Vernon Wiering's Bindery Miscellany
This original worn binding had a nice title banner. The lettering, unlike most bindings where the letters are gold stamped into the cloth, is embossed, the surrounding area gilt. A nice effect. The new binding works especially well since it utilizes antique grained cloth, similar to the cloth on the original binding. The blind lines also give it that historical touch.
Student and Schoolmate, Allen, 1867
Categories: 19th Century, Grained cloth, Uncategorized.
In the late 17th Century and into the 18th Century, the Cambridge style binding was popular in England. Probably originating — or at least commonly used — in Cambridge, England, this style of binding features contrasting paneled boards where the contrast was often done with acids or dyes. Corner stamps of some sort are a must in these bindings. This binding features hand-dyed calf, with a darker central panel, and hand lettered title done in gold leaf.
Frezier, A Voyage to the South Sea, London, 1717
Categories: 17th Century, Full Leather, Uncategorized.
Custom bookbag with copper rivets, hand stitched seams, and stainless hardware.
Categories: Uncategorized.
Here’s another example of a 19th Century historical binding. Schoolcraft, Ethnoligical Researches, with an Indian bust on the spine, and a canoe with two natives. Historically speaking, whereas early 19th Century center designs were purely decorative, by the middle of the Century we start seeing images directly related to the content of the book.
Binding featuring antique grained cloth, genuine gold titling and emblems, and blind work on the boards.
Categories: 19th Century, Grained cloth.
Quick picture here of a 19th Century grained cloth binding. Most 19th Century cloth books were bound in starch-filled grained cloth. This cloth was vulnerable to moisture damage, and was light in weight, generally. In the early 1900s synthetic cloth began to supersede the starch filled cloths, and today it is difficult to find appropriate cloth for historical 19th Century bindings. Happily, I have a few vintage/antique cloths in my bindery for use on valuable books, and I do some graining as well. Below is an example of an 1839 binding worked up with blind and gold decorations fitting the period.
Edgar Allen Poe, Conchology. Antique grained cloth, genuine gold decorations, blind corners and border rule.
Categories: 19th Century, Grained cloth.
Though I’ve never been particularly attracted to making boxes for books, always preferring to work on the books themselves, the need often arises to make attractive boxes. Giving boxes a historical and authentic touch has made box making an attractive pursuit. The box can then give a clear suggestion of what’s inside. Below is an example of such a project.
The original book in a 19th Century ornate binding. These type of bindings were worked up in festive circus-like decorations, full of gold designs and blind stamping. This binding is full leather, and is preserved quite well for a popular 19th Century title.
The spine of the box, designed to match the spine of the book itself. Dies were produced to replicate the design of the spine. The spine leather was then dyed to match as well, and then prepared for stamping. The stamping was done in genuine gold.
The body of the box was constructed of book board and covered in red cloth.
Categories: 19th Century, Boxes, Uncategorized.
In 1856 Henry Carey Baird published the first American Manual on bookbinding, written by James B. Nicholson. The full title is a lengthy one: A Manual of the Art of Bookbinding: Containing Full Instructions in the Different Branches of Forwarding, Gilding, and Finishing. Also, The Art of Marbling Book-Edges and Paper. The Whole Designed for the Practical Workman, The Amateur, and the Book-Collector.
It is curious that many books on bookbinding and binding history are actually bound in unattractive covers. Now and then there is an exception. I acquired one of these from Tom Nicely, bookseller, proprietor of Leaves of Grass Bookshop in Ann Arbor, Michigan. The volume in question had been at a library for a time, and some attempt had been made to preserve the book. It was resewn and bound. The binding, though serviceable, was not attractive. It needed work. Below are images of the after and before:
A completely new cloth binding is created in the style of the period. Some of the features of this stye include blind (stamping without gold) corners on the front board; angular lettering; a variety of lettering styles; floral gold decorations covering the whole spine; and grained cloth.
Function without beauty; Nicholson's Manual of the Art of Bookbinding in a library binding.
Categories: 19th Century, Grained cloth.
The Grand Rapids Public Library contacted me about a display case for their local history space. Because of my historical binding work for them, they were interested in my creating a historically accurate display case. The case needed to fit in historically with their other furniture. Not all the furniture matched, though, but because the library had a set of table legs from one of the early library tables, it was an easy decision. I determined to reflect the curves and gravity of the original table in the new case.
A few photos.
One of the surviving library tables in the Ryerson Library, the main library of the Grand Rapids Public Library.
The completed display case with original legs and top to match. Most of the early furniture in the library is oak, so I made the top of oak, though the legs are actually mahogany. A suitable dye was produced to bring it all together. The edges of the case was milled to match the contour of the early library tables.
Another view. The brace on the original tables was pegged and glued, making it vulnerable to pulling away from the legs. These legs are held tight with bolts mortised into the brace. The holes are covered by the original number plates.
Leg detail. The legs were worn from many years of leather soles rubbing the wood. The old finish was cleaned off, holes filled, and the whole dyed to a rich chestnut brown.
Before book cloth became commonly used for cover material on books, leather was the material both of choice and necessity. But by the early 19th Century, with the increase of book publishing, leather cost and procurement became an obstacle for bookbinders. An alternative was necessary. Binders began looking seriously at paper and cloth as binding material. Marbled paper had already been in frequent use in the Great Britain, but little marbled paper is seen on books in America until the middle of the 19th Century. Cloth, though, seems to have made its way to binderies in America and by the middle of the Century was in extensive use. Though there were American book cloth manufacturers, much of what was produced came from England. One will often see books produced separately and on different continents bound in the same cloth.
Graining cloth to look like leather was a natural first step in the growth of cloth bindings. Since cloth was replacing leather, some book buyers would condescend to appreciate the use of cloth instead of leather on a book. Publishers responded to this by an increasing array of cloth color and grain, which was aided by the growing use of machinery in the production of book cloths. It became possible to produce large amounts of elegant cloth at a fraction of the cost of leather, and publishers and binders countered any distaste on the part of the consumer by decorating the cloth bindings with ornamentation.
As cloth manufacturing technology developed, synthetic coatings became standard. Today most grained cloth is heavily coated for water resistance and durability, rendering it unsuitable for good historical work. If modern grained cloth is used for period work, the result is ineffective and looks cheap. The antique cloths were starch filled, making them less durable, but more delicate and easy to grain. Starch-filled cloth continued to be produced up until recently, though not with grain effects. Book cloths like the remarkable cloths of the 19th Century have all but disappeared, both from production in the mills and from various supply sources.
Though my bindery has a few rolls of antique cloth, all the most common colors and grains are conspicuously absent; these have been all used. In answer to this deficiency, graining cloth on a small basis is necessary. Below are a few pictures of grains, both antique and newly produced for historical work.
A detail of 19th Century grained cloth on a book. A fairly straightforward square design, it nonetheless produces an effective background for ornamentation.
Samples of unused antique grained cloth. Some of this was produced by Winterbottom, the book cloth company in England.
Another sample of grained cloth on a book from the mid-19th Century. Note the effect produced to give a leather grain look, sometimes called straight grain.
A graining plate engraved to produce a straight grain like the one used on the book above. This plate is made of wood, and is hand engraved to give it the buoyancy found in antique cloths. The plate is rubbed with beeswax and heated so the wax melts in. This both preserves the wood as well as allows the cloth to be released after pressing. The cloth is dampened and pressed in under high pressure.
Newly grained cloth, some of which were produced on the plate above. The two brown samples and the upper left red sample were grained on plates not pictured here.
Categories: Grained cloth.
