Rolls of papyrus, vellum or paper were written upon in three ways, (1)
In short lines, at right angles to the length of the roll. (2) In long
lines each the entire length of the roll. (3) In short lines parallel to
the length of the roll, each column or page of writing having a space
left on each side of it. Rolls written in the first of these ways were
simply rolled up and kept in cylinders of like shape, sometimes several
together, with a title tag at the end of each, in a box called a
scrinium. In the case of the second form, the most obvious instances of
which are to be found in the Buddhist prayer-wheels, the rolls were and
are kept in circular boxes with handles through the centres so that they
can revolve easily. In the third manner of arranging the manuscript the
page forms show very clearly, and it is still used in the scrolls of the
law in Jewish synagogues, kept on two rollers, one at each end. But this
form of writing also developed a new method for its own more convenient
preservation. A roll of this kind can be folded up, backwards and
forwards, the bend coming in the vacant spaces between the columns of
writing. When this is done it at once becomes a book, and takes the
Chinese and Japanese form known as _orihon_--all the writing on one side
of the roll or strip of paper and all the other side blank. Some books
of this kind are simply guarded by two boards, but generally they are
fastened together along one of the sides, which then becomes the back of
the book. The earliest fastening of such books consists of a lacing with
some cord or fibre run through holes stabbed right through the substance
of the roll, near the edge. Now the _orihon_ is complete, and it is the
link between the roll and the book. This "stabbed" form of binding is
the earliest method of keeping the leaves of a book together; it occurs
in the case of a Coptic papyrus of about the 8th century found at
Thebes, but it is rarely used in the case of papyrus, as the material is
too brittle to retain the threads properly.
The method of folding vellum into pages seems to have been first
followed about the 5th century. The sheets were folded once, and
gatherings of four or more folded sheets were made, so that stitches
through the fold at the back would hold all the sheets together and each
leaf could be conveniently turned over. Very soon an obvious plan of
fixing several of these gatherings, or quires, together was followed by
the simple expedient of fastening the threads at the back round a strong
strip of leather or vellum held at right angles to the line of the
backs. This early plan of "sewing" books is to-day used in the case of
valuable books; it is known as "flexible" work, and has never been
improved upon.
As soon as the method of sewing quires together in this way became well
understood, it was found that the projecting bands at the back needed
protection, so that when all the quires were joined together and, so
far, finished, strips of leather were fastened all over the back. But it
was also found that vellum leaves were apt to curl strongly, and to
counteract this tendency strong wooden boards were put on each side. The
loose ends of the bands were fastened to the boards, which hinged upon
them, and the protecting strip of leather at the back was drawn over the
boards far enough to cover the hinge. So we get the medieval
"half-binding" which shows the strip of leather over the back of the
book, projecting for a short way over the boards, the rest of which is
left uncovered. The boards were usually kept closed by means of clasps
in front.
The leather strip soon developed, and covered the whole of the boards,
"whole" binding as it is called, and it was quickly found that these
fine flat pieces of leather offered a splendid field for artistic
decoration.
Progress of artistic binding.
The first ornamentation on leather bindings was probably made by means
of impressions from small metal points or lines, pressed upon the
leather. This in time led to the purposeful cutting of small decorative
stamps to be used in the same way. It is considered that English binders
excelled in this art of "blind" stamping, that is, without the use of
gold leaf. Most of the stamps were cut intaglio, so that their
impressions are in cameo form. Such bindings were made to perfection
during the 12th and 13th centuries at Durham, Oxford, Cambridge, London
and other places. One of the most charming examples left is the binding
of the Winchester Domesday Book of the 12th century (Plate, fig. 1), now
belonging to the Society of Antiquaries of London.
From about the 7th to the 16th century illuminated manuscripts were held
in the greatest esteem. Among them can be found not only exquisite
calligraphy but exquisite miniature painting. Moreover, the gorgeousness
of the illuminations inside suggested gorgeousness of the outside
coverings, so we find splendid work in metals with jewels, enamels and
carved ivory, dating from the 7th-century _Gospels of Theodolinda_ at
Monza, the Irish cumdach of the _Stowe Missal_, the _Lindau Gospels_ now
in America, and the _Gospels of Charlemagne_ in the Victoria and Albert
Museum at South Kensington, to the magnificent bindings of 14th-century
Limoges enamel in the British Museum. Such English bindings of this
kind--intrinsically precious--as may have existed have all
disappeared,--most likely they were melted up by Henry VIII. or Edward
VI.; but at Stonyhurst there is a book known as _St Cuthbert's Gospels_,
which is bound in red leather with a repousse design upon it, and is
probably the work of the 7th or 8th century (Plate, fig. 2).
When printing was introduced into Europe about the middle of the 15th
century, there was very soon a reaction against the large, beautiful and
valuable illuminated MSS. and their equally precious covers. Printing
brought small books, cheap books, ugly books, generally bound in calf,
goatskin or sheepskin, and ornamented with large panel stamps in blind.
But a new art came into birth very shortly, namely the art of gold
tooling on leather, which in capable hands is almost a great art, and
specimens of the work of the few great masters that have practised it
are now much sought after and likely to increase in estimation and
value. All this, as usual, brings a school of skilled _faussaires_ into
the field, and already the collector of fine bindings must be wary, or
he may easily give thousands of pounds for forged or made-up objects
that are worth but little.
In the matter of leather bindings with gold tooling, an art which was
probably brought to Venice from the East, the finest examples are to be
found in late 15th-century Italian work. The art quickly spread, and
Thomas Berthelet, Royal Binder to Henry VIII., seems to have been the
first binder who practised it in England. Berthelet's work is strongly
Italian in feeling, especially at first, and it is likely that he was
taught the new art by an Italian master; he worked until about 1558.
During the late 15th and the 16th century in England, numbers of fine
printed books were bound in velvet and satin, sometimes set with
enamels, sometimes embroidered. These books, having strong threads of
metal freely used upon them, have lasted much better than would be
expected, and instances of such work made for Henry VIII. are still in
excellent condition, and most decorative.
The fashion of ornamenting English royal books with heraldic designs,
which is considered to have begun in the reign of Edward IV., has
continued without break. The same fashion in books belonging to private
owners was first followed during the later Tudor period, and then
numbers were made, and have been, more or less, ever since.
During the whole Tudor period several small bindings of gold ornamented
with enamels were made. Some of these still exist, and they are charming
little jewels. They were always provided with a ring at the top, no
doubt for attaching to the girdle.
Aldus Manutius, the great Venetian printer, had several of his books
charmingly bound in dark morocco with "Aldine" knot leaves and small
dolphins both in blind and gold tooling; and Giunta, a Florentine
printer, had his books bound in a similar way but without the dolphins.
Many early Venetian bindings have recessed panels, made by the use of
double boards, the upper of which is pierced, finished in true oriental
fashion.
Jean Grolier, viscount d'Aguisy, treasurer of France in 1545, was a
great collector of fine books, most of which were bound for himself, and
bear upon them his legend, _Portio mea domine sit in terra viventium_,
and also his name, Io Grolierii et Amicorum (Plate, fig. 3). Tommaso
Maioli, an Italian collector of about the same time, used the same form
of legend. Books bound for him are curiously marked with atoms of gold
remaining in the irregularities of the leather.
Demetrio Canevari, physician to Pope Urban VIII., had his books bound in
dark green or deep red morocco, and upon them is a fine cameo stamp with
a design of Apollo driving a chariot with one white horse and one black
horse towards a mountain on which is a silver Pegasus. The stamp was
coloured, but in most cases the colour has now worn off. Round the stamp
is the legend [Greek: ORTHOS KAI MAE LOXIOS].
The Italian bindings which were made for popes and cardinals are always
of much interest and often of high merit, but as a rule later Italian
bindings are disappointing.
Geoffrey Tory, printer and engraver to Francis I. of France, designed
some fine bindings, some for himself and quite possibly some for Jean
Grolier.
