Composition book
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A composition book is one of a type of stock-bound notebook commonly used by writers and students. Although available in several colours, the original marbled black-and-white cover (popularly inked in to a solid black), with its generic label on the front, is the overwhelming favourite. 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 (the inside back cover for most) had a table of the weights and measures of the English system printed on it for children to refer to. With the adoption of the metric system, this feature has become diminished. 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. (Such a signature is much thicker than that which is used for a book, however.) Composition books are thus more durable than spiral notebooks or those with perforated pages. Unlike these, however, individual pages are not intended to be torn out of a composition book. The last step in their production is trimming the edges of the book, conventionally rounding the two loose corners. One conventional size of these is 9¾ inch high by 7¾ inches across, but there are some now made in China which are 247 mm high by 190 mm across.
Due to their durability, composition books are generally used in long-term projects, such as English or Composition classes that involve peer review or frequent editing by teachers. They are also commonly used by young children for the same reason. Composition books are commonly used by writers: as a journal, or by anyone needing to keep a record of their thoughts, or perhaps a literary author. Again, this choice would be for durability.
Their common use by young students causes children to associate them with schoolwork and commonly lends a somewhat nostalgic feel to them for older people. Composition books may also be viewed more as a creative outlet by those who continue to use them later in life.