Publishers’ Bookbindings, 1830–1910

Course Description

The perception of the importance of nineteenth-century books in library stack and other collections has risen dramatically in recent years, and a variety of steps is being taken to preserve them. The cover provided by the publisher is the prime compelling physical aspect of these books. This course is aimed at those working with or interested in nineteenth-century book covers. Emphasis is on American book covers with comparisons to English and continental styles. Topics include: the materials (often beautiful), technology, evolving styles of ornamentation, the network of practitioners, the description of bindings, preservation, ongoing research, and developing opportunities in the field. The nineteenth-century book cover as we look at it is a complex product of manufacture. It is often difficult to tell what has been done (was the cloth grained or stamped? how exactly was the gold put on?). In today’s climate of heightened appreciation of these covers, it is important to understand how they were put together, to distinguish those that are more rare or more unusual, and to recognize which are typical of their time. In laboratory sessions, this course examines the processes of graining, stamping, and embossing so that they are clearly understood. The sequence of bookcloths provided by the manufacturer, their variety of colors and textures, the endpapers, the striped endbands, all the materials the binder brought to the book, are studied in detail, as are—decade by decade—the technologies and styles that changed the appearance of the covers. Special emphasis is given to the identification of “signed” bindings: when they occur and how to look for them. Background case histories are given of practitioners in the field: binder, engraver, publisher, and (at the turn of the century) the artist-designer. The course will make extensive use of Rare Book School’s collection of nineteenth-century and early twentieth-century binding examples.

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Advance Reading List

Preliminary Advices

Please bring a magnifying glass or loup that enlarges ca. 5×, 7×, or 10× to class with you. Bring photographs, rubbings or photocopies of publishers’ bindings that have special interest or meaning for you.

The books and articles listed below are standard works many of you may be familiar with. An acquaintance with them is a good preparation for our class discussions:

1. Allen, Sue. “Floral-patterned Endpapers in Nineteenth-Century American Books,” in Winterthur Portfolio 12 (1977): 183-224.
2. ______. “Machine-Stamped Bookbindings, 1834-1860,” in Antiques 115 (March 1979): 564-572; reprinted in Guild of Book Workers Journal 18 (1979-80): 1-23.
3. Allen, Sue and Charles Gullans. Decorated Cloth in America: Publishers’ Bindings, 1840-1910 (Los Angeles: William Andrews Clark Memorial Library, 1994).
4. Ball, Douglas. Victorian Publishers’ Binding (Williamsburg, VA: Bookpress, 1985).
5. Boss, Thomas G. Bound to Be The Best: The Club Bindery (Boston:Boss, 2004).
6. Comparato, Frank E. Books for the Millions (Harrisburg, PA: Stackpole, 1971).
7. Gaskell, Philip. A New Introduction to Bibliography (London: Oxford Univ Press, 1972; corr edn 1974; several times reprinted, most recently (1995) in paperback by Oak Knoll Books): 230-250 (“Edition Binding”).
8. Gullans, Charles B. and John J. Espey. “American Trade Bindings and Their Designers 1880-1915,” in Collectible Books, ed Jean Peters (New York: Bowker, 1979): 32-67.
9. Krupp, Andrea. “Bookcloth in England and America, 1823-50,” Papers of the Bibliographical Society of America 100 (March 2006): 25-87.
10. McLean, Ruari. Victorian Publishers’ Book-Bindings in Cloth and Leather (Berkeley: University of CA, 1973).
11. Tanselle, G. Thomas. “A System of Color Identification for Bibliographical Description,” in Studies in Bibliography 20 (1967): 203-34. (Full text available online via this link.)
12. ______. “The Bibliographical Description of Patterns,” in Studies in Bibliography 23 (1970): 71-102. Both Tanselle pieces are reprinted in his Selected Studies in Bibliography (Charlottesville: Univ of VA, 1979). (Full text available online via this link.)
13. Wolf, Edwin, 2d. From Gothic Windows to Peacocks: American Embossed Leather Bindings, 1825-1855 (Philadelphia: Library Company, 1990).

This biography of a leading publisher gives excellent background material as to audience and economic factors:

1. Tryon, Warren S. Parnassus Corner: A Life of James T. Fields, Publisher to the Victorians (Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1963).

A valuable study from the recent “history of the book” publications is:

1. Zboray, Ronald. A Fictive People: Antebellum Economic Development and the Reading Public (New York: Oxford University Press, 1993).

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Course History