DOI Heft:
No. 8 (November, 1893)
DOI Artikel:The art of bookbinding: an interview with Mr. Cobden-Sanderson
DOI Seite / Zitierlink: https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.17189#0067
The Art of Bookbinding
needle through the head-line of the first page it but the calf of the present day does not wear well
should pierce each head-line until it touched the enough to make it worthy of good binding,
opposite cover. Often enough, if you hold a page Nothing equals morocco, and although the quality
to the light you will see the head-lines are on quite nowadays seems not so good as it was in the past,
a different level. For want of proper registering with care you can generally pick out good skins."
one will be a sixteenth or an eighth of an inch, or " Vou do not care for ' double ' binding ? "
even more below the other. When this is the case " No ! Nor do I greatly like silk linings. The silk
it is clearly impossible to range the head-lines pro- never seems in true relation to the printed page. It
perly throughout the book." is 100 Pllant t0 be employed without a backing of
paper, and then sooner or later
the raw edges of the fabric are
sure to unravel. I prefer plain
end papers, and plenty of them.
They act, as it were, as buffers
to the true book, and should
always be sewn in, never pasted."
" You prefer, I believe, a
square flat back like this ? "
" Yes ! But I should not call
that quite flat, a certain degree
of roundness is inevitable from
the added thickness of the stitch-
ing. Although so flat a back
may be only a question of taste,
yet there is, I think, a valid
objection to a semicircular back.
In a row of books with a ground
plan like this (Mr. Cobden-San-
derson sketched a series of half-
circles), the spaces between the
curves harbour dust, and the
titles are less easy to read ; a
series of flat backs would seem
more beautiful and more prac-
tical."
" Are not such bindings as
these, even the undecorated, too
dear for ordinary purposes ? "
" No. We have no need of a
multitude of books, and decora-
sg by t. j. cobden-sanderson .. ■ r ...
from the original binuing e> tion is not a necessity of life.
"What material do you prefer to use for the One or two beautiful things should be enough to
covers of your books? " live with' and if we limit ourselves to one or two
" Cloth of course I never touch ; it serves its we can generally afford to pay for them."
purpose for what one may call temporary per- " You think the design and general decoration
manence but leather is the only material that of the bound book to-day, are not up to the level
should be employed for a lasting binding. Even of its mechanical finish?"
vellum I would rather not use for stiff covers ; for " The modern binder is too clever in mere craft-
flexible ones it is beautiful and permanent. But he is so perfect in manual skill that he, or his
leather is the only possible clothing for stiff covers, employer, values a tour de force of mechanical
and of leathers morocco is the best of all; perhaps accomplishment above the quality of invention,
calf if one could obtain it in the quality they used and originality of treatment which should be the
to employ, might be a good second, but whether true aim of design. He seems not to know
the leather has deteriorated or whether the modern whether he is saying anything or nothing
atmosphere is more destructive to it, I cannot say, absorbed in his dexterity, he forgets all else."
55
0-
mm
MP
needle through the head-line of the first page it but the calf of the present day does not wear well
should pierce each head-line until it touched the enough to make it worthy of good binding,
opposite cover. Often enough, if you hold a page Nothing equals morocco, and although the quality
to the light you will see the head-lines are on quite nowadays seems not so good as it was in the past,
a different level. For want of proper registering with care you can generally pick out good skins."
one will be a sixteenth or an eighth of an inch, or " Vou do not care for ' double ' binding ? "
even more below the other. When this is the case " No ! Nor do I greatly like silk linings. The silk
it is clearly impossible to range the head-lines pro- never seems in true relation to the printed page. It
perly throughout the book." is 100 Pllant t0 be employed without a backing of
paper, and then sooner or later
the raw edges of the fabric are
sure to unravel. I prefer plain
end papers, and plenty of them.
They act, as it were, as buffers
to the true book, and should
always be sewn in, never pasted."
" You prefer, I believe, a
square flat back like this ? "
" Yes ! But I should not call
that quite flat, a certain degree
of roundness is inevitable from
the added thickness of the stitch-
ing. Although so flat a back
may be only a question of taste,
yet there is, I think, a valid
objection to a semicircular back.
In a row of books with a ground
plan like this (Mr. Cobden-San-
derson sketched a series of half-
circles), the spaces between the
curves harbour dust, and the
titles are less easy to read ; a
series of flat backs would seem
more beautiful and more prac-
tical."
" Are not such bindings as
these, even the undecorated, too
dear for ordinary purposes ? "
" No. We have no need of a
multitude of books, and decora-
sg by t. j. cobden-sanderson .. ■ r ...
from the original binuing e> tion is not a necessity of life.
"What material do you prefer to use for the One or two beautiful things should be enough to
covers of your books? " live with' and if we limit ourselves to one or two
" Cloth of course I never touch ; it serves its we can generally afford to pay for them."
purpose for what one may call temporary per- " You think the design and general decoration
manence but leather is the only material that of the bound book to-day, are not up to the level
should be employed for a lasting binding. Even of its mechanical finish?"
vellum I would rather not use for stiff covers ; for " The modern binder is too clever in mere craft-
flexible ones it is beautiful and permanent. But he is so perfect in manual skill that he, or his
leather is the only possible clothing for stiff covers, employer, values a tour de force of mechanical
and of leathers morocco is the best of all; perhaps accomplishment above the quality of invention,
calf if one could obtain it in the quality they used and originality of treatment which should be the
to employ, might be a good second, but whether true aim of design. He seems not to know
the leather has deteriorated or whether the modern whether he is saying anything or nothing
atmosphere is more destructive to it, I cannot say, absorbed in his dexterity, he forgets all else."
55
0-
mm
MP