Base Art - Copy pasted up on the mounting oard of a mechanical, as compared to overlay art. Also called base mechanical.

Base Negative - Negative made by photographing base art.

Basic Size - The standard size of sheets of paper used to calculate basis weight in the United States and Canada.

Basis Weight - In the United States and Canada, the weight, in pounds, of a ream (500 sheets) of paper cut to the basic size. Also called ream weight and substance weight (sub weight). In countries using ISO paper sizes, the weight, in grams, of one square meter of paper. Also called grammage and ream weight.

Bind - Usually in the book arena, but not exclusively, the joining of leafs or signatures together with either wire, glue or other means.

Bindery - Usually a department within a printing company responsible for collating, folding and trimming various printing projects.

Blank - Category of paperboard ranging in thickness from 15 to 48 points.

Blanket - Rubber-coated pad, mounted on a cylinder of an offset press, that receives the inked image from the plate and transfers it to the surface to be printed.

Bleed - Printing that extends to the edge of a sheet or page after trimming.

Blind Folio - A page number not printed on the page. (In the book arena, a blank page traditionally does not print a page number.)

Blind Image - Image debossed, embossed or stamped, but not printed with ink or foil.

Blocking - Sticking together of printed sheets causing damage when the surfaces are separated.

Blow-Up - An enlargement, usually used with graphic images or photographs

Blueline - Prepress photographic proof made from stripped negatives where all colors show as blue images on white paper. Because 'blueline' is a generic term for proofs made from a variety of materials having identical purposes and similar appearances, it may also be called a blackprint, blue, blueprint, brownline, brownprint, diazo, dyeline, ozalid, position proof, silverprint, Dylux and VanDyke.

Blurb - A description or commentary of an author or book content positioned on the book jacket.

Board Paper - General term for paper over 110# index, 80# cover or 200 gsm that is commonly used for products such as file folders, displays and post cards. Also called paperboard.

Body - The main text of work not including the headlines.

Boiler Plate - Blocks of repetitive type used and copied over and over again.

Bond paper - Category of paper commonly used for writing, printing and photocopying. Also called business paper, communication paper, correspondence paper and writing paper.

Book Block - Folded signatures gathered, sewn and trimmed, but not yet covered.

Book Paper - Category of paper suitable for books, magazines, catalogs, advertising and general printing needs. Book paper is divided into uncoated paper (also called offset paper), coated paper (also called art paper, enamel paper, gloss paper and slick paper) and text paper.

Border - The decorative design or rule surrounding matter on a page.

Bounce - (1) a repeating registration problem in the printing stage of production. (2) Customer unhappy with the results of a printing project and refuses to accept the project.

Bristol Paper - General term referring to paper 6 points or thicker with basis weight between 90# and 200# (200-500 gsm). Used for products such as index cards, file folders and displays.

Broadside - The term used to indicate work printed on one of a large sheet of paper.

Bromide - A photographic print created on bromide paper.

Broken Carton - Carton of paper from which some of the sheets have been sold. Also called less carton.

Bronzing - The effect produced by dusting wet ink after printing and using a metallic powder.

Build a Color - To overlap two or more screen tints to create a new color. Such an overlap is called a build, color build, stacked screen build or tint build.

Bulk - Thickness of paper relative to its basic weight.

Bullet - A dot or similar marking to emphasize text.

Burst Perfect Bind - To bind by forcing glue into notches along the spines of gathered signatures before affixing a paper cover. Also called burst bind, notch bind and slotted bind.

Butt Register - Register where ink colors meet precisely without overlapping or allowing space between, as compared to lap register. Also called butt fit and kiss register.

Buy Out - To subcontract for a service that is closely related to the business of the organization. Also called farm out. Work that is bought out or farmed out is sometimes called outwork or referred to as being out of house.