Custom Carbonless Book Boxes
Custom boxes for carbonless books — receipt, invoice, order and delivery books — sized to the book and the count per box, printed with the title, from 100. Dieline and price the same working day.
Ten books to a box, and the box is what the customer sees first
- Board
- E flute tuck cartons; 20–24pt boxboard lidded; B flute bulk shippers
- Builds
- Tuck-end, two-piece lidded, tear-front, bulk shipper
- Sizing
- DL, A5, A4, letter; 5, 10 or 20 books per box
Get a price for Carbonless Book Boxes
Send the size and quantity — we reply the same working day with a price, a dieline and a date. Artwork optional at this stage.
- Free dielineThe flat drawing comes with the quote, before you commit.
- Proof before pressNothing is printed until you have seen it laid on the dieline.
- Die kept for reordersTooling is paid once. Every reorder skips straight to press.
- Quoted in four marketsUS, UK, Canada and Australia, in the delivery currency.
Sizing to the book and the count
Books stack on their backs or stand on a spine; the box is drawn for whichever the customer prefers. A wrap-around cover adds a millimeter per book.
| DL (99 × 210 mm), 50 sets 2-part | Book about 12 mm; box of 10 about 125 mm deep |
|---|---|
| A5, 50 sets 2-part | Book about 12 mm; box of 10 about 125 mm deep |
| A5, 50 sets 3-part | Book about 17 mm; box of 10 about 175 mm deep |
| A4, 50 sets 2-part | Book about 12 mm; box of 10 about 125 mm deep |
Carton styles
- Tuck-end carton in E flute — the standard, ships flat, holds ten books.
- Two-piece lidded box in boxboard — for a counter pack that is opened and closed often.
- Tear-front dispenser — books taken from a shelf one at a time.
- Bulk shipper in B flute — 50 or 100 books for a wholesaler, with the retail cartons inside.
The end panel does the selling
On a stationer's shelf the carton shows an end. Book type, size, part count, sets per book and books per box — in that order, in large type, one or two colors. The customer name goes on if the books are bespoke. A barcode on a matte patch for a retail line. Our boxes for loose carbonless form sets use the same panel layout for unbound sets.
Board and the weight of paper
Ten A4 books weigh about 2.5 kg. E flute carries that in a carton that is handled gently; B flute for a carton that ships alone. The crash-lock base is worth having: it takes the weight without tape and lets the box be loaded from the top on a bench.
Carbonless coatings mark under pressure. Fill the box so books cannot slide, but do not force the last one in.
Printers, stationers and the reorder
Commercial printers producing books for many customers keep three or four stock cartons with a label panel. Stationery brands selling a retail range print the carton in full. Both reorder as stock runs down, from dies that are kept.
Carbonless Book Boxes — specification
The rows that are specific to this build first, then what applies to every job we run. Anything not listed is a question, not a limit — send the brief.
This build
- Board
- E flute tuck cartons; 20–24pt boxboard lidded; B flute bulk shippers
- Builds
- Tuck-end, two-piece lidded, tear-front, bulk shipper
- Sizing
- DL, A5, A4, letter; 5, 10 or 20 books per box
- 1–2 colors; end panel title; label panel; barcode patch
- Base
- Crash-lock for weight and bench loading
- Supply
- Flat
- Minimum
- 100 boxes
On every job
- Print process
- Digital below about a thousand, offset above it. Both sides as standard on cards, tags and leaflets.
- Color
- CMYK with spot colors for a brand match. Uncoated and cotton stocks print noticeably lighter than coated ones.
- Tolerance
- Trim plus or minus 1 mm guillotined, plus or minus 0.5 mm die-cut. Anything over about 170gsm is creased before folding.
- Tooling
- A die only where the piece is shaped, perforated or drilled, made once and kept. A plain rectangle needs none.
- Food contact
- Food-safe inks on menus and counter print that will be handled where food is served.
- Sustainability
- Uncoated and unlaminated stocks recycle without separation, and FSC papers are available across the range.
- Artwork
- Vector PDF or AI, 3 mm bleed, 4 mm safe area, fonts outlined. We check every file and send a proof before press.
- Dieline
- Supplied free with the quote, before you commit. Yours whether or not you order.
- Sample
- A plain unprinted sample at the finished size on request, for fit and construction.
- Reorders
- Skip the tooling and go straight to press at a lower unit price.
- Lead time
- Quoted with the price against your fill date rather than promised before we have seen the spec.
- Markets
- United States, United Kingdom, Canada, Australia — priced in the delivery currency, freight included.
Boards and films we build carbonless book boxes on
Sheet print is judged in the hand more than a box is: the weight, the surface and whether a pen works on it. These are the stocks we run for cards, folders, leaflets and stationery.
Coated card 300–400gsm
The workhorse. Sharp full-color print, matte or gloss, laminated where it is handled. Does not take a pen unless the finish is matte.
300–400gsmUncoated card
No clay coat. Colors read softer and warmer, a deboss goes deeper, and it writes on with anything. Photographs lose punch.
300–400gsmCotton and textured card
Soft, thick and fibrous. Takes a deep blind deboss and reads as an invitation. Foil sits beautifully; four-color does not.
400–700gsmDuplexed card
Two sheets bonded, often with a colored core, for a very thick card with a visible colored edge. The heaviest thing we print.
600–900gsmText paper 100–170gsm
Leaflets, folder inners and booklet pages. Folds without cracking and takes a full-color print on both faces.
100–170gsmManila and kraft paper
Unbleached, tan, and cheap. One or two colors read well; white ink gives a light mark. Envelopes, folders and tags.
