Transcriber's Note: Italic text is denoted by _underscores_ and bold
text by =equal signs= around the text. Small capitals in the printed
works have been transcribed as ALL CAPITALS.
More Transcriber's Notes may be found at the end of this document.
The picture opposite the title-page is a reprint of a page from the
volume of plates, made in 1771, to illustrate Diderot's Encyclopædia.
This page is one of six, each 8×12 ins. in the original, illustrating
the article in the encyclopædia on binding.
The picture in the upper part of the plate represents a binder's
workshop. The person at A is beating a book. The woman at B is sewing.
The man at C is cutting or trimming the edges of a book. The man at D
is working a press.
Of the figures below: 1 is a piece of marble on which books are beaten;
2 is a piece of marble of different shape for the same purpose; 3 is a
beating hammer; 4 is a sewing table or bench, on which books are sewn;
5 and 6 are balls of thread for sewing books; 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, and
12 are parts of a sewing bench; 13 and 14 are large and small paper
folders.
[Illustration:]
Notes on
Bookbinding for Libraries
By
John Cotton Dana
Librarian Free Public Library,
Newark, N. J.
Revised and Enlarged Edition
Library Bureau, Chicago
1910
COPYRIGHTED
1910
LIBRARY BUREAU
=Naudé On Binding=
"The fourth is, to retrench & cut off all the superfluous expences,
which many prodigally and to no purpose bestow upon the binding and
ornaments of their Books, and to employ it in purchasing such as they
want, that so they may not be obnoxious to that censure of _Seneca_,
who handsomly reproaches those, _Quibus voluminum suorum frontes maxime
placent titulique;_ & this the rather, that the binding is nothing but
an accident & form of appearing, without which (at least so splendid
and sumptuous) Books become altogether as useful, commode & rare; it
becoming the ignorant onely to esteem a Book for its cover; seeing it
is not with Books, as it is with men, who are onely known and respected
for their robes and their clothes, so that it is a great deal better,
and more necessary, for example, to have a good quantity of Books, well
& ordinarily bound, than to have a little Chamber or Cabinet full of
washed, gilded, ruled, and enriched with all manner of nicity, lux and
superfluity."
From John Evelyn's translation of Gabriel Naudé's "Instructions
Concerning Erecting of a Library." London. 1661. Chapter 5.
=Preface to Second and Revised Edition=
In the first edition of this book I said that it ought not to be taken
as a final authority, but as a set of suggestions which I hoped would
arouse interest in the subject of library binding and lead a few to
pursue the subject further. Some of the changes made for this edition
indicate that I have followed the topic a little further myself,--I
hope with advantage to my readers.
Several chapters are new. There are many minor changes and omissions.
The lists have been enlarged and brought into one.
I had looked into the subject of library binding and discovered the
ignorance concerning it of American librarians, including myself,
before I visited Mr. Chivers' beautiful bindery in Bath, England,
several years ago. That visit had much to do with the contents of this
little book. Mr. Chivers was quite of my opinion that the only way to
induce librarians in America to improve our binding was to persuade
us to look into the subject. If the book has led some to do this it
has accomplished its purpose. As to the fundamental points in it, they
largely come, I am pleased to confess, from England, by way of that
bindery in Bath.
At the risk of seeming to speak to commercial ends I quote in effect
some of the things said by Mr. Chivers in one of his circulars,
prefacing the quotation with the remark that the point I wish chiefly
to make in this book is the advantage of having certain books, when
new, bound once for all:
"The following statement is not an exaggeration: A library saves
half the cost of new popular books, and of replacements for which
much use may be anticipated, if it purchases them in Cedric Chivers'
patent bindings. New books supplied in these bindings are sold as
being bound once for all. It is thought that they are so bound as
to serve for quite fifty per cent. more issues than will a book
purchased in publisher's cloth, used for a time, and then rebound in
the ordinary way. Generally speaking such results and even better
results are obtained. Occasionally, however, a book does not come up
to these expectations. In such cases it is especially desired that its
failure be reported and, if necessary, that the book be returned for
examination. The paper used in modern books is of such varying quality
that it is sometimes difficult to tell without actually trying what is
the best manner of treating it."
Buy books well bound direct from publishers' sheets; mend ordinary
books very little; rebind them early; watch results; tabulate them, and
make use of experience. These are the main themes of this book.
J. C. D.
Free Public Library,
Newark, N. J., May, 1909.
