The first thing we see when we pick up a book is the jacket (if it has one) but soon we look under the jacket and look at the binding.
The dust jacket was first used as a protective covering for books in the late 1800’s in those early days once the book was purchased the owner would throw away the jacket. It was only in the 1920’s that keeping the jacket begun to become the norm. This was only when it became desirable to collect first editions that collectors wanted to keep the dust jackets intact.
Before this time it was customary for collectors to rebind their books in leather (The Victorians bought their books bound with boards’ front and back. They would send their purchases to the bookbinder to be rebound in leather. It is interesting to note that some books bound in board have become collectible because most books in a particular printing may have been rebound thus making the books with the original boards desirably. Booksellers call these books “Original Boards.”
From around the 1830’s books began to be bound in cloth. Initially this was just a way of advertising and differentiating different runs from certain publishing companies. It soon caught on and rebinding dropped off as it was cheaper to collect the cloth editions. Important libraries continued rebinding books but the cloth bindings soon became common. Cloth bindings are known as, ‘Original Cloth, Publisher’s Cloth or Edition Cloth”.
Leather-bound books are very collectible and books from certain famous bookbinders have become very desirable. I would like to explain the difference between “Genuine Leather” and “Bonded Leather” it can be difficult to tell the difference and the distinction has a dramatic effect on the price.
Genuine leather book covers are cut from a single skin (more about that later) whereas bonded leather is pulped leather mixed with a polyurethane binder and fixed to a paper or fibre backing, it is then embossed with a leather texture. When buying books it is important to know the difference.
Leather as used in bookbinding is usually made of calf skin, it has a smooth texture with no discernable grain. In its natural state it is light brown in colour and is usually treated to give the following effects:
Panelled Leather: A rectangular frame on the cover outlined by tooling or gilt deliniation.
Marbled Leather: Leather treated with acid to give a marbling effect.
Diced Leather: diamond or square patterns scored into the surface.
Polished Calf: A highly polished finish is applied.
I have provided a link below to a Youtube video that goes into more detail about leather bindings. The terms Quarter, Half and Three Quarter bindings are thoroughly explored.
I hope that this will proved useful, I will look into different aspects of book-collecting in posts to come.
