Also called cover stock, cover paper is a thick, durable paper grade used for covers of pamphlets, catalogs, reports, etc. The paper quality of prime importance for cover papers is its strength, which must allow it to adequately protect the pages that are bound beneath or between it. Cover papers come in a variety of finishes, coatings, textures, etc., as one of the prime functions of cover paper is to aesthetically represent the contents of the pages it is covering. Depending on the wishes of the graphic designer, cover paper may also need to undergo embossing, die-cutting, drilling, scoring, stapling, varnishing, lacquering, laminating, folding, etc., and may also be printed using a wide variety of specialty inks. Cover paper finishes run the gamut from smooth to embossed. Typically, cover stock that has the same basis weight as the text paper should have twice the thickness. Double-thick cover stock consists of two sheets of 65-pound cover stock laminated together.
The basic size of cover papers is 20 x 26, and comes in basis weights of 50, 60, 65, 80, 90, 100, and 130-pound. Standard sizes are 20 x 26, 23 x 35, 26 x 40, and 35 x 46.