BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION Traditional travel guides are usually in the form of a book or booklet where the various pages are joined together at the spline of the book by a traditional book binding method involving gluing. For smaller booklets it is often the case that the booklet is formed by folding over a double sized sheet and providing stapling or the like at the fold to join all of the pages together.

A problem with travel guides is that they tend to be used rather intensively and at times which are not conducive to gentle use. Thus, unlike a novel, one is not usually sitting in a chair and turning the pages one by one. More likely a tourist will be visiting a special sight and will want to open up the book completely so that it is flat at a desired page and is likely to be handling the guide in a relatively rough manner. As a result it frequently happens that with traditional book binding methods the binding of the guide will split at a frequently used page and whole sections of the guide may then also become loose.

Another way of holding pages together is to use a wire binding element which passes through holes punched in the covers and pages of the booklet. Often memo pads and calenders, for example, are made this way and, in the field of travel guides, maps are often joined in this manner. The wire binding element, which may be of metal or other material like a synthetic plastics material, tends to come in two forms. It may be a continuous helical coil or may be a form of a series of wire loops which are bent into a circular cross section and marketed under the mark WIRE-O.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION According to the invention there is provided a booklet having a cover made from one piece of material which is composed of a front cover, an intermediate spline and a rear cover with the front and rear covers hinged to the spline, and enclosed within the front and back covers are the pages of the booklet. Two separate wire binding elements are provided to join together the cover and the loose pages, with a first wire binding element joining an upper portion of the cover and pages and a second wire binding element joining a lower portion of the cover and pages, a space being provided between the two elements such that an uninterrupted portion of the spline is provided between those two elements to enable information such as a title to be printed in

that uninterrupted portion of the spline.

An advantage of this arrangement is that the booklet is very durable and long lasting and it can open up flat to enable users to consult individual pages without putting undue strain on the binding.

This is particularly advantageous when the book is a guidebook or travel guide. Also by providing the gap between the two wire binding elements the cover then has, on the spline, an intermediate portion on which one can print, for example, the title of the book. This is very useful for users who can then quickly select the right book from a number which are stacked alongside one another on a shelf or piled on one another.

Also since the cover is in one piece with the front, rear and the spline formed of a single piece of material, this can be very durable and long lasting yet is easy and cheap to produce.

The wire binding elements will preferably pass twice through the spline so that the major part of the binding elements is hidden with the cover. A third hinge line is then provided down the centre of the spline to enable the cover to lay flat when opened.

As explained above the wire binding elements can be in any form.

For example, each can be in the form of a helical coil which passes through a series of spaced holes in the spline of the cover and the interior pages. Preferably, however, each is in the form of a length of

wire which is bent to form a series of curved, hair-pin shaped prongs.

Each prong has a closed end or"point", an open end or"root", and a curved wall therebetween. The curvature of the prongs is such that the element has the appearance of an open-sided cylinder with a substantially C-shaped cross-section. To bind the cover and interior pages into book form, a binding element of this type is cut to a predetermined length and positioned relative to and aligned with perforations in the cover and pages. The binding element is then closed to ring shape by bringing its points into the vicinity of its roots thereby binding the book. Examples of such wire binding elements are shown in UK 2 207 460 and US 4 874 279. Such wire binding elements are sold under the mark WIRE-O. Although the wire binding elements are preferably made from a length of metal wire, this is not essential and instead they can be made from other materials such as synthetic plastics material.

The booklet according to the invention is particularly, but not exclusively, useful as a travel guide or atlas.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS An example of a booklet according to the invention will now be described with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:

Figure 1 is an end view of the booklet when closed, showing the arrangement by which the cover and the pages are attached to the binding elements ; Figure 2 is an isometric view of the booklet illustrating the external configuration of the binding elements, the front cover, the spline, the pages and the rear cover as well as the relative positioning of the binding elements with respect to the spline ; Figure 3 is a front view of the booklet ; Figure 4 is a view on a smaller scale of the booklet with the front cover is open, this Figure showing the internal arrangement by which pages are attached to the binding elements along with the front cover, rear cover and the spline ; and Figure 5 is another plan view similar to Figure 4 but with all the interior pages turned over to rest on the front cover.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION Referring to Figure 1 the booklet, in this example a guide 20, comprises a cover 1 made from a single sheet of material which forms

the front cover 2, the spline 3 and the rear cover 4. Hinge lines 12 and 13 are provided in the cover 1 where the spline is connected with the front cover 2 and the rear cover 4, respectively. These hinge lines 12 and 13 also allow the booklet to be opened and closed and laid flat.

Contained between the front cover 2 and the rear cover 4 are loose-leaf pages 5 which carry the printed matter. Two binding elements 6 fix the pages 5 securely and accessibly within the covers. Each binding element passes through the spline 3 twice and through each individual loose sheet 5.

The cover 1 is preferably made from plasticised card.

Alternatively it may be made of any stout material known in the art. As can be seen from Figure 1 the height of the spline 3 is necessarily such that the binding element 6 can be contained between the internal surfaces of front cover 2 and rear cover 4 and so it is largely hidden and contained within the guide.

As best shown in Figure 2, the binding elements 6a, 6b are separated from one another by a space, although the construction of each element is similar.

Each binding element 6 can be of conventional construction and have a number of hairpin shaped curled prongs, each prong being a portion of the binding element that passes through the spline and each

page. Along the spline are two sets of corresponding apertures 8 and 9.

The pages 5 also have corresponding apertures 10. The number of prongs matches the number of lobes. Through each corresponding pair of apertures 8,9 and 10 passes one lobe of a binding element.

Because the binding elements 6 pass through the spine twice, a third hinge line 11 is provided along the centre of the spline. This enables the spline to fold to allow the cover as a whole to lay flat.

The provision of a gap 22 between the binding elements 6 provides an area along the spline 3 which is available for the printing and easy viewing of relevant information relating to the booklet, for example the author or the title. This printing will be completed before the hinge lines 11, 12 and 13 are formed.

It should be noted that while the binding elements 6 are made separately, it is envisaged that a single continuous piece of wire may be shaped to form both binding elements required with the elements joined by a continuous piece of straight wire which will be hidden within the cover once the guide has been assembled.

Figure 3 shows a plan view of the guide hereinbefore described, showing the locations of each lobe of binding elements 6a and 6b with respect to each other and to the booklet as a whole. It is also apparent from Figure 3 that the dimensions of each page is such that it fits within

the area as defined by the front and rear cover 2 and 4.

Figure 4 shows a plan view of the guide in open configuration with all the pages 5 lying on top the inside face of rear cover 4.

Although in this embodiment each page 5 is a single sheet, it is envisaged that the page may be split such that the top part of the page is bound by binding element 6a and the bottom part of the page is bound by the binding element 6b. It is further envisaged that for multi-part pages there may be provided a separate binding element for each part of a page. There are provided on each page a set of apertures 10 in a configuration similar to that of apertures 8 or 9 through which each lobe of binding elements 6a or 6b passes.