1. Chapter-contents previews. These were like tables of contents at the top of each chapter, except that they lacked a page number associated with each topic. (Word processing software would make this easy to provide today.) They weren’t just in non-fiction, but even in fiction. They provided the reader with a helpful “handrail,” something that’s sometimes nice to have.

2. Artwork in works of fiction. The probable reason for their disappearance (besides cost) was a snooty desire to avoid a comic-book or children’s-book look. Oh yes, and to let the alleged masterpiece speak for itself.

3. Maps and diagrams in works of fiction. The omission of such vital aids from “thrillers” and detective stories is semi-criminal–and most other novels would benefit from them as well. Layouts of houses and their environs are often hard to visualize from a sketchy written description. Or even from a verbose one.

4. Flowery dingbats or icons separating subdivisions of a chapter, in works of fiction, signaling a change of topic or locale, etc. Why not provide such useful landmarks? (They were probably dropped as part of a Modernist impulse to get rid of every sort of Victorian “gingerbread.”)