- About Bookbinding -

Vellum is wholly unfit for the shelves of a library; the elegant white binding soils
with dust, or the use of the hands, more quickly than any other; and the vellum
warps in a dry climate, or curls up in a heated room, so as to be unmanageable
upon the shelves, and a nuisance in the eyes of librarian and reader alike. The
thin vegetable parchment lately in vogue for some books and booklets is too
unsubstantial for anything but a lady's boudoir, where it may have its little day-
"a thing of beauty," but by no means "a joy forever.”
     Sheep skin-once the full binding for most school-books, and for a large
share of law and miscellaneous works for libraries, is now but little used, except
in its disguised forms. It is too soft a leather for hard wear and tear, and what
with abrasion and breaking at the hinges (termed by binders the joints), it will
give little satisfaction in the long run. Under the effect of gas and heated
atmospheres sheep crumbles and turns to powder. Its cheapness is about its
only merit, and even this is doubtful economy, since no binding can be called
cheap that has to be rebound or repaired every few years. In the form of half-
roan or bock, colored sheep presents a handsome appearance on the shelf, and
in volumes or sets which are reasonably secure from frequent handling, one is
sometimes justified in adopting it, as it is far less expensive than morocco.
Pigskin has been recently revived as a binding material, but though extremely
hard and durable, it is found to warp badly on the shelves.
Calf bindings have always been great favorites with book-lovers, and there are
few things more beautiful prima facie, than a volume daintily bound in light
French calf, as smooth as glass, as fine as silk, with elegant gold tooling without
and within, gilt edges, and fly-leaves of finest satin. I said beautiful, prima facie-
and this calls to mind the definition of that law term by a learned Vermont jurist,
who said: "Gentlemen of the jury, I must explain to you that a prima facie case
is a case that is very good in front, but may be very bad in the rear." So of our
so much lauded and really lovely calf bindings: they develop qualities in use
which give us pause. Calf is the most brittle of the leathers-hence it is always
breaking at the hinges; it is a very smooth leather-hence it shows every scratch
instantly; it is a light and delicate leather hence it shows soils and stains more
quickly than any other. Out of every hundred calf-bound volumes in any well-
used library, there will not remain ten which have not had to be re-bound or
repaired at the end of twenty or thirty years. Heavy volumes bound in calf or
half-calf leather will break by their own weight on the shelves, without any use
at all; and smaller volumes are sure to have their brittle joints snapped asunder
by handling sooner or later-it is only a question of time.
Next comes Russia leather, which is very thick and strong, being made of the
hides of cattle, colored, and perfumed by the oil of birch, and made chiefly in
Russia. The objections to this leather are its great cost, its stiffness and want
of elasticity, and its tendency to desiccate and lose all its tenacity in the dry or
heated atmosphere of our libraries. It will break at the hinges-though not so
readily as calf.
Lastly, we have the morocco leather, so called because it was brought from
Morocco, in Africa, and still we get the best from thence, and from the
Mediterranean ports of the Levant-whence comes another name for the best of
this favorite leather, "Levant morocco," which is the skin of the mountain goat,
and reckoned superior to all other leathers. The characteristics of the genuine
morocco, sometimes called Turkey morocco, having a pebbled grain, a
distinguishing it from the smooth morocco, are its toughness and durability,
combined with softness and flexibility. It has a very tenacious fibre, and I have
never found a real morocco binding broken at the hinges. The old proverb -
"there is nothing like leather"-is pregnant with meaning, and especially applies to
the best morocco. As no material yet discovered in so many ages can take the
place of leather for foot-wear and for harness, such as its tenacity and elasticity
– so for book coverings, to withstand wear and tear, good leather is
indispensable.  There are thoroughly-bound books existing which are five
centuries old – representing about the time when leather began to replace wood
and metals for binding. The three great enemies of books are too great heat,
too much moisture, and coal gas, which produce a sulphurous acid very
destructive to bindings, and should never be used in libraries.  From the
dangers which destroy calf and Russia leather, morocco is measurably free.

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