Bookbinding and The Care of Books
Librarians by Douglas Cockerell with Drawings
by Noel Rooke and other Illustrations
New York
1902
Book binding Chapter XVIII
Part 2
Metal corners and bosses are a great protection to
bindings, but if the books are to go into shelves,
the metal must be quite smooth and flat. A metal
shoe on the lower edge of the boards is an
excellent thing for preserving the binding of heavy
books. .
Bosses and other raised metal work should be
restricted to books that will be used on lecterns or
reading desks. The frontispiece is from a drawing
of an early sixteenth-century book, bound in white
pigskin, and ornamented with brass corners,
bosses. On this book there were originally five bosses on each M board, but the centre ones have
been lost.
Bindings may be entirely covered with metal, but the connection between the binding and
the book is in that case seldom quite satisfactory. The most satisfactory metal-covered bindings
that I have seen are those in which the metal is restricted to the boards. The book is bound in
wooden boards, with thick leather at the back, and plaques of metal nailed to the wood. The
metal may be set with jewels or decorated with enamel, and embossed or chased in various ways.
Jewels are sometimes set in invisible settings below the leather of bindings, giving them the
appearance of being set in the leather. This gives them an insecure look, and it is better to
frankly show the metal settings and make a decorative feature of them.
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