For Henry II. of France much highly decorative work in binding was done,
richly gilded and coloured. These bindings have upon them the king's
initials, the initials of his queen, Catherine de' Medici, and the
emblems of crescents and bows. Henry's device was a crescent with the
legend, _Donec impleat totum orbem_. Bindings of similar style were made
for Diane de Poitiers, duchesse de Valentinois, with her initials and
the same devices of crescents and bows. They are always fine work.
German bindings are mostly in pigskin, finely stamped in blind. Several
are, however, in calf. Gilding, when it exists, is generally bad.
In England during the 17th century much fine work was done in binding,
most of it in morocco, but Henry, prince of Wales, always had his books
bound in calf. The Jacobean style is heraldic, with semis of small
stamps and heavy corners, but James I. has left some very fine bindings
in another style (Plate, fig. 4), very possibly done for him by John
Gibson, who bound the royal books while James was king of Scotland only.
During the reign of Charles I. Nicholas Ferrar founded his curious
establishment at Little Gidding, and there his niece Mary Collet and her
sisters set up a bindery. They made large scrap-books, harmonies of the
Gospels and other parts of the Bible, with illustrations, and bound them
magnificently in velvet stamped in gold and silver. They were taught by
a binder who worked for John and Thomas Buck, printers to the university
of Cambridge, and the Little Gidding stamps are often identical with
Buck's.
Samuel Mearne (d. 1683) was royal binder to Charles II., and invented
the cottage style of decoration, a style which has lasted till the
present day; the Bible on which Edward VII. took the coronation oath was
ornamented in that way. An inner rectangle is run parallel to the edges
of the book, and the upper and lower lines are broken outwards into the
outline of a gable roof. Mearne's work as a binder (Plate, fig. 5) is of
the highest merit. Many of his books have their fore-edge painted in
such a way that the work is invisible when the book is shut, and only
shows when the edges are fanned out.
In France 16th- and 17th-century binding is distinguished by the work of
such masters as Nicholas Eve, who bound the beautiful _Livre des Statuts
et Ordonnances de l'ordre du Benvist Sainct Esprit_ for Henry III.
(Plate, fig. 6); Clovis Eve, who is credited with the invention of the
style known as "fanfare," a delicate tracery over the boards of a book,
filled out with spirals of leafy stems; and Le Gascon, who invented the
dotted work which has been used more or less ever since. Le Gascon
caused his small gilding tools--curves and arabesques--to be scored
across, so that when impressions were made from them a dotted line
showed instead of a right line. Florimond Badier worked in a style very
similar to that of Le Gascon and sometimes signed his work, which Le
Gascon never did. Le Gascon had many imitators, the best and closest
being Poncyn and Magnus, Dutch binders who worked at Amsterdam in the
17th century, and his style has been continuously followed to the
present day.
The bindings of Padeloup le Jeune often have small tickets with his name
upon them; they usually have borders of lace-like gold tooling known as
"dentelle" and are often inlaid. He belonged to a family of binders, all
of whom were excellent workmen, and lived in the 17th and 18th
centuries.
The Deromes were another of the great French families of binders; the
most celebrated was Nicholas Denis, called "Le Jeune," born in 1731. He
used dentelle borders resembling those of Padeloup, but with little
birds interspersed among the arabesques--"dentelles a l'oiseau."
Among the many French binders of the 18th century who used delicate
inlays of coloured leathers, Jean Charles le Monnier was perhaps the
most skilled. He often signed his bindings in small capitals impressed
in gold somewhere about the inlaid part.
Eliot and Chapman bound the library of Robert Harley, earl of Oxford,
about the middle of the 18th century. The bindings are in morocco, with
broad, richly gold-tooled borders, and usually a diamond-shaped
centre-piece. This is known as the Harleian style.
Thomas Hollis had his books bound in fine red morocco, ornamented with
small, well-cut stamps engraved by Thomas Pingo, the medallist. These
stamps comprise a cap of liberty, a figure of liberty, a figure of
Britannia and several smaller ones.
Towards the end of the 18th century, when binding in England was
decoratively at a low level, Roger Payne, a native of Windsor, came to
London and set up as a bookbinder. He was a splendid workman, and
introduced richly gold-tooled corner-pieces, ornamental "doublures" or
inside linings, and also invented the graining of morocco, graining it,
however, in one direction only, known as the "straight grain." It is
said that Payne cut his own binding tools of iron; they certainly are
exquisitely made, and in many of his bindings he has put a written
description of loving work he has done upon them. Payne was,
unfortunately, a drunkard, but he has in spite of this rendered an
immortal service to the art of bookbinding in England.
In 1785 John Edwards of Halifax patented a method of making vellum
transparent, and using it as a covering over delicate paintings. He also
painted pictures on the fore-edges of many of his books in the same
manner as that followed by Samuel Mearne in the 17th century, so that
they did not show until the book was opened. John Whitaker used calf for
his bindings, but ornamented the calf in a curious way with strong acids
and with prints from engraved metal plates. Both Edwards and Whitaker
liked classical borders and ornaments, and their bindings are in
consequence often known as "Etruscan."
The main styles used in England at the beginning of the 19th century
were nothing more than distant imitations of Roger Payne. Kalthoeber,
Staggemeier, Walther and Hering were all disciples of this master, but
Charles Lewis worked on original lines. He developed arabesques and paid
particular attention to richly gold-tooled doublures. He also used gold
end papers, and the bands at the back of his bindings are often double
and always broad, flat and gold-tooled. His workmanship is excellent; he
worked largely for Thomas Grenville and other great collectors.
French binding of the 19th century is remarkable for wonderful technical
excellence in every part. Among the most skilled of these admirable
workmen and artists may be particularly mentioned Thouvenin, Bauzonnet,
Lortic, Niedree, Cape and Duru, and fortunately they generally sign
their work in small gold lettering either on the back of their bindings
or inside along the lower edge.
Modern methods.
Recent years have witnessed a marked revival of interest in the art of
bookbinding, but modern binders have two serious difficulties to contend
with. One of these is the prevalence of bad paper, overladen with clay
and with wood pulp, and also the fact that many of the modern leathers
are badly prepared and dangerously treated with sulphuric acid, which in
time inevitably rots the fibre. The Society of Arts has appointed
committees of experts to report upon both of these evils, and the
published accounts of both inquiries are of much value, and it is to be
hoped that the results may be beneficial. Concurrently with the revival
of the artistic side of the subject, there has also arisen a remarkable
development in the technical processes, owing to the invention of
ingenious and delicate machinery which is capable of executing the work
which had hitherto been always laboriously done by hand. The processes
of folding the printed sheets, and sewing them together on bands,
rounding the backs when sewn, and of making the outer cases, covering
them with cloth or leather and stamping designs upon them, can now all
be efficiently executed by means of machines. The saving in time and
labour thus effected is very great, although it must be said that the
old methods of carrying out the process of sewing and rounding the backs
of books by hand labour were safer and stronger, as well as being much
less liable to bruise and injure the paper. These processes
unfortunately are not only slow but also necessitate highly skilled
labour. Already the larger trade binders utilize machines extensively
and advantageously, but exclusively high-class trade binders do not as
yet materially depart from the older methods. Private binders have
naturally no reason to use machines at all. Fine and delicate examples
of large metal blocks or dies have been very successfully used for the
decoration of covers measuring about 11-1/2 by 8 in.
Besides the large trade binders working mainly by the help of machinery,
and producing a great quantity of bound work which is not expected to
last long, there also exists in London, Paris, New York and other large
cities, a small class of art binders who work throughout upon the
principles which have been continuously in use for first-class work ever
since about the 5th century. The initial impetus to this school can be
traced to William Morris, who himself made some beautiful designs for
bookbindings, to be executed both in gold and in blind. Although he
probably did not fully appreciate either the peculiar limitations or the
possibilities of the art of gold-tooling on leather, nevertheless his
genius guided him truly as to the spirit in which the designs should be
conceived. The revived art soon reached its first stage of development
under the guidance of Mr T.J. Cobden-Sanderson, who may fairly be
considered as the founder of the modern school of design for
gold-tooling on book-covers, the pre-eminence and individuality of his
work in this direction being proved by the number of his imitators.
