In modern binding, therefore, we consider the whole range of ancient embellishments as being equally appropriate to our time, only taking care to associate the grave with the grave, the light with the light, and the fanciful with the fanciful, according to the suggestions already given. We repeat this fundamental principle of the art, since, of all others, it is the most frequently neglected. The moment any ornament has been brought forward that at all catches the public taste, the binders, for the most part, snatch at it with avidity, and employ it on all occasions, right or wrong, till it is superseded by some new combination from the storehouse of antiquity. This is more particularly the case with binders in cloth; a Mauresque tool is cut for a work on the Arabian dynasty, when, forthwith, they transfer it to the cover of a volume on the cathedrals of England, or a crimson cloth is with propriety adopted for a life of Wellington, and soon after we find it covering a biography of Bishop Heber.

It is hardly necessary to dwell any longer upon this topic; but, to avoid all possibility of mistake, we add a few further illustrations. For example, we would bind a French military history in blue and an English one in scarlet. For a book on the life of Nelson, we would let the ornamentation be in imitation of cable, with, perhaps, a couple of boarding pikes crossed in the centre of the square (see Fig. 155). The cable makes a very beautiful roll or fillet. We should bind

a treatise. on the celestial bodies in cerulean blue, with stars and crescents; a botanical work in green, with a flowery border; Euclid should be tooled in squares, triangles, circles, and rhomboids; and a Moore's "Irish Melodies" ornamented with leaves and flowers, either in wreaths or in borders, or with an Irish harp (Fig. 156) in the centre. Works relating to India would seem to be most fitly embellished with the vegetable and animal productions of that country; or if the subject be historical, or of ancient date, appropriate ornaments may be found in the sculpture and architecture of the Hindoo race. Fluted pilasters, the zodiac, and figures of various kinds belonging either to their religion or their history, form the principal features to be borrowed for the purposes of the binder.

It may be difficult to determine any exact style in which encyclopedias and serials treating of all subjects and all times should be bound. We would, however, suggest some plain ornament, such as the Grecian ornamented panel.

If the bookbinder carefully follows the directions given in

the preceding chapters, and carries out the hints contained in this (the last), he will have no cause to regret any trouble he may have taken in the covering of his books; for his library will present a much more chaste appearance than it would if his books were bound in the indiscriminate and thoughtless style of the present day.

< Conclusion Part 1