This is one of the weirdest things I’ve found in a notebook. In a Moleskine pocket sketchbook I bought a couple of years ago and just started using, there is an extra sheet of paper glued in.
Usually, these notebook have 80 pages. It’s pretty straightforward– notebook page counts are always in multiples of 4, at least when they are constructed of sewn signatures– each piece of paper is sewn in the middle, and there are two sides, so that makes 4 pages, and then it’s just a question of how many sheets are sewn together in each signature, and how many signatures are in the book.
The 80-page sketchbooks usually have 6 signatures of 12 pages each, plus one signature of 8 pages. These are attached to the end papers of the notebook to help hold everything together, leading to that annoying first and last page that don’t open flat like the rest. But in my weird mutant notebook, there is an extra sheet glued in between the last signature and the endpapers, for no apparent reason. I discovered it when I was trying to open the book wider to break in the spine a bit and suddenly heard that nasty snapping sound of the binding breaking open– the glue between the rogue page and the last signature came loose.
So on the one hand I guess it’s nice to get 82 pages for the price of 80… but on the other hand, it throws off the strength of the binding. And the question remains: why???? Should I be checking for a “help me” message in invisible ink from some abused Chinese factory worker???
I think its an aberration, in that the extra sheet was probably left in accidentally. I don’t know how these are assembled in China but when you make a book by hand you usually have a piece of waste paper to protect the cover and end sheets while gluing. Usually this is removed before the glue sets. It could be they just forgot to remove it. Or the paper got stuck to the end sheets and no one noticed it. I’d report it to Moleskine and see if you can get a replacement notebook, since this will lead to falure, moreso than you’ve already experienced. It will eventually lead to the back cover fully detaching from the book block.
If you have already been using the book and want to continue to do so you can make a decent repair of it, pull out the loose sheet and fold it in half the long way. trim it so you have about 1 inch on either side of the fold. Glue one side to the book block keeping the fold even with the spine. Press this and smooth it out. Glue will squeeze out. Wipe it up with a damp cloth before it sets and glues everything together. Spread glue on the other half of the folded piece of paper, close the book cover carefully making sure the folded piece of paper and spine are aligned well. Put it under weight for the night to dry. This will give you a stronger hinge than the original for about 20 minutes worth of your time. Alternatively you could stuff some masking tape in there. I’d do the glue it’s stronger.