Among the most successful of his pupils is Mr Douglas Cockerell, whose
work (Plate, fig. 7) is distinguished by a marked originality of
treatment, while it shows a scholarly appreciation of ancient methods.
Mr Alfred de Sauty has succeeded in developing a new and admirable style
in inlaid leathers, combined with delicate pointille work. A number of
women artists, both in England and in America, have already discovered
in bookbinding a fitting and lucrative field for their energies. One,
Miss Sarah Prideaux, is not only skilled and original in her own work,
but she has also given us much valuable literature on her subject. Miss
E.M. MacColl may claim to be the inventor of the small curved gold line
produced by means of a tiny wheel, for though the possibility of
producing such a line in blind was known for a long time, it was rarely
used. The graceful curves and lines found on Miss MacColl's work have
been designed for her by her brother, Mr D.S. MacColl (Plate, fig. 8).
Miss Joanna Birkenruth recalls the highly decorative medieval binding by
her use of jewels cut _en cabochon_, but set in morocco instead of gold
or silver, and there are many others who are working well and earnestly
at art binding with delicate skill and taste. Outside the inner circle
of professional bookbinders there has grown up a new profession, that of
the designer for pictorial book-covers, especially those intended to be
shown in colour on cloth or paper. Among notable designers may be
mentioned Lewis F. Day, A.A. Turbayne, Walter Crane and Charles
Ricketts.
[Illustration: FIG. 9.--Book-sewing Machine.]
_Machine-binding._--The principal types of machine for commercial
binding are described below. They are almost all due to American or
German ingenuity. It may be noted that, while books sewn by hand on
bands have the loose ends of the bands actually drawn through the
boards and strongly fastened to them through their substance, no
machines for covering sewn books will do this so effectively. All they
will do as a rule is to paste down to the inner surfaces of the boards
the loose ends of the tapes on which the sewing is done. So that,
although it may last a long time if not much used, a "cased" book is
likely to slip out of its cover as soon as the paste fixing it
perishes. Modern bookbinding machines of all kinds are usually driven
by power, and in consequence of the necessary setting of most of them
accurately to some particular size of book, they are not suitable for
binding books of different sizes; the full advantage of them can only
be taken where there is a large edition of one book.
Sewing.
Book-sewing machines (fig. 9) are of two kinds one sews the books on
bands, either flat or round, and the other supplies the place of bands
by a kind of chain stitch. The band-working machines bring the return
thread back by pulling it through the upper and lower edges of the
back of each section, thereby to some extent weakening each section,
but at the same time this weakening can be to some extent neutralized
by careful head-banding. The other system, where the band is replaced
by a chain stitch, brings back the return thread inside each section;
the objection to this is that there is a flattening out of the back of
the book, which becomes a difficulty when the subsequent operation of
covering the book begins. The sections are sewn continuously in a long
line, and are afterwards cut apart. The threads catch into hooked
needles and are drawn through holes made by piercers set to a certain
distance; a shuttle like that used in an ordinary sewing-machine sews
the inner thread backwards and forwards. Each section is placed upon a
sort of metal saddle by the hand of the operator, one after the other,
the machine working continuously unless the action is cut off or
controlled by a foot-lever or pedal. This machine is much quieter to
work, and although the inner threads are too bulky to be quite
satisfactory, this is not a serious matter like the cutting of the
upper and lower edges of the back already described, and, moreover, is
probably capable of being either improved away or so minimized that it
will become of small importance.
The Martini book-sewing machine, which sews books on tape without
cutting up head or tail--a most important improvement--and also forms
complete Kettle stitches, will sew books of any size up to 18 in. The
needles are straight, and the necessary adjustments for various sizes
of books are very simple.
Rounding and backing.
The machine for rounding and backing sewn books requires a rather
elaborate and very careful setting of several parts to the exact
requirement of each size to be worked. The sewn book with the back
glued is caught in a clip and forced between two tight rollers, the
result being that the hitherto flat back is automatically turned into
a rounded shape (figs. 10 and 11). The book is then drawn forward, by
a continuance of the onward movement, until it reaches the rounding
plate, which is a block of steel with a polished groove a little
larger than the size required. This rounding plate moves within a
small arc by means of heavy counter-weights, and on the back of the
book being strongly pressed against it, it receives the permanent form
of the groove cut in it, at the same time a strong grip on each side
of the book causes the ledge to rise up along each outer edge of the
back. This ledge it is which enables the boards to be subsequently
fixed in such a way as to hinge on a line outside the actual and
natural boundary of the book. Before the discovery of the possibility
of producing this ledge, the boards of books hinged upon a line
coincident with the inner edges of the back, the result of which was
that when the book was opened there was an invariable tendency to open
and pull away the few outer sections of the paper or vellum itself--a
destructive and disagreeable peculiarity. These machines are capable,
after they are properly set, of rounding and backing about 750 volumes
of the same size within an hour.
[Illustration: FIG. 10.--Section of back of book sewn on bands.]
[Illustration: FIG. 11.--Section of same book after it has passed
through the machine for rounding and backing.]
[Illustration: FIG. 12.--Case-making Machine.]
The machine for making cases, or "case" covers (fig. 12), for books is
large and complicated, but beautifully effective. It contains
altogether over fifty springs, some of which are very small, like
watch fittings, while others are large and powerful. The machine is
fed with pieces of cardboard cut exactly to the sizes of the required
boards, other pieces cut to the size of the back, and a long roll of
the cloth with which the cases are to be covered, and when set working
the roll of cloth is gradually unwound and glued by contact with a
roller, which is drawn along until it reaches a point where the two
boards are ingeniously dropped upon it one by one, then on again to
where a long arm swings backwards and forwards, at each movement
picking up a piece of cardboard for the back and placing it gently
exactly upon the glued bed left for it between the two boards already
fixed. Next, as the cloth passes along, it comes under the sharp
influence of two rectangular gouges which cut out the corners, the
remaining side pieces being gradually but irresistibly turned up by
hollow raisers and flattened down by small rollers, a very delicate
piece of machinery finishing the corners in a masterly way. Then,
lastly, an arrangement of raisers and rollers acting at right angles
to the last mentioned turn over and press out the remaining pieces of
cloth. Of course each piece of cloth is cut across at the proper point
before the turning up begins. This machine is capable of producing
1200 cases in an hour of any size that the machine will take.
[Illustration: FIG. 13.--Smyth Casing-in Machine.
A. Cases.
B. Side of Case Hopper.
C. Paste box.
D. Head Clamp Rod.
E. Head Clamp.
1. 1st position.
2. 2nd position.
3. 3rd position and finished book. When in 2nd position the book
drops to level of paste box.]
The Smyth casing-in machine (fig. 13) pastes the sides of a book as
required and then attaches the cover over all. Cleverly arranged
rollers catch the book, and by a carefully regulated pressure fix the
cover in the proper position. There is a "jointing-in" device which at
a critical moment forces the joints in the cover into the joints in
the book. It will work books from 4 to 22 in. in length and from 1/4
to 3 in. in thickness, and can cover from 10 to 15 books per minute.
Here may also be mentioned the Sheridan wrappering machine, which
covers magazines and pamphlets ranging from 5 to 12 in. in length at
the rate of 40 a minute.
Wiring.
Wiring is a cheap method of keeping together thin parts of periodicals
or tracts. The machine that executes it is simple in construction and
use. It drives a short wire pin, bent at right angles at each end,
through the folds of the sections of a book or through the entire
thickness, sideways, after the manner of stabbing. The projecting
ends, when through the substance of the paper, are bent over and
flattened so as to grip firmly. The metal used for these pins was at
first very liable to rust, and consequently did much damage to the
paper near it, but this defect has now been largely remedied. At the
same time the principle of using hard metal wire instead of flexible
hempen thread is essentially vicious, and should only be used as a
temporary expedient for publications of little value.
