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:
“There is singularly nothing that makes a difference a difference in beginning and in the middle and in ending except that each generation has something different at which they are all looking. By this I mean so simply that anybody knows it that composition is the difference which makes each and all of them then different from other generations and this is what makes everything different otherwise they are all alike and everybody knows it because everybody says it.”
—Gertrude Stein (1874–1946)
“Those who first introduced compulsory education into American life knew exactly why children should go to school and learn to read: to save their souls.... Consistent with this goal, the first book written and printed for children in America was titled Spiritual Milk for Boston Babes in either England, drawn from the Breasts of both Testaments for their Souls’ Nourishment.”
—Dorothy H. Cohen (20th century)