Bound collection of leaves featuring region of reduced cumulative leaf thickness

A method of manufacturing a bound collection of leaves having a spine, the method comprising:

• forming a first plurality of leaves, each leaf of the first plurality of leaves including a first pattern of tabs distributed along a binding axis of that leaf;
• forming a second plurality of leaves, each leaf of the second plurality of leaves including a second pattern of tabs distributed along a binding axis of that leaf;
• assembling the first plurality of leaves and the second plurality of leaves to form a collection of leaves such that each binding axis of the first plurality of leaves and the second plurality of leaves is oriented parallel to a spine axis of the spine;
• and
• binding the collection of leaves to form the bound collection of leaves by:
• for each leaf of the first plurality of leaves, binding that leaf within the bound collection by the first pattern of tabs of that leaf, and
• for each leaf of the second plurality of leaves, binding that leaf within the bound collection by the second pattern of tabs of that leaf;
• wherein each tab of the first pattern of tabs and the second pattern of tabs within the bound collection of leaves extends in a direction orthogonal to the binding axis of its leaf from within an unbound region of that leaf to a binding-side edge of that leaf to provide a bound portion and an unbound portion for each tab of the first pattern of tabs and the second pattern of tabs;
• wherein the first pattern of tabs differs from the second pattern of tabs within the bound collection of leaves along at least a portion of the spine axis.

An article of manufacture, comprising:

• a bound collection of leaves having a spine;
• wherein each leaf of a first plurality of leaves of the bound collection has a reduced cross section that extends from within an unbound region of that leaf to a binding-side edge of that leaf on a dimension orthogonal to a spine axis of the spine;
• and
• wherein the reduced cross section of each leaf has a bound portion and an unbound portion.