In Italy you will see both. I think it's a clash of conventions: the readability of the title if the book is placed on a table versus the graphic design convention that says that, if a text is placed vertically, it should read from the bottom.
If you need to set a book spine I think you should look for book similar to the one you need to set and see what solution they adopt. Then deciding accordingly.

The only book I have that goes the opposite direction (bottom to top) is German.

I can confirm bottom-to-top for German & French, and top-to-bottom for Danish.
BTW, graphic novels seem to handle these conventions remarkably loosely. Much back-and-forth-head-tilting there :-)

Top to bottom in Finland, too.

Germany: Bottom to top (usually)
France: Bottom to top (often)
India: Random (www.sanskritweb.net/temporary/spine.jpg)

Bottom to top in Russia

One explanation I've heard, was that a book placed on the table with the front cover up, can be easily identified from the cover itself, while the one laying face-down can only be told by the spine.

This explanation seems rather sketchy, as back when the convention was established , most books didn't carry writing on the covers, and the spine was a primary identifier.
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Personal Art and Design Portal of Ivan Gulkov
www.ivangdesign.com

Does anyone have any information on when titles began to be set running predominately along a vertical axis as opposed to horizontal? Nineteenth century, I believe. I'll bet there was a lot of variation regardless of geography. Here is a hypothesis: Well-known bookbinders in big cities set the standards for the region.

Thank you all very much! If I found out anything more/else, i'll post it here.
@ oprion: Thanks for giving me some sort of explanation. My entire family consists of architects, so they attacked some of my books with their arguments, which ofcourse does not have a lot to do with bookmaking-logic. This will help me prepare for round two - xmas dinner :-)

when titles began to be set running predominately along a vertical axis as opposed to horizontal

When the spines became narrower! :-)

In the Low Countries we adhere to the Top-to-Bottom-convention. As do most other European countries.

. . .
Bert Vanderveen BNO

When the spines became narrower!

Perhaps when the title was hand-lettered, but I've never seen a stamped title set vertically until the nineteenth c., no matter how thin!

My Hungarian books are bottom-to-top.

In Mexico: bottom-to-top in books, top-to-bottom in compact discs. Don’t ask me why. I suppose that music industry is more American-influenced than editorial industry here.

Hey, interesting – my Swiss and German music CDs are top-to-bottom too (while books are bottom-to-top). Never noticed this discrepancy before.

Re to the original question: this can be a cultural matter. Anyway, FWIW, Jorge de Buen in his Manual de diseño editorial states that bottom-to-top is more legible than the other way around. He includes the following example:

Certainly I can read better the bottom-to-top text than the other one, but it can be just me. Fortunately, you can always put the book upside down in your bookcase.

— — —

As for the CD matter: at least in this case you usually have two “spines” so you can put both versions. :P

Hello zlatica

Wonderful question, I've been asking myself and searching for answers a lot.

I have my own explanation of that. It's in my blog, here:
http://psyglass.net/?p=164

See if it works for you.

Regards,
Nikolay

Thank you Nikolay, but it seems there is no text on thath page of you blog... Could you please send the text onto my e-mail zlatica@kunazlatica.com? Thank you!

Hmmm! Perhaps there is a browser problem. I'm seeing it with Mozilla and Chrome, but haven't checked with IE. This is too bad! :(
I sent you the text on the mail, np!

For other people with the same problem - I am posting here my hypothesis in a nutshell - if you want to see the rationale or some supporting data, you have to check my page with Mozilla or Chrome browsers (and perhaps others will also do the job).

"...This string of reasoning leads to the simplistic conclusion that in Great Britain and USA (plus the Netherlands) people read more pragmatic books – textbooks, science, manuals, guides, encyclopedias, how-to books. On the Continent people read more literature. Pragmatic books are read in a problem-oriented way, with more sources at a time; literature is read in a content-oriented way, one book at a time. In the first case it is more important to be able to read the spine text when the book is in a pile with others, face up. In the second – it is more important for the spine text to enable book recognition in all positions – alone..."

Regards,
Nikolay

Art Lebedev wrote a nice short piece explaining the origin and rationale for both orientations. There is also some discussion of this on Fonts In Use.