tbf scrapbook

Hardback photo books

Any design can be printed as a hardback, in gloss or matte. The designs drawn for a hardback are listed first.

From £10.99, plus £6.99 UK delivery

Shape
Cover
Style
165 designs

Or design yours

Start from a blank book and make every page yourself.

  1. 1 Pick a style
  2. 2 Add your photos and words
  3. 3 We print it and post it
See all 18 styles

Hardback and hardcover mean the same thing: rigid boards wrapped in the printed cover. The book stands on a shelf and keeps its shape.

Gloss has a shine that makes strong colour stronger. Matte hardback uses an uncoated paper with no shine.

Both are printed in the UK. A hardback has 24 to 300 pages. A softcover starts at 20.

Shapes are A4 portrait, 21 x 29.7 cm, A4 landscape, 29.7 x 21 cm, and square, 21 x 21 cm.

Gloss or matte

Choose gloss for daylight photos taken outside: sea, sky, snow, a beach in August.

Choose matte for photos taken indoors or in the evening, black and white, and pages with a lot of white or paper texture. Under a lamp, gloss shows a glare and matte does not.

Not sure? Look at your cover photo. Bright and outdoor, choose gloss. Quiet and indoor, choose matte.

Hardback or lay-flat

Lay-flat is a hardback whose pages open completely flat. Choose it when a photo crosses the middle of the book.

Choose an ordinary hardback when each page has its own photos. It arrives sooner, because lay-flat is made in Europe, and it can run to 300 pages, against 122 for lay-flat.

Hardback or softcover

Choose hardback for a book you keep, give as a present or pass round a table.

Choose softcover for party books, school books and copies for a lot of people. It is lighter and costs less.

Long books

A year with a lot of photos can go in two hardbacks rather than one very thick one. Two books of 100 pages are easier to hold on a lap than one of 200.

Questions

Is a hardback the same as a hardcover photo book?

Yes. Both words mean a book with a rigid cover.

Does matte hardback cost more than gloss?

A little more. Both prices are shown beside each design before you start.

Where are hardback photo books printed?

In the UK. Lay-flat, also a hardback, is made in Europe and takes longer.

How many photos fit in a hardback?

About two or three a page at a comfortable size, so 50 to 70 in 24 pages. Grids of small photos fit more.

Guides