Spine at the Top

Adam Blandy. 
Chronological Tables of the World, Commencing with the Creation and Ending with the Nativity of Jesus Christ.
Oxford: For Adam Blandy, [ca. 1727]. (25618)

Every reader knows how to operate a book, except perhaps when its contents are not oriented as expected, with the pages opening to the left and right. In this chronological overview of world history the spine crosses the top of the book, so that the pages must be turned from bottom to top as they are read. Two additional characteristics of this unusual book are: the entire text was printed from engraved plates instead of moveable types, and the text was printed only on one side of each leaf so that pairs of printed pages are always followed by pairs of blank pages.