90–300gsmSynthetic stock
Polypropylene sheet for tags and cards that get wet, torn or handled outdoors. Prints like paper and does not soften.
200–400 micronBoard-backed
A printed face laminated to grayboard, for a rigid card, a folder back or a display that has to stand up on its own.
1–2 mm boardNot sure which? Say what goes in it and where it is sold — the material follows from that. Our notes on recycled, recyclable and compostable cover which claims each stock can honestly carry.
- 01
Send what you have
A dimension, a photograph beside a ruler, or the product itself. No technical drawing needed — that part is ours.
- 02
We quote and draw
A price, a dieline and a date come back together. If a different build would suit the product better, that is in the reply too.
- 03
Approve the dieline
The flat drawing is yours to check: which panel is the front, where the folds fall, how deep the cavity really is.
- 04
Artwork on the dieline
You place your design on the flat we sent, or we place it for you, and you see a proof before anything goes to press.
- 05
A sample if you want one
A plain unprinted sample at the finished size shows fit and construction — the things a drawing cannot.
- 06
Cut, printed, shipped
The die is cut once and kept, so every reorder skips the tooling and goes straight to press at a lower unit price.
Format
Vector PDF or AI where possible. Raster artwork at 300dpi at final size, in CMYK.
Bleed
3 mm past every trim line, so a fraction of drift on the cutter never leaves a white edge.
Safe area
Keep type and anything important 4 mm inside the cut and away from every fold.
Color
Convert to CMYK before sending. Uncoated stock prints lighter; a spot color is the only exact match.
Fonts
Outline them or supply the files. A missing font substitutes silently and the proof will not match.
Barcodes
On a light, matte, unvarnished patch with the quiet zone clear — a code on gloss fails the scanner.
Not set up that way? Send it anyway — fixing a file is a short conversation, and we check every one before press. Our guide to preparing print files covers each point.
Sheet print takes the widest range of finishes of anything we make.
Matte lamination
Soft, fingerprint-resistant, and it still takes a pen. The default on anything handled.
Gloss lamination
Maximum color depth. Shows every fingerprint and refuses a ballpoint.
Hot foil
Gold, rose gold, silver, holographic or a color. The block is small so the die is cheap.
Emboss and deboss
Deepest on uncoated and cotton stocks; shallow and prone to cracking on gloss coated.
Spot UV
A gloss shape on a matte laminate. Best on a dark ground where the contrast reads.
Edge paint and colored core
Color on the cut edge of a thick or duplexed card. Only seen when the card is picked up, which is the point.
Soft-touch
A velvet laminate on a cover or a folder. Marks on white; excellent on dark.
Uncoated and textured
No film at all. Writes on, debosses deeply, and reads as considered rather than cheap.
Not sure which suits the shelf it sells from? Say where the product is sold and we suggest one — our notes on specialty finishes show them on real boxes.
Sizing printed sheets, folds and the grain: carbonless book boxes
A printed piece is specified flat and finished folded, and the difference between the two is where mistakes live. Send the finished size you want and we work back to the flat.
- Finished size
- The size after folding and trimming. A6, A5, A4, DL, US letter and legal are standard; anything else is cut on its own die.
- Bleed and safe area
- 3 mm of artwork past every trim edge, and nothing important within 4 mm inside it. The guillotine drifts by a fraction on every stack.
- Grain direction
- Paper folds cleanly along the grain and cracks across it. We set the grain to the fold, which is why a sheet is not simply cut from the biggest sheet available.
- Fold allowance
- On a roll fold or a gate fold, the inner panels are cut a millimeter or two shorter so the piece closes flat.
- Creasing
- Anything over about 170gsm is creased before folding. Without it the fold cracks and the coating flakes along the line.
- Trim tolerance
- Plus or minus 1 mm guillotined, plus or minus 0.5 mm die-cut.
Not sure your numbers are right? Send the product dimensions rather than the box dimensions and we work the box out — the full method is in our guide to measuring for a box.
Interactive · five steps · no sign-up
Spec your Carbonless Book Boxes
Pick a shape, type a size, choose a stock and a finish. The preview on the left redraws as you go, and the spec lands with us exactly as you set it.
Frequently asked questions
Got a question about carbonless book boxes? The answers below cover what we get asked most. If yours is not here, send it with a brief, message us on WhatsApp, or call +1 503-461-4788 — we reply the same working day.
How many books fit in a box?
Five, ten or twenty as standard. Ten is the usual trade pack, and we size the depth from the book thickness.
What is the standard book thickness?
About 12 mm for a 50-set 2-part book and 17 mm for 3-part, plus a millimeter for a wrap-around cover.
Can books be taken one at a time from the box?
Yes, from a tear-front dispenser carton.
What board do you use?
E flute for the standard carton, B flute where the carton ships on its own, boxboard for a lidded counter pack.
Can the carton be printed with the book details?
Yes, on the end panel in one or two colors, with a label panel for the customer name or number range.
What is the minimum order?
100 boxes.
Do the cartons ship flat?
Yes, all styles.
Can I have a barcode?
Yes, on a matte patch, for a retail line.
Do you make the bulk shipper too?
Yes, a B flute outer for 50 or 100 books with the retail cartons inside, quoted alongside.
Will the crash-lock base hold ten A4 books?
Yes, about 2.5 kg, without tape.
Do you keep the die?
Yes, per size, so reorders skip the tooling.
Do you ship outside the US?
Yes, to the United States, United Kingdom, Canada and Australia, quoted in the delivery currency.
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