Blocking.
The machines (fig. 14) now used for blocking designs upon book-covers
are practically the same as have been employed for many years. Several
small improvements have been introduced as to better inking of the
rollers for colour work, and better heating of the blocks used for
gold work. A blocking press is now, in consequence of the size of many
of the blocks, a large and cumbersome machine. The block itself is
fixed firmly in a strong metal bed, and a movable table in front of it
is fitted with gauges which keep the cover exactly in its right place.
For gold work the block is kept at the proper temperature by means of
gas jets, and the cover being properly overlaid with gold leaf is
passed, on its table, directly under the block and then pressed
steadily upwards against it, lowered, drawn out, and the superfluous
gold rubbed off. The same process is followed in the case of colour
blocks, only now the block need not be heated, but is inked by means
of a roller for each impression. A separate printing is necessary for
each colour. These printings always require great care on the part of
the operator, who has to watch the working of each pull very
carefully, and if any readjustment is wanted, to make it at once, so
that it is difficult to estimate at what rate they can be made. In the
matter of gold blocking there must be great care exercised in the
matter of the heat of the block, for if it is too hot the gold will
adhere where it is not wanted, and if too cool it will not adhere
where it is required. Great nicety is also necessary as to the exact
pressure required as well as the precise number of moments during
which the block should be in contact with the gold, which is fastened
to the cloth or leather by means of the solidification by heat of egg
albumen. Blocking presses are mainly of German make, but Scottish and
English presses are also largely used.
[Illustration: FIG. 14.--Blocking Machine.]
AUTHORITIES.--See the _Anglo-Saxon Review_ (1899-1901); C.J.
Davenport, _Royal English Bookbindings_ (1896), _Cantor Lectures on
Bookbinding_ (1898), _English Embroidered Bookbindings_ (1899), _Life
of Thomas Berthelet_ (1901), _Life of Samuel Mearne_ (1906); W.Y.
Fletcher, _English Bookbindings in the British Museum_ (1895),
_Foreign Bookbindings in the British Museum_ (1896); L. Gruel, _Manuel
de l'amateur de relieures_ (1887); H.P. Horne, _The Binding of Books_
(1894); S.T. Prideaux, _Historical Sketch of Bookbinding_ (1893); E.
Thoinan, _Les Relieurs francais_ (1893); O. Uzanne, _La Relieure
moderne_ (1887); H.B. Wheatley, _Remarkable Bindings in the British
Museum_ (1889); J.W. Zaehnsdorf, _The Art of Bookbinding_ (1880).
(C. D.)
BOOKCASE, an article of furniture, forming a shelved receptacle, usually
perpendicular or horizontal, for the storage of books. When books, being
written by hand, were excessively scarce, they were kept in small
coffers which the great carried about with them on their journeys. As
manuscript volumes accumulated in the religious houses or in regal
palaces, they were stored upon shelves or in cupboards, and it is from
these cupboards that the bookcase of to-day directly descends. At a
somewhat later date the doors were, for convenience' sake, discarded,
and the evolution of the bookcase made one step forward. Even then,
however, the volumes were not arranged in the modern fashion. They were
either placed in piles upon their sides, or if upright, were ranged with
their backs to the wall and their edges outwards. The band of leather,
vellum or parchment which closed the book was often used for the
inscription of the title, which was thus on the fore-edge instead of on
the back. It was not until the invention of printing had greatly
cheapened books that it became the practice to write the title on the
back and place the edges inwards. Early bookcases were usually of oak,
which is still deemed to be the most appropriate wood for a stately
library. The oldest bookcases in England are those in the Bodleian
library at Oxford, which were placed in position in the last year or two
of the 16th century; in that library are the earliest extant examples of
shelved galleries over the flat wall-cases. Long ranges of book-shelves
are necessarily somewhat severe in appearance, and many attempts have
been made by means of carved cornices and pilasters to give them a more
_riant_ appearance--attempts which were never so successful as in the
hands of the great English cabinet-makers of the second half of the 18th
century.
Both Chippendale and Sheraton made or designed great numbers of
bookcases, mostly glazed with little lozenges encased in fret-work
frames often of great charm and elegance. The alluring grace of some of
Sheraton's satinwood bookcases has very rarely indeed been equalled. The
French cabinet-makers of the same period were also highly successful
with small ornamental cases. Mahogany, rosewood, satinwood and even
choicer exotic timbers were used; they were often inlaid with
marqueterie and mounted with chased and gilded bronze. Dwarf bookcases
were frequently finished with a slab of choice marble at the top. In the
great public libraries of the 20th century the bookcases are often of
iron, as in the British Museum where the shelves are covered with
cowhide, of steel, as in the library of Congress at Washington, or of
slate, as in the Fitzwilliam library at Cambridge. There are three
systems of arranging bookcases--flat against the wall; in "stacks" or
ranges parallel to each other with merely enough space between to allow
of the passage of a librarian; or in bays or alcoves where cases jut out
into the room at right angles to the wall-cases. The stack system is
suitable only for public libraries where economy of space is essential;
the bay system is not only handsome but utilizes the space to great
advantage. The library of the city of London at the Guildhall is a
peculiarly effective example of the bay arrangement.
The whole question of the construction and arrangement of bookcases
was learnedly discussed in the light of experience by W.E. Gladstone
in the Nineteenth Century for March 1890. (J. P.-B.)
BOOK-COLLECTING, the bringing together of books which in their contents,
their form or the history of the individual copy possess some element of
permanent interest, and either actually or prospectively are rare, in
the sense of being difficult to procure. This qualification of rarity,
which figures much too largely in the popular view of book-collecting,
is entirely subordinate to that of interest, for the rarity of a book
devoid of interest is a matter of no concern. On the other hand so long
as a book (or anything else) is and appears likely to continue to be
easily procurable at any moment, no one has any reason for collecting
it. The anticipation that it will always be easily procurable is often
unfounded; but so long as the anticipation exists it restrains
collecting, with the result that Horn-books are much rarer than First
Folio Shakespeares. It has even been laid down that the ultimate rarity
of books varies in the inverse ratio of the number of copies originally
printed, and though the generalization is a little sweeping, it is not
far from the truth. To triumph over small difficulties being the chief
element in games of skill, the different varieties of book-collecting,
which offer almost as many varieties of grades of difficulty, make
excellent hobbies. But in its essence the pastime of a book-collector is
identical with the official work of the curator of a museum, and thus
also with one branch of the duties of the librarian of any library of
respectable age. In its inception every library is a literary workshop,
with more or less of a garden or recreation ground attached according as
its managers are influenced by the humanities or by a narrow conception
of utility. As the library grows, the books and editions which have been
the tools of one generation pass out of use; and it becomes largely a
depository or storehouse of a stock much of which is dead. But from out
of this seemingly dead stock preserved at haphazard, critics and
antiquaries gradually pick out books which they find to be still alive.
Of some of these the interest cannot be reproduced in its entirety by
any mere reprint, and it is this salvage which forms the literary
museum. Book-collectors are privileged to leap at once to this stage in
their relations with books, using the dealers' shops and catalogues as
depositories from which to pick the books which will best fit with the
aim or central idea of their collection. For in the modern private
collection, as in the modern museum, the need for a central idea must be
fully recognized. Neither the collector nor the curator can be content
to keep a mere curiosity-shop. It is the collector's business to
illustrate his central idea by his choice of examples, by the care with
which he describes them and the skill with which they are arranged. In
all these matters many amateurs rival, if they do not outstrip, the
professional curators and librarians, and not seldom their collections
are made with a view to their ultimate transference to public ownership.
In any case it is by the zeal of collectors that books which otherwise
would have perished from neglect are discovered, cared for and
preserved, and those who achieve these results certainly deserve well of
the community.
History.
