B-10. Introduction to the History of Bookbinding - Advance Reading List

• Preliminary Advices

  Students are not required to have existing knowledge of the history of bookbinding or to have done extensive pre-course reading. The titles below are merely intended to give those who wish to do some general pre-course reading an opportunity to do so. A more detailed bibliography will be supplied after the course.

  Foot, Mirjam J. The History of Bookbinding as a Mirror of Society. London: British Library, 1998. The 1997 Panizzi Lectures. Why we should study bookbindings.

  Foot, Mirjam J. Bookbinders at Work: Their Roles and Methods. London: British Library and New Castle, DE: Oak Knoll Press, 2006, especially chapter 1.

  French, Hannah D. Bookbinding in Early America: Seven Essays on Masters and Methods. Worcester: American Antiquarian Society, 1986.

  Goldschmidt, E. Ph. Gothic & Renaissance Bookbindings, exemplified and illustrated from the author’s collection. 2 vols. London: Ernest Benn, 1928, Repr. Nieuwkoop, 1967. Although dates, the introduction is a useful overview.

  Marks, P. J. M. An Anthology of Decorated Papers: A Sourcebook for Designers. London: Thames & Hudson, 2016. There is also a smaller format edition published in 2018.

  Miller, Julia. Books will Speak Plain: A Handbook for Identifying and Describing Historical Bindings. Ann Arbor: The Legacy Press, 2010.

  Pearson, David. Books as History. Revised Edition. London: British Library/Oak Knoll Press, 2012. Read Chapter 5: “Variety through Binding” and Chapter 8: “Variety between Copies; a Case Study”, which provide a survey of what is important for binding studies.

  Pickwoad, Nicholas. “Onward and Downward: How Binders Coped with the Printing Press before 1800.” In: A Millennium of the Book: Production, Design, and Illustration in Manuscript and Print, 900–1900, edited by Robin Myers and Michael Harris. New Castle, DE: Oak Knoll Press, 1994, pp. 61–106. How changes in the printing and distribution of books influenced binding techniques.

• Additional Readings

  Barber, Giles, et al. The James A. De Rothschild Bequest at Waddesdon Manor: Printed Books and Bookbindings. Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire: The Rothschild Foundation, 2013. Two volumes.

  Cockerell, Douglas. Bookbinding and the Care of Books: A Textbook for Bookbinders and Librarians. London: 1901 (or any subsequent edition). Though outdated in some respects, this remains the clearest and most concise account of hand bookbinding in English.

  Bryn Mawr College. Bookbinding in America 1680–1910: From the Collection of Frederick E. Maser. With an essay by Willman Spawn. Bryn Mawr: Bryn Mawr College Library, 1983. Willman Spawn was the greatest expert on American bindings.

  Early American Bookbindings from the Collection of Michael Papantonio. Worcester: American Antiquarian Society, 1972. Second edition published 1985. Either edition is fine. A good introduction to American bindings.

  Hobson, Anthony. Humanists and Bookbinders: The Origins and Diffusion of Humanistic Bookbinding, 1459–1559. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1990. Reprinted 2012.

  Marks, P.J.M. An Anthology of Decorated Papers: A Sourcebook for Designers. London: Thames & Hudson, 2016. There is also a smaller format 2018 edition.

  McLean, Ruari. Victorian Publishers’ Book-bindings in Cloth and Leather. London: 1974.

  McLean, Ruari. Victorian Publishers’ Book-bindings in Paper. London: 1983. Although both books contain little text, they are important for the subject matter.

  Miller, Julia. Books will Speak Plain: A Handbook for Identifying and Describing Historical Bindings. Ann Arbor: The Legacy Press, 2010.

  Miller, Julia, ed. Suave Mechanicals: Essays on the History of Bookbinding. Volume I. Ann Arbor: The Legacy Press, 2013.

  Miller, Julia, ed. Suave Mechanicals: Essays on the History of Bookbinding. Volume II. Ann Arbor: The Legacy Press, 2015.

  Ong, George, ed. A Matter of Size: Miniature Bindings and Texts from the Collection of Patricia J. Pistner. Curated by Patricia J. Pistner and Jan Storm van Leeuwen. New York, The Grolier Club, 2019.

  Tanselle, G. Thomas. Book-jackets: Their History, Forms, and Use. Charlottesville: 2011. One of the few existing publications on the subject.