- About Bookbinding -

All books coming into a library which contain autographs, book-plates of former
owners, coats of arms, presentation inscriptions from the author, monograms,
or other distinguishing features, should preserve them 8S of interest to the
present or the future.
And all printed paper covers should be carefully preserved by binding them
inside the new cover which the book receives, thus preserving authentic
evidence of the form in which the book was first issued to the public, and often
its original price. In like manner, when a clothbound book comes to re-binding,
its side and back covers may be bound in at the end of the book, as showing
the style in which it was originally issued, frequently displaying much artistic
beauty.
Whoever receives back any books which have been out in circulation, whether it
be the librarian or assistant, must examine each volume, to see if it is in
apparent good order. If it is found (as frequently happens) that it is shaky and
loose, or if leaves are ready to drop out, or if the cover is nearly off, it should
never be allowed to go back to the shelves, but laid aside for re-binding or
repair with the next lot sent to the binder. Only prompt vigilance on this point,
combined with the requirement of speedy return by the binder, will save the
loss or injury beyond repair of many books. It will also save the patrons of the
library from the frequent inconvenience of having to do without books, which
should be on the shelves for their use. How frequent this sending of books to
repair should be, cannot be settled by any arbitrary rule; but it would be wise,
in the interest of all, to do it as often as two or three dozen damaged books are
accumulated.
If you find other injury to a book returned, than the natural wear and tear that
the library must assume, if a book, for example, is blotched with ink, or soiled
with grease, or has been so far wet as to be badly stained in the leaves, or if it
is found torn in any part on a hasty inspection, or if a plate or a map is missing,
or the binding is violently broken (as sometimes happens) then the damage
should be borne by the reader, and not by the library.  This will sometimes
require the purchase of a fresh copy of the book, which no fair-minded reader
can object to pay, who is favored with the privileges of free enjoyment of the
treasures of a public library.  Indeed, it will be found in the majority of cases
that honest readers themselves call attention to such injuries as books have
accidentally received while in their possession, with voluntary offer to make
good the damage.
All unbound or paper covered volumes should be reserved from the shelves,
and not supplied to readers until bound.  This rule may be relaxed (as there is
almost no rule without some valid exception) in the case of a popular new book,
issued only in paper covers, if it is desired to give an opportunity of early
perusal to readers frequenting the library.  But such books should not be
permitted to the library.  But such books should not be permitted to circulate,
as they would soon be worn to pieces by handling.  Only books dressed in a
substantial covering are fit to be loaned out of any library.  In preparing for the
bindery any new books, or old ones to be re-bound or repaired, lists should be
made of any convenient number set apart for the purpose, prompt return
should be required, and all should be checked off on the list when returned.
No shelf in a well-regulated library should be unprovided with book-supports, in
order to prevent the volume from sagging and straining by falling against one
another, in a long row of books.  Numerous different devices are in the market
for this purpose, from the solid brick to the light sheet-iron support; but it is
important to protect the end of every row from strain on the bindings, and the
cost of book supports is indefinitely less than that of the rebinding entailed by
neglecting to use them.
Some libraries of circulation make it a rule to cover all their books with paper or
thin muslin covers, before they are placed on the shelves for use.  This method
has its advantages and its drawbacks. It doubtless protects the bindings from
soiling, and where books circulate widely and long, no one who has seen how
foul with dirt they become, can doubt the expediency of at least the experiment
of clean covers.  They should be of the firmest thin but tough Manila paper, and
it is claimed that twenty renewals of clean paper covers actually cost less than
one re-binding.  On the other hand, it is not to be denied that books thus
covered look shabby, monotonous, and uninteresting.  In the library used for
reference and reading only, without circulation, covers are quite out of place.

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