The Importance of Picture book Endpapers and Other Peritext

Peritext is especially important in picture books, and refers to the physical features and design elements that surround the story. When readers take note of this information, their experience of the story will be enhanced, or possibly change. Peritext includes information on:

  • dust jackets
  • under the dust jackets (of hardbacks)
  • front and back covers
  • endpapers
  • dedication page
  • title page
  • endpapers

Part of me thinks that a reader’s preference for a physical book isn’t just about how it smells or about the reassuring heft of it in the hands, but derives from more subconscious things. Picture books are more ornamental than other kinds of books. In picture books you’ll sometimes see that an imaginative illustrator has done something creative with the colophon, or included easter egg doodles in unexpected places (maybe a face sticking out from under a dust cover).

I’ve not seen this much in novels for adults. When an adult picks up a book, they’ve probably done a bit of research about what it’s about, even if that’s just reading the back cover copy. In picture books for children, the peritext — everything in the book which is not the actual story — helps the reader to decode the story. A reader learns something about the story from the cover, the size of the book itself, the type of paper, any dust jacket and — often overlooked — the endpapers.

Retold by Edward Holmes Illustrated by Ronald Embleton endpapers
Daily Sketch Children’s Annual book illustrated by F.E. Barratt front endpaper
The Third In Line from The Sketchbooks Of Mattias Adolfsson (Sanatorium Publishing 2015)
The Third In Line from The Sketchbooks Of Mattias Adolfsson (Sanatorium Publishing 2015)
Rupert Bear annual endpaper by Alfred Bestall
Merry Alphabet Victorian Children’s Softcover Book McLoughlin 1888 portraits
Eddie Elephant (Johnny Gruelle) endpaper
1978 THE FORBIDDEN FOREST William Pene du Bois end papers
Endpapers from The Brimful Book, Eul Alie, C.M. Burd, G.& D. Haumen , 1927 Platt & Munk Co., Inc.
Endpapers from The Brimful Book, Eul Alie, C.M. Burd, G.& D. Haumen , 1927 Platt & Munk Co., Inc.
Merry Murphy 1929 Lang Campbell Algonquin Publishing
Merry Murphy 1929 Lang Campbell Algonquin Publishing
by Dale Maxey front endpaper for Seeing London 1964
by Dale Maxey front endpaper for Seeing London 1964
Our State Birds by Mary I. Curtis illustrated by Julia Morrison, 1947 endpapers
Our State Birds by Mary I. Curtis illustrated by Julia Morrison, 1947
Jim and Judy, by Arthur I. Gates, Miriam Blanton Huber, and Celeste Comegys Peardon endpapers 1947 edition
Jim and Judy, by Arthur I. Gates, Miriam Blanton Huber, and Celeste Comegys Peardon endpapers 1947 edition
Seymour Chwast, Sleepy Ida and Other Nonsense Poems by Steven Kroll, 1977 (endpapers)
Seymour Chwast, Sleepy Ida and Other Nonsense Poems by Steven Kroll, 1977 (endpapers)
Make and Make-Believe by Arthur I. Gates and Miriam Blanton Huber, Macmillan, 1931 endpapers
Make and Make-Believe by Arthur I. Gates and Miriam Blanton Huber, Macmillan, 1931
HOTEL SPLENDIDE (1948) Ludwig Bemelmans endpapers
HOTEL SPLENDIDE (1948) Ludwig Bemelmans endpapers
endpapers from Richard Scarry’s Great Big Air Book, 1971
endpapers from Richard Scarry’s Great Big Air Book, 1971
DER GESTIEFELTE KATER (1957) Hans Fischer
DER GESTIEFELTE KATER (1957) Hans Fischer
The Third In Line from The Sketchbooks Of Mattias Adolfsson (Sanatorium Publishing 2015)
The Third In Line from The Sketchbooks Of Mattias Adolfsson (Sanatorium Publishing 2015)
The Little-Mailman of Bayberry Lane end papers
The Little-Mailman of Bayberry Lane end papers
illustrated book endpapers for a Ladybird book Hedges 1979
illustrated book endpapers for a Ladybird book Hedges 1979
NOAH'S ARK (1965) Miche Wynants the end and beginning rainbow
NOAH’S ARK (1965) Miche Wynants the end and beginning rainbow
Superb Art Nouveau Design Endpapers c1905 by Talwin Morris - Friend and Contemporary of Charles Rennie Mackintosh
Superb Art Nouveau Design Endpapers c1905 by Talwin Morris – Friend and Contemporary of Charles Rennie Mackintosh
Front-piece and back-piece of the 1949 edition of ‘Childcraft’ Encyclopedia Illustrated by Milo Winter (1888-1956)
Front-piece and back-piece of the 1949 edition of ‘Childcraft’ Encyclopedia Illustrated by Milo Winter (1888-1956)
1925 The Children Of Dickens Old Curiosity Shop endpapers
More Adventures Of Rupert HC Book The Daily Express Annual (1953) endpaper
1980 ON WHEELS Huck Scarry ILLUSTRATED HISTORY OF THE WHEEL KID’S BOOK colophon

THE IMPORTANCE OF ENDPAPERS

ENDPAPERS CAN BE LIKE STAGE CURTAINS

Lawrence Sipe explains how endpapers are like stage curtains:

Endpapers, in particular, mark a movement from the public space of the cover to the private world of the book, much as stage curtains rising and falling mark the entrance into and exit from a drama.