Whenever a high degree of civilization has been attained book-lovers
have multiplied, and to the student with his modest desire to read his
favourite author in a well-written or well-printed copy there has been
added a class of owners suspected of caring more for the externals of
books than for the enjoyment to be obtained by reading them. But
although adumbrations of it existed under the Roman empire and towards
the end of the middle ages, book-collecting, as it is now understood, is
essentially of modern growth. A glance through what must be regarded as
the medieval text-book on the love of books, the _Philobiblon_,
attributed to Richard de Bury (written in 1345), shows that it deals
almost exclusively with the delights of literature, and Sebastian
Brant's attack on the book-fool, written a century and a half later,
demonstrates nothing more than that the possession of books is a poor
substitute for learning. This is so obviously true that before
book-collecting in the modern sense can begin it is essential that there
should be no lack of books to read, just as until cups and saucers
became plentiful there was no room for the collector of old china. Even
when the invention of printing had reduced the cost of books by some
80%, book-collectors did not immediately appear. There is a natural
temptation to imagine that the early book-owners, whose libraries have
enriched modern collectors with some of their best-known treasures, must
necessarily have been collectors themselves. This is far from being the
case. Hardly a book of all that Jean Grolier (1479-1565) caused to be
bound so tastefully for himself and his friends reveals any antiquarian
instincts in its liberal owner, who bought partly to encourage the best
printers of his day, partly to provide his friends with the most recent
fruits of Renaissance scholarship. In England Archbishop Cranmer, Lords
Arundel and Lumley, and Henry, prince of Wales (1594-1612), in France
the famous historian Jacques Auguste de Thou (1553-1617), brought
together the best books of their day in all departments of learned
literature, put them into handsome leather jackets, and enriched them
with their coats of arms, heraldic badges or other marks of possession.
But they brought their books together for use and study, to be read by
themselves and by the scholars who frequented their houses, and no
evidence has been produced that they appreciated what a collector might
now call the points of a book other than its fine condition and literary
or informational merits. Again, not a few other more or less famous men
have been dubbed collectors on the score of a scanty shelf-full of
volumes known to have been stamped with their arms. Collecting, as
distinct both from the formation of working libraries and from casual
ownership of this latter kind, may perhaps be said to have begun in
England at the time of the antiquarian reaction produced by the
book-massacres when the monasteries were dissolved by Henry VIII., and
the university and college libraries and the parish service books were
plundered and stript by the commissioners of Edward VI. To rescue good
books from perishing is one of the main objects of book-collecting, and
when Archbishop Parker and Sir Robert Cotton set to work to gather what
they could of the scattered records of English statecraft and
literature, and of the decorative art bestowed so lavishly on the books
of public and private devotion, they were book-collectors in a sense and
on a scale to which few of their modern imitators can pretend. Men of
more slender purses, and armed with none of Archbishop Parker's special
powers, worked according to their ability on similar lines. Humphrey
Dyson, an Elizabethan notary, who collected contemporary proclamations
and books from the early English presses, and George Thomason (d. 1666),
the bookseller who bought, stored and catalogued all the pamphlet
literature of the Civil War, were mindful of the future historians of
the days in which they lived. By the end of the 17th century
book-collecting was in full swing all over Europe, and much of its
apparatus had come into existence. In 1676 book auctions were introduced
into England from Holland, and soon we can trace in priced catalogues
the beginning of a taste for Caxtons, and the books prized by collectors
slowly fought their way up from amid the heavy volumes of theology by
which they were at first overwhelmed.
While book-collecting thus came into existence it was rather as an added
grace in the formation of a fine library than as a separate pursuit.
Almost all the large book-buyers of the 16th, 17th and 18th centuries
bought with a public object, or were rewarded for their zeal by their
treasures being thought worthy of a public resting-place. Sir Thomas
Smith (d. 1577) bequeathed his books to Queens' College, Cambridge;
Archbishop Parker's were left under severe restrictions to Corpus
Christi College in the same university; Sir Thomas Bodley refounded
during his lifetime the university library at Oxford, to which also Laud
gave liberally and Selden bequeathed his books. The library of
Archbishop Williams went to St John's College, Cambridge; that of
Archbishop Usher was bought for Trinity College, Dublin. The
mathematical and scientific books of Thomas Howard, earl of Norfolk (d.
1646), were given by his grandson to the Royal Society; the heraldic
collections of Ralph Sheldon (d. 1684) to Heralds' College; the library
in which Pepys took so much pleasure to Magdalene College, Cambridge.
Bishop Moore's books, including a little volume of Caxton quartos,
almost all unique, were bought by George I. and presented to the
university library at Cambridge. Archbishop Marsh, who had previously
bought Stillingfleet's printed books (his manuscripts went to Oxford),
founded a library at Dublin. The immense accumulations of Thomas
Rawlinson (d. 1725) provided materials for a series of auctions, and
Harley's printed books were sold to Osbourne the bookseller. But the
trend was all towards public ownership. While Richard Rawlinson (d.
1755) allowed his brother's books to be sold, the best of his own were
bequeathed to Oxford, and the Harleian MSS. were offered to the nation
at a sum far below their value. A similar offer of the great collections
formed by Sir Hans Sloane, including some 50,000 printed books, together
with the need for taking better care of what remained of the Cotton
manuscripts, vested in trustees for public use in 1702 and partially
destroyed by fire in 1731, led to the foundation of the British Museum
in 1753, and this on its opening in 1757 was almost immediately enriched
by George II.'s gift of the old royal library, formed by the kings and
queens of England from Henry VII. to Charles II., and by Henry, prince
of Wales, son of James I., who had bought the books belonging to
Archbishop Cranmer and Lords Arundel and Lumley. A few notable
book-buyers could not afford to bequeath their treasures to libraries,
e.g. Richard Smith, the secondary of the Poultry Compter (d. 1675), at
whose book-sale (1682) a dozen Caxtons sold for from 2 S. to 18 S.
apiece, Dr Francis Bernard (d. 1698), Narcissus Luttrell(d. 1732) and Dr
Richard Mead (d. 1754). At the opposite end of the scale, in the earls
of Sunderland (d. 1722) and Pembroke (d. 1733), we have early examples
of the attempts, seldom successful, of book-loving peers to make their
libraries into permanent heirlooms. But as has been said, the drift up
to 1760 was all towards public ownership, and the libraries were for the
most part general in character, though the interest in typographical
antiquities was already well marked.
When George III. came to the throne he found himself bookless, and the
magnificent library of over 80,000 books and pamphlets and 440
manuscripts which he accumulated shows on a large scale the catholic and
literary spirit of the book-lovers of his day. As befitted the library
of an English king it was rich in English classics as well as in those
of Greece and Rome, and the typographical first-fruits of Mainz, Rome
and Venice were balanced by numerous works from the first presses of
Westminster, London and Oxford. This noble library passed in 1823 to the
British Museum, which had already received the much smaller but
carefully chosen collection of the Rev. C.M. Cracherode (d. 1799), and
in 1846 was further enriched by the wonderful library formed by Thomas
Grenville, the last of its great book-loving benefactors, who died in
that year, aged ninety-one. A few less wealthy men had kept up the old
public-spirited tradition during George III.'s reign, Garrick
bequeathing his fine collection of English plays and Sir Joseph Banks
his natural history books to the British Museum, while Capell's
Shakespearian treasures enriched Trinity College, Cambridge, and those
of Malone went to the Bodleian library at Oxford, the formation of these
special collections, in place of the large general library with a
sprinkling of rarities, being in itself worth noting. But the noble
book-buyers celebrated by the Rev. Thomas Frognall Dibdin in his
numerous bibliographical works kept mainly on the old lines, though with
aims less patriotic than their predecessors. The duke of Roxburghe's
books were sold in 1812, and the excitement produced by the auction,
more especially by the competition between Lord Spencer and the duke of
Marlborough (at that time marquess of Blandford) for an edition of
Boccaccio printed by Valdarfer at Venice in 1471, led to the formation
of the Roxburghe Club at a commemorative dinner. In 1819 the duke of
Marlborough's books were sold, and the Boccaccio for which he had paid
L2260 went to Earl Spencer (d. 1834) for L750, to pass with the rest of
his rare books to Mrs Rylands in 1892, and by her gift to the John
Rylands library at Manchester in 1899. The books of Sir M.M. Sykes were
sold in 1824, those of J.B. Inglis in 1826 (after which he collected
again) and those of George Hibbert in 1829. The 150,000 volumes brought
together by Richard Heber at an expense of about L100,000 were disposed
of by successive sales during the years 1834-1837 and realized not much
more than half their cost. The wonderful library of William Beckford (d.