=Contents=
PAGE
Description of Frontispiece 4
Quotation from Naudé 9
Preface to Second and Revised Edition 11
Table of Contents 13
List of Illustrations 15
CHAPTER
I. Introductory 17
II. Binding: the Process Described 26
III. The Literary Side of Library Rebinding 36
IV. Binding Materials Suitable for a Library 41
V. Rebinding for Libraries 44
VI. Lettering and Numbering the Backs of Books 53
VII. Pamphlets 58
VIII. Magazine Binders 61
IX. Repairing Books, General Rules 68
X. Repairing Books, Newark Methods 74
XI. Repairing Books, Materials and Tools 86
XII. Covering Books 90
XIII. Leather, General Notes 93
XIV. Paper and Paper Making 101
XV. Binding Records 110
XVI. Binding Records and Notes--Newark 112
XVII. Bindery Equipment 115
XVIII. List of Technical Terms 119
XIX. List of Makers of and Dealers in Bookbinders'
Materials, Tools and Machinery 161
XX. A Few of the Best Books on Bookbinding,
Paper and Leather 163
Index 169
=List of Illustrations=
PAGE
Old Picture of Bindery and Tools _Frontispiece_
Sewing, Drawing Showing Four Methods 26
Sewing on Tapes 32
Method of Attaching Slips on Ends of Bands to Boards 34
Plates, Two Methods of Inserting Them 48
Method of Lacing in Slips on Ends of Bands 49
French and Ordinary Joints 50
Anatomy of a Joint 51
Type Faces Suitable for Lettering 55
Type Cabinet 56
Backing Boards, metal 121
Backing Boards, wood, steel-faced 121
Backing Hammer 122
Backing Press 123
Beating Hammer 124
Boards, brass-bound 125
Hand Wheel Drive Cutter 131
Finishing Presses 135
Finishing Stand 136
Lettering Pallet 149
Flat Polisher 151
Rounding Hammer 153
Sewing Bench 155
Standing Press of Wood and Iron 158
CHAPTER I
=Introductory=
As the title indicates these notes have been compiled in the hope that
they may be of assistance to librarians in caring for the binding and
rebinding of library books. They hardly touch upon publishers' binding
or the decoration of bindings. The suggestions and advice they give
should not be taken as final, for the binding and rebinding question
is not yet settled. They may help some to carry out more successfully
their own inquiries and experiments. If good binders were more common
librarians would need little of the information here briefly set forth.
But under the present conditions of the bookbinder's art in this
country librarians themselves must often furnish considerable expert
knowledge, if they wish their work well done.
I have refrained from going much into the details of the process of
binding. The details can only be made clear by means of illustrations,
and have already been most admirably set forth in Douglas Cockerell's
book. I have tried to draw attention to the important points. The
librarian ought to know good results when he sees them, or at least
when he tests them on his books; the details of every step he can learn
if he will, by a little practice and a good deal of observation. No
librarian should try to bind or to conduct personally his own bindery.
Binding is a special trade, and skill and speed in it come only by
long practice. The librarian cannot become a skilled binder. He should
become familiar with the results of the binding he gets by a study
of his books. If he finds they do not wear well, but rot, break or
show loose pages, let him keep a few statistics, and if he learns he
is wasting money on cheap work or poor material, let him change his
material and his processes, and perhaps his binder. I hope this book
may lead some to test the work they are now getting, and may help some
to get more satisfactory workmanship and more enduring materials. It
is not a guide to the craft of binding. To get good binding, go to a
good binder; to learn about the binding craft, practice it and read
Cockerell; to discover if your binding is good, watch it and gather
statistics of its wear.
Much of the information, many reports of experiences and many
suggestions will be found in the lists of leathers, etc., and
definitions of terms used in binding. It seemed unwise to repeat them
as part of a connected text.
In considering the subject of economical binding and rebinding for
libraries, we find that we are entirely without standards. We have no
figures for comparisons. Librarians have, save in a very few cases,
made no study of the comparative value of bindings, either of original
cloth or of the rebindings they have had put on their books. If a few
librarians would note the number of times books can be issued without
rebinding after they are received in the original publisher's cloth,
and how many issues they will stand after they have been once, or
twice, rebound, they would, in a few months, have data from which they
could draw helpful conclusions in regard to the comparative value of
bindings and rebindings.
The test of a binding, whether publisher's original, special from the
sheets, or a rebinding, lies, for ordinary lending books, in the ratio
of its cost to the number of times the book it covers is lent for home
use before being discarded. This ratio has rarely been systematically
noted.
