Leaf & Spine

Saddle-stitch imposition

56-page booklet page order

A 56-page booklet uses 14 sheets, each printed with two pages per side, nested and stapled through the fold.

14sheets
56pages
28page pairs

Printer spreads

Sheet (outside first)Front: left | rightBack: left | right
Sheet 156 | 12 | 55
Sheet 254 | 34 | 53
Sheet 352 | 56 | 51
Sheet 450 | 78 | 49
Sheet 548 | 910 | 47
Sheet 646 | 1112 | 45
Sheet 744 | 1314 | 43
Sheet 842 | 1516 | 41
Sheet 940 | 1718 | 39
Sheet 1038 | 1920 | 37
Sheet 1136 | 2122 | 35
Sheet 1234 | 2324 | 33
Sheet 1332 | 2526 | 31
Sheet 1430 | 2728 | 29

Each pair adds up to 57. Print front and back duplex, flipping on the short edge for most desktop printers.

Nested sheets

Sheet 1 · Front561Sheet 1 · Back255Sheet 2 · Front543Sheet 2 · Back453Sheet 3 · Front525Sheet 3 · Back651Sheet 4 · Front507Sheet 4 · Back849Sheet 5 · Front489Sheet 5 · Back1047Sheet 6 · Front4611Sheet 6 · Back1245Sheet 7 · Front4413Sheet 7 · Back1443Sheet 8 · Front4215Sheet 8 · Back1641Sheet 9 · Front4017Sheet 9 · Back1839Sheet 10 · Front3819Sheet 10 · Back2037Sheet 11 · Front3621Sheet 11 · Back2235Sheet 12 · Front3423Sheet 12 · Back2433Sheet 13 · Front3225Sheet 13 · Back2631Sheet 14 · Front3027Sheet 14 · Back2829

Creep and trimming

With 14 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 pages52 pages60 pages64 pages

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