1844), especially rich in fine bindings, bequeathed to his daughter, the
duchess of Hamilton, was sold in 1882, with the Hamilton manuscripts,
for the most part to the German government. Their dispersal was preceded
in 1881 by that of the Sunderland collection, already mentioned. The
library of Brian Fairfax (d. 1749), which had passed to the earls of
Jersey, was sold in 1885, that of Sir John Thorold (d. 1815) in 1884,
his "Gutenberg" Bible fetching L3900 and his Mainz Psalter L4950. The
great collection of manuscripts formed by Sir Thomas Phillipps (d. 1872)
has furnished materials for numerous sales. The printed books of the
earl of Ashburnham (d. 1878) kept the auctioneers busy in 1897 and 1898;
his manuscripts were sold, some to the British government (the Stowe
collection shared between the British Museum and Dublin), the German
government (part of the Libri and Barrois collection, all, save one MS.
of 13th century German ballads, resold to France), the Italian
government (the rest of the Libri collection) Mr Yates Thompson (the
MSS. known as the Appendix) and Mr J. Pierpont Morgan (the Lindau
Gospels). The collections formed by Mr W.H. Miller (d. 1848, mainly
English poetry), the duke of Devonshire (d. 1858) and Mr Henry Huth (d.
1878), are still intact.
Among the book-buyers of the reign of George III., John Ratcliffe, an
ex-coal-merchant, and James West had devoted themselves specially to
Caxtons (of which the former possessed 48 and the latter 34) and the
products of other early English presses. The collections of Capell and
Garrick were also small and homogeneous. Each section, moreover, of some
of the great libraries that have just been enumerated might fairly be
considered a collection in itself, the union of several collections in
the same library being made possible by the wealth of their purchaser
and the small prices fetched by most classes of books in comparison with
those which are now paid. But perhaps the modern cabinet theory of
book-collecting was first carried out with conspicuous skill by Henry
Perkins (d. 1855), whose 865 fine manuscripts and specimens of early
printing, when sold in 1870, realized nearly L26,000. If surrounded by a
sufficient quantity of general literature the collection might not have
seemed noticeably different from some of those already mentioned, but
the growing cost of books, together with difficulties as to house-room,
combined to discourage miscellaneous buying on a large scale, and what
has been called the "cabinet" theory of collecting, so well carried out
by Henry Perkins, became increasingly popular among book buyers, alike
in France, England and the United States of America. Henri Beraldi, in
his catalogue of his own collection (printed 1892), has described how in
France a little band of book-loving amateurs grew up who laughed at the
_bibliophile de la vieille roche_ as they disrespectfully called their
predecessors, and prided themselves on the unity and compactness of
their own treasures. In place of the miscellaneous library in which
every class of book claimed to be represented, and which needed a
special room or gallery to house it, they aimed at small collections
which should epitomize the owner's tastes and require nothing bulkier
than a neat bookcase or cabinet to hold them. The French bibliophiles
whom M. Beraldi celebrated applied this theory with great success to
collecting the dainty French illustrated books of the 18th century which
were their especial favourites. In England Richard Fisher treated his
fine examples of early book-illustration as part of his collection of
engravings, etchings and woodcuts (illustrated catalogue printed 1879),
and Frederick Locker (Locker-Lampson) formed in two small bookcases such
a gathering of first editions of English imaginative literature that the
mere catalogue of it (printed in 1886) produced the effect of a stately
and picturesque procession. Some of the book-hoards of previous
generations could have spared the equivalent of the Locker collection
without seeming noticeably the poorer, but the compactness and unity of
this small collection, in which every book appears to have been bought
for a special reason and to form an integral part of the whole, gave it
an artistic individuality which was a pleasant triumph for its owner,
and excited so much interest among American admirers of Mr Locker's
poetry that it may be said to have set a fashion. As another example of
the value of a small collection, both for delight and for historical and
artistic study, mention may be made of the little roomful of manuscripts
and incunabula which William Morris brought together to illustrate the
history of the bookish arts in the middle ages before the Renaissance
introduced new ideals. Many living collectors are working in a similar
spirit, and as this spirit spreads the monotony of the old libraries, in
which the same editions of the same books recurred with wearisome
frequency, should be replaced by much greater individuality and variety.
Moreover, if they can be grouped round some central idea cheap books may
yield just as good sport to the collector as expensive ones, and the
collector of quite modern works may render admirable service to
posterity. The only limitation is against books specially manufactured
to attract him, or artificially made rare. A quite wholesome interest in
contemporary first editions was brought to nought about 1889 by the
booksellers beginning to hoard copies of Browning's _Asolando_ and Mr
Lang's _Blue Fairy Book_ on the day of publication, while a graceful but
quite minor poet was made ridiculous by L100 being asked for a set of
his privately printed _opuscula_. The petty gambling in books printed
at the Kelmscott and Doves' presses, and in the fine paper copies of a
certain _Life of Queen Victoria_, for which a premium of 250% was asked
before publication, is another proof that until the manufacturing stage
is over collecting cannot safely begin. But with this exception the
field is open, and the 19th century offers as good a hunting ground as
any of its predecessors.
Objects and methods.
While book-collecting may thus take an endless variety of forms the
heads under which these may be grouped are few and fairly easily
defined. They may be here briefly indicated together with some notes as
to the literature which has grown up round them. The development which
bibliographical literature has taken is indeed very significant of the
changed ideals of collectors. Brunet's _Manuel du libraire_, first
published in 1810, attained its fifth edition in 1860-1864, and has
never since been re-edited (supplement, 1878-1880). The _Bibliographer's
Manual of English Literature_ by W.T. Lowndes, first published in 1834,
was revised by H.G. Bohn in 1857-1864, and of this also no further
edition has been printed. These two works between them gave all the
information the old-fashioned collectors required, the _Tresor de livres
rares et precieux_ by J.G.T. Graesse (Dresden, 1859-1867, supplementary
volume in 1869) adding little to the information given by Brunet. The
day of the omnivorous collector being past, the place of these general
manuals has been taken by more detailed bibliographies and handbooks on
special books, and though new editions of both Lowndes and Brunet would
be useful to librarians and booksellers no publisher has had the courage
to produce them.
To attract a collector a book must appeal to his eye, his mind or his
imagination, and many famous books appeal to all three. A book may be
beautiful by virtue of its binding, its illustrations or the simple
perfection and harmony of its print and paper. The attraction of a fine
binding has always been felt in France, the high prices quoted for
Elzevirs and French first editions being often due much more to their
17th and 18th century jackets than to the books themselves. The
appreciation of old bindings has greatly increased in England since the
exhibition of them at the Burlington Fine Arts Club in 1891 (illustrated
catalogue printed the same year), English blind stamped bindings,
embroidered bindings, and bindings attributable to Samuel Mearne
(_temp._ Charles II.) being much more sought after than formerly. (See
BOOKBINDING.)
