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.