Excellently clear breakdown. Quite a nice read, and even a good skim (you can pick up nearly everything just by looking at the pictures and reading the intro paragraphs).
I think it really only applies to books which seek to be decorative objects as well as literature, however. The wide outside margin allows for side notes or decorative borders, and the bottom is similar to how pictures are matted for display in galleries - "heavier" bottoms have a subtle but important impact. It also creates room for detached footnotes or larger decorations. The thinner inside margins help keep text on a readable level due to the book binding techniques (remember, books were typically thicker when scribes did the work).
But without that decoration, I'm pretty sure the small blocks of black text would act as an optical illusion, making them appear smaller than they are. Without things filling those areas, I'd think it would make the book look empty, overly white-filled, rather than balanced.
I think it really only applies to books which seek to be decorative objects as well as literature, however. The wide outside margin allows for side notes or decorative borders, and the bottom is similar to how pictures are matted for display in galleries - "heavier" bottoms have a subtle but important impact. It also creates room for detached footnotes or larger decorations. The thinner inside margins help keep text on a readable level due to the book binding techniques (remember, books were typically thicker when scribes did the work).
But without that decoration, I'm pretty sure the small blocks of black text would act as an optical illusion, making them appear smaller than they are. Without things filling those areas, I'd think it would make the book look empty, overly white-filled, rather than balanced.