Thumb index

Round cut-out in the pages of a publication
A dictionary with thumb indexes (on the right).

A thumb index, also called a cut-in index[1] or an index notch,[2] is a round cut-out in the pages of dictionaries, encyclopedias, Bibles and other large religious books, and various sectioned, often alphabetic, reference works, used to locate entries starting at a particular letter or section. The individual notches are called thumb cuts.

Several ways to achieve this indexing effect were invented and patented in the 1970s by Arthur S. Friedman, a printing engineer in New York.[3]

See also

  • Index (publishing)

References

  1. ^ "thumb index". Bookbinding and the Conservation of Books: A Dictionary of Descriptive Terminology. Foundation of the American Institute for Conservation. Retrieved 8 May 2012.
  2. ^ Popular Mechanics. Hearst Magazines. Sep 1956. p. 184.
  3. ^ "Google Patents". patents.google.com.
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