To the inquiry, does the method of rebinding which my library now
employs give the best possible return for the money spent? most
librarians must reply that they do not know.
Reference and college libraries are often also much in the dark. The
continued quite general use for permanent bindings of a leather which
tests have shown will not last over 25 or 30 years at the most is an
evidence of this.
In England, as is well known, a good many years of careful observation
and comparison of experiments have led a large number of librarians to
the conclusion which some American librarians also accept, that it is
the part of sound economy to have books carefully bound directly from
publishers' sheets, even though the prices of such bindings seem at
first unduly high.
I sent a letter of inquiry to a large number of libraries asking for
detailed information about the wear of books in publishers' bindings
and in the one or more rebindings which were placed on them. Replies
were received from 18 libraries, giving brief life histories of 74
books. Definite conclusions cannot be drawn from these reports, as
librarians differ much in their ways of treating books. Some rebind
them as soon as they show serious signs of wear; others keep them in
circulation long after they have begun to go to pieces. But the figures
indicate that it would pay these libraries, as it probably would all
others, to get most of the books which are to be subjected to much
handling strongly bound direct from publishers' sheets.
The reports show that 74 books cost, including first price, rebinding
and labor of handling for rebinding, an average of $1.38 each; that
they were lent an average of 79 times in the two states, new and
rebound; and that they were out of use an average of five weeks while
being rebound. A book of a nature similar to those reported on,
well-bound from publishers' sheets costs about $1.50; can be lent from
100 to 150 times and loses no time in being rebound.
Of these books 52 were rebound a second time at an average cost,
including labor in preparation, of 40 cents; were out of use an average
of five weeks; and were lent an average of 43 times each in this second
binding. The complete history of the books a second time rebound is as
follows:
First cost .95
Cost of first rebinding .36
Cost of time in handling .07
Cost of second rebinding .33
Cost of time in handling .07
----
Total cost 1.78
Times lent in publishers' cloth 32
Times lent in first rebinding 47
Times lent in second rebinding 43
----
122
Time out of use first rebinding 5.5 weeks
Time out of use second rebinding 5.0 weeks
Total time out of use 10.5 weeks
These figures do not tell the whole story. The book bound strongly and
flexibly from publishers' sheets is from the first more convenient to
handle and pleasanter to read, and usually looks better throughout all
its one long life than do, on the average, those books which twice
or thrice in their histories get into a broken-backed, loose-leaved,
generally disreputable condition. Furthermore, and this is most
important, a book is most wanted in a library when it is new; if sent
out to be rebound for five and a half weeks after it has been lent 32
times it is out of use just when it is most in demand; and the library
loses in its effectiveness--that is, in the service it can render its
public for the money expended--much more than the mere difference in
the money cost of the two kinds of binding would indicate. The durable
first binding gives us a book which can be in constant service from 100
to 150 times from the day it goes to the shelves, just when it is most
needed. A book once or twice rebound in the first few months of its
life is a special source of annoyance--the paradox is permissible--by
its very absence.
Table of life histories:
[Transcriber's Note: The following text is the transcription of a
table whose column headings were written vertically.
Key to column headings:--
A: Library,
B: No. of books reported on,
C: First cost of books,
D: Times lent before rebinding,
E: Cost of rebinding,
F: Weeks out of use,
G: Cost of handling,
H: Times lent in rebinding,
I: Cost of 2nd rebinding,
J: Weeks out of use,
K: Cost of handling, and
L: Times lent in 2nd rebinding.]
