Lately I've been reading up on cloth book bindings of the 19th century. It's not a difficult topic to read up on as there is not all that much written on the subject. At least in comparison to some other topics. i've become one of those peculiar people who, if he reads or purchases a book with a jacket, immediately removes the jacket to see what the cased cover looks like (casing being the typical cloth binding method of today). I want to see if there is an imprint in faux gold on the cover, what the spine looks like and if some nicely colored cloth was used. Or if the publisher opted for a bland but serviceable library type binding.
Perhaps it's because I spend so much time with books of the 19th Century that my fingers seem to prefer a cloth, or embossed cloth binding. Paper book jackets just seem so, un-bookish to me now. My tactile sense is confused. Am I holding a paperback or a hard back book? I have to be careful of the jacket too. They tend to slip up and down on the book, come loose at awkward moments and are edible delights to some cats.
When I walk into a used book store (or antiquarian book store as they prefer to say in Bahsten) I gravitate towards the shelves of gold stamped cloth or leather bindings. It's as if the radar in my head (once I remove the aluminum foil of course) picks up the reflected signals of the metallic stamping and directs me to the proper target. The new book market loves book jackets, or laminated book covers for trade paperbacks. Line them up on miriad shelves and you have a concaphony of images, colors. titles and authors.
Give me a shelf of stamped cloth bindings and I can most likely pick out those published by Henry Carey Baird, Evans Bros, Upton Gill (sorry, not much yet on these guys), and so on. I'm not bragging. It's just a learned habit. I can scan across the shelf and pick up the titles or authors with ease.
"Manual of Book-Binding. Nicholson. Baird"
"Holtzapffel's Turning and Mechanical Manipulation. Vol. II. Construction and Action of Cutting Tools. London. 1847"
"Drawing for Carpenter's & Joiners. Cassell's"
And so on. I don't have to figure out what the jacket cover really means, what the image has to do with the title (if anything) and why the author's name is either larger or smaller than the title. Beware the tiny author, that's a newbie and possibly written by a high school senior for a class project. Stick with the AUTHOR title book jacket for safety.
Recently Chris Schwarz published his interpretation of Moxon's chapter on Joinery as a hard back book. No jacket, just a nicely colored cloth with a stamped spine and cover. This book fits into my book shelf comfortably, as if it was a product of Baird & Co. When I read it, the cloth cover presents a comfortable tactile experience, unlike a slick paper jacket, complete with film laminated protection or a polyester book jacket protector.
I realize that it's more expensive to produce a book with a cloth cover. But these books are meant to be read, enjoyed, used, and reread. Guess I'm a cloth book cover snob at heart. S'cuse me while I fill my glass of Tanqueray Gin & Schwepps Tonic Water, twist of barbados lime and relax in my broadcloth shirt, khaki Brooks Brothers slacks and TopSider mocassins, sans socks, on the porch over looking the Habah.
Till next, Gary
