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Great Food series (Penguin Books, 2011)

Penguin series – the ubiquitous spine display, always successful. Books in series commonly have design elements that make it clear that they are part of a series and this is often most recognisable when they are sitting on the bookshelf with spines facing out. Here it's the typeface, the pattern, the colour and the logo that draw these books together. I'm reaching for the credit card ...

The Ginger Series and Awa Science (Awa Press, 2004 onward)

And from New Zealand, here's a couple of series from Awa Press – The Ginger Series and Awa Science. This display is a bit thin on the ground I'm afraid, but it still conveys the idea.

Just as with the Penguin series, common elements on the spine indicate that these books are part of a series. As well as typeface and logo in common, the Ginger books have a banner stating the series name and the number of the book in that series. The Awa Science books have similar typeface and colour elements.

The Paris Review Book (Picador, 2003)

And now for a non-series spinal exam.

This is a hardcover book with a dust jacket, but that's not just for keeping the spine toasty warm. The spine of the jacket lists the full title of the book, this essentially being a list of the topics covered in the book: ‘Heartbreak, Madness, Sex, Love…’ This is a fun, light-hearted approach to summarising the book’s content.

Once the jacket is removed, however, things become a little more refined. The title is simply ‘The Paris Review Book’, debossed in attractive dark red foil on taupe linen-look buckram. ‘By the editors of the Paris Review’ leaves one in no doubt that this a ‘substantial’ book. So far it has sat on my shelf with the jacket on – I don’t think my cheap bookshelf is quite the place for red foil and taupe linen.