Mary E. Brown, Ph.D., Professor
Information Science

Southern Connecticut State University
501 Crescent Street, New Haven, CT 06515

Department of Information and Library Science
Fax: 1.203.392-5780 / Phone: 1.203.392-5781
Toll Free: 1-888-500-SCSU, then press 4

Two major forces have driven the development of books as their covers: utility and aesthetics.

Early books, as we have learned, were in the form of tablets (earliest of clay) or rolls (earliest of papyrus). We know that libraries of these earliest books developed systems that precede many we have today. For example, when the size of a collection reached a dozen or two books, some type of organization system was needed to facilitate finding a desired item.

Available materials, curiosity, and need to facilitate new and growing demands for the book lead to development of additional forms. With tablets of baked clay or wax coated wood and rolls of papyrus or parchment in the experience of the reader, it understandable how a desire to extend properties of one to the other lead to the development of the Codex, the book form we use today: text written on separate sheets are secured between two boards or covers and bound together at the back.

Book covers, however, were used before the development of the bound book. Earthenware jars were used to store and protect clay tablets. [Some baked clay tablets were found within dried clay carrying the same inscription as the inner baked clay. This has been interpreted as a form or carbon copy or certified record -- if it were believed the outer writing had been altered or corrupted, it could be broken away to reveal the original writing.] Also, envelopes made of fabric were used to protect clay tablets. (Small triangular labels describing the contents were attached with cords to earthenware jars and fabric envelopes.) Likewise, papyrus rolls were protected with a wrapper of parchment (sometimes decorated) and then stored on shelves or in jars. (Titles were written on papyrus or vellum labels.)

As was mentioned above, decoration began to appear on the wrappers or covers of papyrus rolls. Diptychs (folding tablets) used by the Romans were sometimes carved (See Diptych of the Consul Justinian, Metropolitan Museum of Art). The Codex, which evolved from the diptych, facilitated decoration. Metals, enamels, and jewels were now inlaid on book covers. See the Gospel Book of Lindau and cover of the Gospel Book of Queen Theodelinda, (gold cover inlaid with stones, pearls, antique cameos, and cloisonné), given to her newly founded Cathedral of Monza.

The earliest codices were written on papyrus sheets and their covers were of layers of papyrus stuck together and covered in leather; leather thongs were used to fasten the book into a kind of parcel. Various types of decorating were used: blind tooling, incised lines or pierced, appliqué designs with a central panel filled with a diamond or circular pattern (Harthan, 1961).

Early leather covers, laid over wooden boards, were also decorated using either incision with sharp tools or stamping with blunt tools (Stokes, 1981). See the Stonyhurst Gospel (Gospel Book of St. Cuthbert)

Unornamented bindings for manuscripts were often of vellum, stained red; and boards partially covered with leather. By the fifteenth century, larger volumes might have metal corners and center bosses (to protect the leather from rubbing on desks), as well as chains stapled to the lower cover (Stokes, 1981). By the later part of the fifteenth century, and likely due to the increased demand for books, two new techniques are seen that speed the finishing of a book and require a less skilled craftsperson: the roll stamp and the panel stamp (see MS A 41, binding). The roll stamp is "a cylindrical tool cut in relief" (cutting away the stamp to leave/create the design) "or engraved in intaglio" (design is carved into the stamp) "so as to repeat its designs in rotation" (Stokes, 1981, 235). The panel stamp was "placed over the dampened leather on the boards and the whole subjected to pressure. The design so imprinted in the leather became fixed and permanent as the leather dried" (Stokes, 1981, 235). <.p>

By the invention of the printing press, binding was a well-established trade.

Binding is divided into two processes: forwarding and finishing. Forwarding includes the processes that "make a secure unit of book and cover" and finishing includes lettering, decorating, and other finishing touches to the book.

Book Repair guides:

• A Simple Book Repair Manual (Dartmouth)
• Procedures and Treatments Used for Book Repair and Pamphlet Binding (Illinois)
• Three Basic Book Repair Procedures (Book Arts)
• Book Repair Manual (Northern Illinois)
• Bookbinding: A Tutorial (Iowa/Center for the Book)

Other Sites of interest

• Bookbining Model Collection (U of Iowa Libraries)
• Practical Bookbinding 1907 essay
• Conservation and Preservation (Washington State U)

References

Allen, A. (1952). The story of the book (pp. 54-67). New York: Roy Publishers.

Harthan, J. P. (1961). Bookbindings (2nd rev. ed.) (pp. 7-19). London: Her Majesty's Stationery Office.

Katz, B. (1995). Dahl's history of the book (3rd English ed.). Metuchen, NJ: Scarecrow Press.

Rider, A. D. (1976). A story of books and libraries. Metuchen, NJ: Scarecrow Press.

Stokes, R. (1981). Esdaile's manual of bibliography (5th rev. ed.) (pp. 232-289). na: Scarecrow Press.