C19 Bookbinding Session

From the UW binding collection

• c18 paper wrappers - 1734 French Recuil de Pouesies Prouvencalos (Berte, 1734)
  • glued to spine
  • cover is short - too small for text block
  • quires sown so as to be easily removed - utilitarian
  • these especially common in France
• Appel au Tribunal de l'Opinion Publique, Mounier (1790, Geneva)
  • trimmed deckle edges: decided to be "final" binding
  • des bib useful for understanding how it came off the press
  • color of paper from rag content - not dyed (bluish grey, lighter grey)
• Marbling
  • marbling tray
  • allum makes color stick
  • version of watercolor, which is floated on size: you have 2-3 min to be able to manipulate color
  • size: caraginan moss infused water - sticky
  • lay paper on size without air bubbles
  • wash off: allum makes color stick
  • editions difficult
  • Richard Wolf - marbling
• Paste paper: Herodian, Herodians lebens-leshchreibung de romischen kaiser (1784)
  • waste paper pressed and dried
  • colored with whatever you have around
  • decorative paper any bookbinder could do
  • Mostly German
• Transitions: spine labeling
  • Blank -> handwritten (all unique) -> printed: a way to date binding
• Paste paper with leather spine (1787)
  • handle lettering: one off usually (vs. edition)
  • very hard to do gilt tooling well: have to do in blind first
  • Paul Bonet - bookbinder - whoever did his gilt tooling was the best