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Accordion Books

What are accordion books?

Multifold Book With Hardcovers

Multifold Book With Hardcovers

Although we love a good old-fashioned smyth-sewn book, we certainly aren’t limited to printing books with traditional turned pages. As the name suggests, accordion-style books (also known as leporello books) involve printing on an elongated piece of paper that is then folded into an accordion-style pleat. The folds alternate between the front and back so the paper stacks nicely on top of itself in its folded state.

Recommended Material

All of those folds make this style of book more vulnerable than our traditional book bindings, so if you are planning to use this binding for a standalone book project (rather than as a component in a board or card game), we recommend using thicker paper like 10 pt. or 12 pt. cover stock. This ensures the book will be both sturdy and flexible.

Restrictions

The minimum order quantity for accordion book projects is 250 units.

There is also a unique size restriction on accordion books: the maximum unfolded size we are able to print is 38” x 25”.

Special Options

Accordion books aren’t limited to just our standard stocks, either! You can have casebound front and back covers much like a traditional hardcover book, use specialty textured paper, and even have an accordion-style board book. All our standard specialty options—like foil stamping, spot UV, and so on—can also be used with accordion books.

Turnaround

A standard accordion booklet project takes around 1-2 weeks for production. Projects with specialty options as well as orders of 3000 units or more will have a longer production time. Shipping times will depend on your chosen shipping speed: expedited shipping takes around 1-2 weeks, and standard shipping takes around 6-8 weeks. Please refer to our page on turnaround times for more information.

Pricing

This style of binding requires a custom quote. You can request pricing using our contact page. To make sure we can get you an accurate quote as soon as possible, make sure you include the following information:

  • Your desired number of units
  • Size of each panel of the accordion book, i.e., the “closed size”
  • The number of panels or total unfolded size
  • Paper stock
  • Whether you want a gloss or matte finish (both varnish and lamination options are available)
  • Your shipping address and shipping speed

Additionally, let us know if your project has any extra requirements, such as split shipping or specialty options.

Please note that the outside front and back covers, as well as the inside front and back covers, should be included in the total panel count when requesting a quote.

Once we have all the information we need, an account manager will review your project specs and reach out to you with your quote in a few business days.

File Setup Guide

You can find a setup guide for accordion books here.

Visual Guide

More of a visual learner? Check out our visual guide below for a video walkthrough of Accordion Book Basics.

 

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