Spine Label

The paper or leather descriptive tag attached to the spine of the book, most commonly providing the title and author of the work. With the tradition of fine bindings, the spine label was added after the book was bound so it was not integral to the covering of the book as is typical with modern publishing practices. The title on the spine label may not always be a completely accurate rendition of the book's title as the spine label was intended to identify the book in a private library, not to be a bibliographic record.