A composition book is one of a type of stock-bound notebook commonly used by writers and students. Although available in several colors, the original marbled black-and-white cover, with its generic label on the front, is the overwhelming favorite. The paper in a composition book is traditionally lined in blue to aid writing, and has a vertical line for a margin on the left hand of every page. Traditionally the back cover of such a book had a table of the weights and measures of the English system printed on it for children to refer to, however this feature has become diminished in countries that have adopted the metric system. Sometimes a multiplication table or grammar or punctuation tips are also found on the inside back cover.
They are bound in a similar fashion to books, consisting of sheets about twice as wide as a single page, folded along the spine, and traditionally sewn together. Composition books are thus more durable than spiral notebooks or those with perforated pages.
Famous quotes containing the words composition and/or book:
“Viewed freely, the English language is the accretion and growth of every dialect, race, and range of time, and is both the free and compacted composition of all.”
—Walt Whitman (1819–1892)
“And you could have a new automobile
Ping pong set and garage, but the thief
Stole everything like a miracle.
In his book there was a picture of treason only
And in the garden, cries and colors.”
—John Ashbery (b. 1927)