Leaf & Spine

Saddle-stitch imposition

52-page booklet page order

A 52-page booklet uses 13 sheets, each printed with two pages per side, nested and stapled through the fold.

13sheets
52pages
26page pairs

Printer spreads

Sheet (outside first)Front: left | rightBack: left | right
Sheet 152 | 12 | 51
Sheet 250 | 34 | 49
Sheet 348 | 56 | 47
Sheet 446 | 78 | 45
Sheet 544 | 910 | 43
Sheet 642 | 1112 | 41
Sheet 740 | 1314 | 39
Sheet 838 | 1516 | 37
Sheet 936 | 1718 | 35
Sheet 1034 | 1920 | 33
Sheet 1132 | 2122 | 31
Sheet 1230 | 2324 | 29
Sheet 1328 | 2526 | 27

Each pair adds up to 53. Print front and back duplex, flipping on the short edge for most desktop printers.

Nested sheets

Sheet 1 · Front521Sheet 1 · Back251Sheet 2 · Front503Sheet 2 · Back449Sheet 3 · Front485Sheet 3 · Back647Sheet 4 · Front467Sheet 4 · Back845Sheet 5 · Front449Sheet 5 · Back1043Sheet 6 · Front4211Sheet 6 · Back1241Sheet 7 · Front4013Sheet 7 · Back1439Sheet 8 · Front3815Sheet 8 · Back1637Sheet 9 · Front3617Sheet 9 · Back1835Sheet 10 · Front3419Sheet 10 · Back2033Sheet 11 · Front3221Sheet 11 · Back2231Sheet 12 · Front3023Sheet 12 · Back2429Sheet 13 · Front2825Sheet 13 · Back2627

Creep and trimming

With 13 nested sheets the inner pages stick out at the fore-edge by roughly the combined thickness of the outer sheets. Professional imposition shifts inner pages toward the spine (creep compensation) and trims the fore-edge flush. Keep text at least 6 mm from the outside edge.

Need a different count? The booklet imposition calculator works for any page count and adds blanks as needed.

Other booklet sizes

8 pages12 pages16 pages20 pages24 pages28 pages32 pages36 pages40 pages44 pages48 pages56 pages60 pages64 pages

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