Abstract: An object resembling the cover of a hardbound book comprises two panels connected by a spine. The outside hinge configuration of the invention prevents the spine from collapsing, even if there are no contents between the two panels. The invention lends itself to a wide variety of book-like products (e.g., a book-like holder for a compact disc and accompanying booklet) where the contents are of changing width (thickness) or where the spine must be of a specific width, irrespective of the width of the contents, and further allows for a binding for a book to be fabricated prior to assembly or insertion of its pages. A hinged cover consistent with the invention comprises a spine and two rigid panels, each panel coupled to the spine and disposed rotatably with respect to the spine, and the spine serves as a hinge stop for each rigid panel, such that each panel, when rotated toward the other panel, is constrained from rotating substantially beyond 90 degrees with respect to the spine.