Illustrated books of certain periods are also much in request, and with
the exception of a few which early celebrity has prevented becoming rare
have increased inordinately in price. The primitive woodcuts in
incunabula are now almost too highly appreciated, and while the
_Nuremburg Chronicle_ (1493) seldom fetches more than L30 or the
_Hypnerotomachia Poliphili_ (Venice, 1499) more than L120, rarer books
are priced in hundreds. The best books on the subject are: for Italy,
Lippmann's _Wood Engraving in Italy in the 15th Century_ (1888),
Kristeller's _Early Florentine Woodcuts_ (1897), the duc de Rivoli's
(Prince d'Essling's) _Bibliographie des livres a figures venitiens
1469-1525_ (1892, new edition 1906); for Germany, Muther's _Die deutsche
Bucherillustration der Gothik und Fruhrenaissance_ (1884); for Holland
and Belgium, Sir W.M. Conway's _The Woodcutters of the Netherlands in
the 15th Century_ (1884); for France the material will all be found in
Claudin's _Histoire de l'imprimerie en France_ (1900, &c.). Some
information on the illustrated books of the early 16th century is given
in Butsch's _Die Bucherornamentik der Renaissance_ (1878), but the
pretty French books of the middle of the century and the later Dutch and
English copper-engraved book illustrations (for the latter see Colvin's
_Early Engraving and Engravers in England_, 1905) have been imperfectly
appreciated. This cannot be said of the French books of the 18th century
chronicled by H. Cohen, _Guide de l'amateur de livre a gravures du
XVIII^e siecle_ (5th ed., 1886), much of the same information, with a
little more about English books, being given in Lewine's _Bibliography
of Eighteenth Century Art and Illustrated Books_ (1898). English books
with coloured illustrations, for which there has arisen a sudden
fashion, are well described in Martin Hardie's _English Colour Books_
(1906). Bewick's work has been described by Mr Austin Dobson.
Appreciation of finely printed books has seldom extended much beyond the
15th century. In addition to the works mentioned in the article on
incunabula(q.v.), note may be made of Humphrey's _Masterpieces of the
Early Printers and Engravers_ (1870), while Lippmann's _Druckschriften
des XV. bis XVIII Jahrhunderts_ (1884-1887) covers, though not very
fully, the later period.
Among books which make an intellectual appeal to the collectors may be
classed all works of historical value which have not been reprinted, or
of which the original editions are more authentic, or convincing, than
modern reprints. It is evident that these cover a vast field, and that
the collector in taking possession of any corner of it is at once the
servant and rival of historical students. Lord Crawford's vast
collections of English, Scottish and Irish proclamations and of papal
bulls may be cited as capital instances of the work which a collector
may do for the promotion of historical research, and the philological
library brought together by Prince Lucien Bonaparte (_An Attempt at a
Catalogue_ by V. Collins, published 1894) and the Foxwell collection of
early books on political economy (presented to the university of London
by the Goldsmiths' Company) are two other instances of recent date. Much
collecting of this kind is now being carried on by the libraries of
institutes and societies connected with special professions and studies,
but there is ample room also for private collectors to work on these
lines.
Of books which appeal to a collector's imagination the most obvious
examples are those which can be associated with some famous person or
event. A book which has belonged to a king or queen (more especially one
who, like Mary queen of Scots, has appealed to popular sympathies), or
to a great statesman, soldier or poet, which bears any mark of having
been valued by him, or of being connected with any striking incident in
his life, has an interest which defies analysis. Collectors themselves
have a natural tenderness for their predecessors, and a copy of a famous
work is all the more regarded if its pedigree can be traced through a
long series of book-loving owners. Hence the production of such works as
_Great Book-Collectors_ by Charles and Mary Elton (1893), _English
Book-Collectors_ by W.Y. Fletcher (1902) and Guigard's _Nouvel armorial
du bibliophile_ (1890). Books condemned to be burnt, or which have
caused the persecution of their authors, have an imaginative interest of
another kind, though one which seems to have appealed more to writers of
books than to collectors. As has already been noted, most of the books
specially valued by collectors make a double or triple appeal to the
collecting instinct, and the desire to possess first editions may be
accounted for partly by their positive superiority over reprints for
purposes of study, partly by the associations which they can be proved
to possess or which imagination creates for them. The value set on them
is at least to some extent fanciful. It would be difficult, for
instance, to justify the high prices paid by collectors of the days of
George III. for the first printed editions of the Greek and Latin
classics. With few exceptions these are of no value as texts, and there
are no possible associations by which they can be linked with the
personality of their authors. It may be doubted whether any one now
collects them save as specimens of printing, though no class of books
which has once been prized ever sinks back into absolute obscurity. On
the other hand the prestige of the first editions of English and French
literary masterpieces has immensely increased. A first folio Shakespeare
(1623) was in 1906 sold separately for L3000, and the MacGeorge copies
of the first four folios (1623, 1632, 1663-1664 and 1685) fetched
collectively the high price of L10,000. The quarto editions of
Shakespeare plays have appreciated even more, several of these little
books, once sold at 6d. apiece, having fetched over L1000, while the
unknown and unique copy of the 1594 edition of _Titus Andronicus_,
discovered in Sweden, speedily passed to an American collector for
L2000. Information as to early editions of famous English books will be
found in Lowndes' _Bibliographer's Manual_, in Hazlitt's _Handbook to
the Popular Poetical and Dramatic Literature of Great Britain from the
Invention of Printing to the Restoration_ (1867) and his subsequent
_Collections and Notes_ (1876-1903), and as to more recent books in
Slater's _Early Editions, a bibliographical survey of the works of some
popular modern authors_ (1894), while French classics have found an
excellent chronicler in Jules Le Petit (_Bibliographie des principales
editions originales d'ecrivains francais du XV^e au XVIII^e siecle_,
1888).
In most cases there is a marked falling off in the interest with which
early editions other than the first are regarded, and consequently in
the prices paid for them, though important changes in the text give to
the edition in which they first occur some shadow of the prestige
attaching to an original issue. One of the recognized byways of
book-collecting, however, used to be the collection of as many editions
as possible of the same work. When this result in the acquisition of
numerous late editions of no value for the text its only usefulness
would appear to be the index it may offer to the author's popularity.
But in translations of the Bible, in liturgical works, and in editions
published during the author's life the aid offered to the study of the
development of the final text by a long row of intermediate editions may
be very great.
Another instance in which imagination reinforces the more positive
interest a book may possess is in the case of editions which can be
connected with the origin, diffusion or development of printing. Piety
suggests that book-lovers should take a special interest in the history
of the art which has done so much for their happiness, and in this
respect they have mostly shown themselves religious. The first book
printed in any town is reasonably coveted by local antiquaries, and the
desire to measure the amount and quality of the work of every early
printer has caused the preservation of thousands of books which would
otherwise have perished. (See INCUNABULA.)
The financial side of book-collecting may be studied in Slater's
_Book-Prices Current_, published annually since 1887, and in
Livingston's _American Book Prices Current_, and in the same author's
_Auction Prices of Books_ (1905). While largely influenced by fashion
the prices given for books are never wholly unreasonable. They are
determined, firstly by the positive or associative interest which can be
found in the book itself, secondly by the infrequency with which copies
come into the market compared with the number and wealth of their
would-be possessors, and thirdly, except in the case of books of the
greatest interest and rarity, by the condition of the copy offered in
respect to completeness, size, freshness and absence of stains.
(A. W. Po.)
BOOK-KEEPING, a systematic record of business transactions, in a form
conveniently available for reference, made by individuals or
corporations engaged in commercial or financial operations with a view
to enabling them with the minimum amount of trouble and of dislocation
to the business itself to ascertain at any time (1) the detailed
particulars of the transactions undertaken, and (2) the cumulative
effect upon the business and its financial relations to others.
Book-keeping, sometimes described as a science and sometimes as an art,
partakes of the nature of both. It is not so much a discovery as a
growth, the crude methods of former days having been gradually improved
to meet the changing requirements of business, and this process of
evolution is still going on. The ideal of any system of book-keeping is
the maximum of record combined with the minimum of labour, but as
dishonesty has to be guarded against, no system of book-keeping can be
regarded as adequate which does not enable the record to be readily
verified as a true and complete statement of the transactions involved.
Such a verification is called an audit, and in the case of public and
other large concerns is ordinarily undertaken by professional
accountants (q.v.). Where the book-keeping staff is large it is
usually organized so that its members, to some extent at least, check
each other's work, and to that extent an audit, known as a "staff audit"
or "internal check," is frequently performed by the book-keeping staff
itself.