-----+-----+------+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+---+-----+-----
A | B | C | D | E | F | G | H | I | J | K | L
-----+-----+------+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+---+-----+-----
1 | 9 | 9 00 | 30 | 4 50| 6 | | 40 | | | |
2 | 2 | 2 00 | 40 | 70| 8 | 20| 70 | | | |
3 | 5 | 3 25 | 19 | 2 50| 6 | 50| 23 | | | |
4 | 10 | 9 80 | 15 | 4 50| 4 | 60| 25 | 4 50| 8 | 60 | 32
5 | 1 | 1 00 | 28 | 35| 4 | 12| 50 | | | |
6 | 10 |10 00 | 28 | 2 50| 6 | 30| 31 | 2 50| 6 | 30 | 22
7 | 4 | 4 00 | 20 | 1 80| 4 | 40| 25 | 1 80| 4 | 40 | 15
8 | 1 | 1 00 | 70 | 54| 10 | 08| 100 | | | |
9 | 1 | 1 00 | 75 | 35| 10 | 08| 45 | 54|10 | 08 | 100
10 | 3 | 3 00 | 29 | 1 05| 2 | 30| 80 | 1 05| 2 | 30 | 115
11 | 1 | 99 | 37 | 40| 6 | 12| 36 | | | |
12 | 3 | 2 70 | 35 | 1 20| 6 | 36| 40 | | | |
13 | 1 | 96 | 18 | 35| 6 | 10| 64 | 35| 6 | 10 | 32
14 | 2 | 1 80 | 22 | 50| 5 | 16| 14 | 70| 5 | 16 | 14
15 | 4 | 2 72 | 19 | 1 40| 4 | 32| 19 | 1 40| 5 | 32 | 14
16 | 15 |15 00 | 45 | 3 75| 4 | 1 50| 60 | 3 75| 4 |1 50 | 50
17 | 1 | 1 00 | 15 | 25| 4 | 06| 60 | 15| 4 | 06 | 50
18 | 1 | 98 | 30 | 35| 4 | 08| 62 | 35| 4 | 08 | 28
-----+-----+------+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+---+-----+-----
Totals 74 |70 20 | 575 |26 99| 99 | 5 22| 844 |17 09|58 |3 84 | 472
Averages for | | | | | | | | |
each Book 95 | 32 | 36|5-1/2| 07| 47 | 33| 5 | 07 | 43
------------------+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+---+-----+-----
In the Newark library an examination of 56 books, chiefly novels, from
15 or 20 different publishers, shows that on the average they were lent
in publishers' binding only 25 times each before being rebound; and
that 42 books in the juvenile department were lent in the publishers'
binding an average of only 17 times each.
In bindings and rebindings one of the most essential things to be
secured is ease of opening. A book that opens out easily, and lies flat
without being pressed or held in position, will probably keep clean and
whole for more than twice as many lendings as one that is held together
tightly at the back. As a great many of the library books which call
for rebindings have to be trimmed at the back and overcast, it is
essential that the overcast sewing be of a flexible nature, one that
permits of the easy opening of the book. Probably few of the factors
in book construction and book injury have been more effective than the
tight binding, held open with difficulty, which is produced by nearly
all of the current overcasting or whipstitching.
Another point that cannot be too strongly insisted on is that books not
only differ from one another in their natures and so require different
treatment in binding; but also differ in the use they are to receive,
and require different bindings on that account.
It should be understood that bookbinding is a craft in the best sense
of that word. To bind a book well calls for good judgment and care
at every step. The librarian can draw up schedules with infinity
of detail, and make them as correct as he may please, basing them
on experience without end; and the binder, so far as material and
processes are concerned, may seem to follow these specifications
exactly, and still may produce poor bindings. To secure a good binding
the spirit of the binder must go into it. In drawing the thread, in
paring and placing the leather, in applying the paste and glue, and
in every other of the many processes involved, the man without good
will, as the man without skill, can spoil the whole binding. Librarians
should learn to esteem bookbinding highly. It is a craft which lies
close to them. It is preëminently their business to encourage it to
grow in excellence. They should develop their local binder's interest
in his calling, stand by him, urge him on to better work, and pay him
adequately for it.
One may frankly say that the character of binding done in nearly all
libraries in America has been, up to the present time, a discredit to
the library profession. We owe it to ourselves to take up this craft
and do what we can to elevate it.
One objection sometimes made to bindings of the highest grade is
that they last too long; and after the book is too greatly soiled
and tattered within to be longer kept, the binding itself still
holds, showing that more care has been put into its construction, and
consequently more cost, than it needed. The objection needs only to be
stated for its absurdity to be seen. The thorough binder, the skilled
craftsman, adapts his binding to the book and to the use, as far as he
can judge of it, which it is to receive.
He binds each book so well that it will hold together to the end of
time; or until its paper fairly drops to pieces. He can issue with each
volume no guarantee that it will not receive more than its proper
baptism of dirt from careless borrowers long before the paper in it
begins to give way and fray out. The binder's obligation is to bind the
book well. It is the librarian's business to see that the book is, as
to its interior, well treated. As to its binding lasting too long, why
should the librarian concern himself about the shell after the kernel
is eaten? It should be noted again, however, that a book well bound,
opening easily, and lying open without pressure from fingers or thumbs,
keeps clean many times longer than one that opens hard.
The sum of all my observations is, the best is the cheapest. If a
book is worth binding let it be bound by the best man available. If
possible, buy books so well bound from the publishers' sheets, that
they will never need to be bound again.