Reading: Bookbinder; the Journal of the Society of Bookbinders

Bookbinder; the Journal of the Society of Bookbinders, Vol. Twenty-one, 2007

Bookbinder is a journal published annually by the Society of Bookbinders. The Society is a professional organisation that was formed in 1974 in the north-west of England. They are dedicated to both "traditional and contemporary bookbinding and to the preservation and conservation of the printed and written word." Their aim is to advance education of all aspects of bookbinding for the public benefit. They are open to all who support this aim; "be they bookbinder (professional or hobbyist), conservator, librarian, book lover or collector."

"The Society of Bookbinders is a UK-based educational charity dedicated to the provision of education in the craft of traditional and contemporary bookbinding and related skills."

 

Pearson, David (2007), Common or Garden: the Interest of Ordinary Bindings

Vol. 21, PP. 13-25

Notes from the text, in chronological order.

This article starts by questioning why we are interested in bindings, then going on to breakdown the history bookbinding, focusing on appearance in debate of it's importance for binder and owner. He evaluates how the development of the binders consideration of binding design has evolved, using key examples of bindings throughout history.

"My key theme in this article is that we need to (...) recognise that every binding tells a story, and that no matter how humble or ordinary looking it may be, it has value as part of our cultural heritage."

Pearson uses a quote from the 20th Century edition of the Encyclopaedia Britannica that seems to blame the print industry for lack of consideration for the appearance of the design of bindings; "printing brought small books, cheap books, ugly books, (...). But a new art came into birth very shortly, namely the art of gold tooling on leather..." He then quotes JH Slater in this 1905 manual How to Collect Books, who states that the bookbinders role was to design something that would protect the book, which came "to be looked upon as an art".

He goes on to explain how this change also lead to interest in bookbinders, viewing them as you would an artist and finding recognisable traits of who bound the book. This approach centres the binder in interest, seeking for narrative behind the book.

Pearson goes on to point out that this has lead to valuing bindings of elaborate design with expensive materials made for those of wealth, undermining the more humble ones. He points out that these bindings are just as important; "all historic artefacts in their own right and an integral part of the individual histories of the books they cover."

"every books made before the early 19th Century, as weak as some made thereafter, is a unique handcrafted object. No matter how elaborate it is (...),  it was individually made by hand and no two bindings can be truly identical,"

Pearson describes bookbinding in a rather romantic way following this; "the folding and sewing together of sheets carrying text", then recalling the image of a monk using a sewing frame in the 12th Century. When looking for this illustration show in the journal, I stumbled upon the Bamberg State Library website which has a beautiful collection of bindings. I found these most influential;

He goes on to state that during the hand press period, workshops were small, ran by a master, aided by half a dozen journeymen or apprentices. There is little information on the relationship between binders, printers and sellers at this time, however reflecting upon records from the 19th Century, there is evidence of a relationship between booksellers and binders, who would have binders bind books prior to sale. I find this concept interesting as it is not heard of today. It is a completely different landscape of relationship. I find what I imagine to be the process of this relationship appealing; the writer writes the content, the seller wants the content to available to be bought, the seller wants the content to look appealing and be functional, and so they ask a bookbinder to make this happen. It is a simplified and logical process that comes from a completely different industry climate that is embedded in a more localised system.

"The binding is the first thing you see and handle when you encounter a book and it raises expectations about it before you open it."

In other words, we judge a book by its cover! Pearson discusses this further, acknowledging that for old books, the most obvious identifier is the indulgence of the design and materials in relation to the importance of the contents. If it is a book bound cheaply, it signifies the contents being of lesser value and there being less of a need to be precious about it. The binding has less "respect" for the contents. But, again, it isn't like that anymore in the current climate of the publishing industry. It is far more to do with the amount of times a book is printed and bound, rather than its look. If there are many copies available of a paperback, due to the high demand, it is a highly regarded book. If there isn't a need to make a large quantity, it can't be of value, as it isn't popular. On top of that will be editions, which is more in line with what Pearson discusses here. E.g. you can buy Alice in Wonderland or Hawkins A Brief History of Time at any book shop in cheap paperback form, then there might be a special edition of it alongside.

At this point of reading, I discuss these thoughts further and explore bookbinders identities in the sixth edition of my Weekly Bookbinding Report blogposts.

On page 18, Pearson suggests the way in which binders worked with their customers; "binders always offered a choice (...) as regards the level of structural and decorative sophistication of their bindings, and hence the price they paid." This information can therefore be used to determine the type of person who owned the book, and what kind of binder bound it. It can suggest how the owner regarded the book, but also allow further investigations; is it a case of using this to express status, or does it represent the value the owner places on the book?

As Pearson says, "do we expect the relationship to be a linear one between the wealth or rank of the owners and the elaborateness of the bindings on their shelves?"

He stresses how important a variety of books are studied for this; both fancy and cheap, or even temporary bindings. For example, books made 'with extremely cute construction and decoration' can lead to 'the suspicion that they were made locally, perhaps by someone who was not a binder by trade.'

An interesting topic in regards to historical binding history, is in the way that books importance are often placed on the contents when situated in museums or libraries, but to the bookbinding researcher, there is a lack of places that place importance on the binding and what it reveals about its history. This can mean that for the researcher, the contents is no longer useful, but rather a piece context of the books history. 

Pearson ends the article with hopes that he has convinced the reader that ordinary bindings are just as interesting and important as fine ones;

"...that ordinary-looking bit of blind tooled calf has just as much of a story to tell as a glitzy bit of gold-tooled goatskin, and treat it with equal respect."

He stresses preservation what we have whatever it is and urges to ask different kinds of questions, not just about the binding as a work of art, but why it was made like this, and what might its story tell.