculator
Estimate an uncompressed paper block from measured sheet caliper, page size and GSM without guessing thickness from paper weight.
02 / Field notes
The method behind the numbers.
Pages, leaves, sheets and signatures: a counting guide
Understand four bookbinding counts with a worked 200-page example and a simple folding test.
GUIDEHow to test booklet page order before printing the whole file
Use an eight-page numbered dummy to separate imposition errors from duplex orientation errors.
GUIDEMeasure paper caliper before estimating a book block
A practical paper-stack measurement method and an explanation of what it cannot predict about a finished spine.