Formerly, when credit was a considerably less important factor than now
in commercial transactions, book-keeping was frequently limited to an
account of receipts and payments of money; and in early times, before
money was in use, to an account of the receipt and issue of goods of
different kinds. Even now what may be called the "cash system" of
accounts is almost exclusively used by governments, local authorities,
and charitable and other institutions; but in business it is equally
necessary to record movements of credit, as a mere statement of receipts
and payments of money would show only a part of the total number of
transactions undertaken. As for practical purposes some limit must be
placed upon the daily record of transactions, certain classes show only
a record of cash receipts and payments, which must, when it is desired
to ascertain the actual position of affairs, be adjusted by bringing
into account those transactions which have not yet been completed by the
receipt or payment of money. For instance, it is usual to charge
customers with goods sold to them at the date when the sale takes place,
and to give them credit for the amount received in payment upon the date
of receipt (thus completely recording every phase of the transaction as
and when it occurs); but in connexion (say) with wages it is not usual
to give each workman credit for the services rendered by him from day to
day, but merely to charge up the amounts, when paid, to a wages account,
which thus at any date only shows the amounts which have actually been
paid, and takes no cognisance of the sums accruing due. When, therefore,
it is desired to ascertain the actual expenditure upon wages for any
given period, it is necessary to allow for the payments made during that
period in respect of work previously performed, and to add the value of
work performed during the current period which remains unpaid. In the
majority of businesses those accounts which deal with various forms of
standing expenses are thus dealt with, and in consequence the record, as
it appears from day to day, is _pro tanto_ incomplete. Another very
important series of transactions which is not included in the ordinary
day-to-day record is that representing the loss gradually accruing by
reason of waste, or depreciation, of assets or general equipment of the
business; proper allowance for these losses must of course be made
whenever it is desired to ascertain the true position of affairs.
History.
The origin of book-keeping is lost in obscurity, but recent researches
would appear to show that some method of keeping accounts has existed
from the remotest times. Babylonian records have been found dating back
as far as 2600 B.C., written with a stylus on small slabs of clay, and
it is of interest to note (_Records of the Past_, xi. 89) that these
slabs or tablets "usually contain impressions from cylinder seals, and
nail marks, which were considered to be a man's natural seal," thus
showing that the modern method of identifying criminals by finger prints
had its counterpart in Babylonia some 4500 years ago. Egyptian records
were commonly written on papyrus, and contemporary pictures show a
scribe keeping account of the quantities of grain brought into and
removed from the government store-houses. It will thus be seen that some
form of book-keeping existed long before bound books were known, and
therefore the more general term _accounting_ would seem to be
preferable--the more so as the most modern developments are in the
direction of again abandoning the bound book in favour of loose or
easily detached sheets of paper or card, thus capable of being
rearranged as circumstances or convenience may dictate. Most of the
earlier accounting records are in the nature of a mere narrative of
events, which--however complete in itself--failed to fulfil the second
requirement of an adequate system of book-keeping already referred to.
Prior to the use of money nothing in this direction could of course well
be attempted; but for a long time after its employment became general
money values were recorded in Roman figures, which naturally did not
lend themselves to ready calculation.
At the present-time it may be generally stated that all book-keeping
records are kept in three distinct columns, dealing respectively with
the date of the transaction, its nature, and its money value. The
earliest extant example of accounts so kept is probably a ledger in the
Advocates' library at Edinburgh, dated 1697, which, it is of interest to
note, is ruled by hand. Prior to that time, however, double-entry
book-keeping had been in general use. The exact date of its introduction
is unknown; but it was certainly not, as has been frequently stated, the
invention of Lucas de Bergo, in or about 1494. This, however, is the
date of the first issue (at Venice) of a printed book entitled
_Everything about Arithmetic, Geometry and Proportion_, by Luca Paciolo,
which contains _inter alia_ an explanation of book-keeping by
double-entry as then understood; but in all probability, the system had
then been in use for something like 200 years. It is perhaps unfortunate
that from 1494 until comparatively recent times the literature of
accounting has been provided by theorists and students, rather than by
practical business men, and it may well be doubted, therefore, whether
it accurately describes contemporary procedure. Another illusion which
it is necessary to expose in the interests of truth is the value
attached to _Jones's English System of Book-keeping by Single or Double
Entry_, published at Bristol in 1796. Before publishing this book, E.T.
Jones issued a prospectus, stating that he had patented an entirely new
and greatly improved system, and that subscribers (at a guinea a copy)
would be entitled to a special licence empowering them to put the new
invention into practice in their own book-keeping. With this bait he
secured thousands of subscribers, but so far as can be gathered his
system was entirely without merit, and it is chiefly of interest as
indicating the value, even then, of advertising.
Modern methods.
It is impossible here to describe fully all the improvements that have
been made in methods of accounting during recent years, but it is
proposed to deal with the more important of these improvements, after
the general principles upon which all systems of book-keeping are based
have been briefly described.
The centre of all book-keeping systems is the _ledger_, and it may be
said that all other books are only kept as a matter of practical
convenience--hence the name "subsidiary books" that is frequently
applied thereto. Inasmuch, however, as the transactions are first
recorded in these subsidiary books, and afterwards classified therefrom
into the ledger, the names _books of entry_ or _books of first entry_
are often employed. Subsidiary books which do not form the basis of
subsequent entries into the ledger, but are merely used for statistical
purposes, are known as _statistical_ or _auxiliary books_. In the early
days of book-keeping the ledger comprised merely those accounts which it
was thought desirable to keep accessible, and was not a complete record
of all transactions. Thus in many instances records were only kept of
transactions with other business houses, known as _personal accounts_.
In the earliest examples transactions tending to reduce indebtedness
were recorded in order of date, as they occurred underneath transactions
recording the creation of the indebtedness; and the amount of the
reduction was subtracted from the sum of the indebtedness up to that
date. This method was found to be inconvenient, and the next step was to
keep one account of the transactions recording the creation of
indebtedness and another account (called the _contra account_) of those
transactions reducing or extinguishing it. For convenience these two
accounts were kept on opposite sides of the ledger, and thus was evolved
the _Dr._ and _Cr._ account as at present in general use:--
_Dr._ A.B. Contra. _Cr._
-------+-------------+---------++-------+------------+---------
Date. | Narrative. | Amount. || Date. | Narrative. | Amount.
-------+-------------+---------++-------+------------+---------
| | L s. d. || | | L s. d.
| | || | |
| | || | |
| | || | |
In this form of account all transactions creating indebtedness due from
the person named therein to the business--that is to say, all benefits
received by that person from the buisness--are recorded upon the
left-hand, or _Dr._ side, and _per contra_ all transactions representing
benefits imparted by him, giving rise to a liability on the part of the
business, are recorded upon the _Cr._ side. The account may run on
indefinitely, but as a matter of convenience is usually ruled off each
time all indebtedness is extinguished, and also at certain periodical
intervals, so that the state of the account may then be readily
apparent.
Single-entry accounts.
A mere collection of _personal accounts_ is, however, obviously a very
incomplete record of the transactions of any business, and does not
suffice to enable a statement of its financial position to be prepared.
So at an early date other accounts were added to the ledger, recording
the acquisition of and disposal of different classes of property, such
accounts being generally known as _real accounts_. These accounts are
kept upon the same principle as personal accounts, in that all
expenditure upon the part of the business is recorded upon the _Dr._
side, and all receipts upon the _Cr._ side; the excess of the debit
entries over the credit entries thus showing the value placed upon those
assets that still remain the property of the business. With the aid of
personal and real accounts properly written up to date, it is possible
at any time to prepare a statement of assets and liabilities showing the
financial position of a business, and the following is an example of
such a statement, which shows also how the profit made by the business
may be thus ascertained, assuming that the financial position at the
commencement of the current financial period, and the movements of
capital into and out of the business during the period, are capable of
being ascertained.