ENDPAPERS AS SYNOPSIS

End papers can also be used to summarise an entire narrative. A standout example of that is Ugly Duckling illustrated by Jerry Pinkney (1999). There’s an illustration of a new hatchling on the front endpaper and an illustration of the adult swan on the back endpaper. Together, the endpapers say: This is the story of a small bird who bacomes a beautiful swan.

ENDPAPERS TO SHOW THE PASSAGE OF TIME

Endpapers can show the passage of time in various ways. Another example is The Napping House (1984) by Don and Audrey Wood. The front endpapers are a different colour from the back endpapers. (Darker at the beginning, lighter at the end.) This follows the mood of the story, which begins darkly and ends on a lighter note.

BACK COVERS

1964 GIANT JOHN Hardcover Weekly Reader by Arnold Lobel back cover
LITTLE TOOT Hardie Gramatky 1939 back cover
The Owl and The Pussy Cat 1961 Edward Lear and Barbara Cooney back cover
The-Jeremy-Mouse-Book Hilary-Knight-1969-back-cover
1967-A-Tune-For-The-Towpath-by-Jane-Flory-back-cover
WOMANS-WORLD-Magazine-Sept.-1932-Cover-KILBOURNE-boy-on-the-back-of-a-cart
1926-Illustration-by-Maud-and-Miska-Petersham-from-inside-the-back-cover-of-Olive-Beaupre-Millers-Tales-Told-in-Holland
ねこはどこ-1980-back-cover

THE PERITEXT OF DIGITAL PRODUCTS

What might this mean for those of us creating picture book apps rather than paper products? Picture book apps have their own analogues to the peritext of printed matter. For example:

  • an icon on the app store
  • screen shots on the app store
  • promo videos/trailers
  • splash page
  • title page
  • navigation page

Of this list, the young reader will not necessarily see screen shots on the app store nor watch any promo video, so I can probably cross those off the list as examples of peritext. (I guess it’s called ‘epitext’.) As for the other features, any of those can be left out when it comes to an app. There is no physical cardboard, for instance, requiring some sort of endpaper, and so it can be tempting (due to memory and other limitations) to leave out something like a title page between the splash page and the main menu. A splash page is most often used in apps to advertise the developer’s company and to create a brand across a stable of products, without necessarily tailoring its look to the story in hand.

There is also ‘peritext’ which is specific to book apps:

  • rate this app button
  • credits page
  • links to social media
  • other products from the same developers

Some of this ‘peritext’ isn’t welcomed by adults who purchase picture book apps for children, though I’m sure a great many feel neutral about it, so long as it’s not obtrusive and click-baiting from the main menu. This isn’t an exhaustive list of peritextual possibilities. In an app, would a finger-painting activity or a match-the-words page counted as peritext?

Frontmatter from The Brimful Book, Eul Alie, C.M. Burd, G.& D. Haumen , 1927 Platt & Munk Co., Inc.
Frontmatter from The Brimful Book, Eul Alie, C.M. Burd, G.& D. Haumen , 1927 Platt & Munk Co., Inc.
Forty White Sided by Yuri Vasnetsov 1958 frontispiece
White Sided Magpie by Yuri Vasnetsov 1958 frontispiece
1978 THE FORBIDDEN FOREST William Pene du Bois frontispiece
1978 THE FORBIDDEN FOREST William Pene du Bois an Ursula Nordstrom Book
RAGGEDY ANN & ANDY ON THE FARM Children’s Tell-A-Tale Book frontispiece
Russian Children Book Children’s and school years Lenin Moskow 1984 frontispiece
Robert and His New Friend Childrens Book 1st Ed Little Golden Book #124 frontispiece
LITTLE TOOT Hardie Gramatky 1939 frontispiece

Some questions for picturebook app developers are:

  • How can we introduce our stories with ‘stage curtains’ in this new digital environment, where readers expect some sort of introduction to the story before it ‘begins’?
  • How can we help the reader by making sure our peritext extends the story on every non-story page, even if it’s just a little?
  • What is it about physical books which is best transferred — in some form — to a digital medium? And what can happily be left out?
  • Is there anything we can do digitally which would improve upon the peritextual limitations of printed books?

 Somewhat related:

When we discuss front cover designs, the pinkness of this or the blueness of this, we’re discussing paratexts. And, to be frank. there doesn’t seem to be much research about the impact / affect / effect of them.

Gendered Books In Children’s Literature

 Paeony Lewis points out that when it comes to printed books, not all of them are as beautiful as they could be: “I think many hardback children’s picture books lack what I call ‘gorgeousness’.” This is worth mentioning in a climate where comparisons between digital and printed matter are inevitable.

FURTHER READING

Picturebook Endpapers: Resources for Literary and Aesthetic Interpretation by Lawrence Sipe

Header: 1975 THE WITCH’S HAT Irwin Dermer ILLUSTRATED Tony Meeuwissen front endpapers

CONTEMPORARY FICTION SET IN AUSTRALIA AND NEW ZEALAND (2023)

On paper, things look fine. Sam Dennon recently inherited significant wealth from his uncle. As a respected architect, Sam spends his days thinking about the family needs and rich lives of his clients. But privately? Even his enduring love of amateur astronomy is on the wane. Sam has built a sustainable-architecture display home for himself but hasn’t yet moved into it, preferring to sleep in his cocoon of a campervan. Although they never announced it publicly, Sam’s wife and business partner ended their marriage years ago due to lack of intimacy, leaving Sam with the sense he is irreparably broken.

Now his beloved uncle has died. An intensifying fear manifests as health anxiety, with night terrors from a half-remembered early childhood event. To assuage the loneliness, Sam embarks on a Personal Happiness Project:

1. Get a pet dog

2. Find a friend. Just one. Not too intense.

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