Inarticulate and shapeless typesetting as a consequence of suppressing indents. Unfortunately, this bad habit is encouraged by business schools, who teach, quite erroneously, that writing letters without indents is <modern>. One should not believe that this is merely <a matter of taste>. Here readers and nonreaders separate.

Opening pages without any initial, pages that begin bluntly in the upper left-hand corner and look like any other random page of text. One thinks he is seeing something other than the beginning. The opening chapter must be marked by a wide blank space above the initial line, by an initial letter or by something distinctive.

Lack of form, a consequence of the stillness if using only one size of type. It is difficult for any reader to find his way around in a book where chapter openings are not accentuated and where title and imprint have been set in lowercase only in the size of the basic font.

White, and even stark white, paper. Highly unpleasant for the eyes and an offence against the health of the population. Slight toning (ivory and darker, but never crème), never obtrusive, is usually best.

White book covers. Equally confounding. They’re about as delicate as a white suit.

Flat spines on bound books. the spines of bound books must be gently rounded; if they’re not, the book with be cockeyed after reading, and the middle signatures will protrude.

Gigantic vertical lettering on spines that are wide enough to carry a horizontal inscription. Titles on the spine need not be legible from far away.

No lettering on the spine at all. Inexcusable for books more than 3 mm thick. How does one relocate such a booklet? The author’s name must not be missing. It often determines the position of a book on the shelf.

Ignorance of or disregard for the correct use of small caps, cursive and quotation marks: see page 11 of

– Jan Tschichold, The Form of the Book: Essays on the Morality of Good Design.