SPLAYED

Splay is a concave warp or curvature of a book's covers, curving away from the ends of the text block. Splayed covers occur more often than bowed covers. There are many causes of splay:

• Stresses in the boards' directional grain can warp them.

• A change in the boards' moisture content can cause their directional grain to warp in one direction. 

• Leather, vellum, cloth, or paper covering the boards can shrink more or less than the boards and warp them.

• Pastedowns can shrink more or less than the boards and warp them. 

The image shows two leather-bound press proofs from the Windmill Press, each copy being splayed.