shelfbacks

Noun

shelfback (plural shelfbacks)

1. The vertical surface forming the back of a shelf.
   • She came home later that day from Mrs. Rafferty's with a blue platter, which she placed standing up against the shelfback in the linen closet.2001, Regina McBride, The Nature of Water and Air, page 62
2. The spine of a book.
   • There was the man who collected any old volumes on etymology. There was a collector of books with gilded Victorian shelfbacks.1934, The Atlantic Monthly, volume 153, page 71