CHAPTER IV.

What with bad paper and bad leather, the librarian of the present is confronted with two serious problems. In spite of the Society of Arts' adverse criticism in 1898, much paper is still made of mechanical wood pulp, and more badly overloaded with clay, in both cases causing much anxiety and expenditure to the librarian who attempts to cope successfully with the defect. The soft, spongy leaves, like blotting-paper, that are chiefly composed of wood pulp, can best be dealt with in the very expensive way of inlaying each page in a surround of sound, true paper. But there is another expedient, which I have not tried, which may to some extent be useful; it is to enclose each leaf within a network of fine open silk net, made on purpose. In either case re-sewing and re-binding is necessary.

With regard to the clay-laden paper on which many books are printed, the case is equally serious and equally costly. Fine monotone illustrations produced by the half-tone method, and colour illustrations produced by the three-colour process, are now always made on this sort of paper, which has a beautifully fine and even surface. The paper, however, will not allow any stitching to keep it in place, so it rapidly falls out. Then it has either to be inlaid in a sound paper surround or else entirely mounted on a sound piece of paper or jaconet; and if there are many plates this involves re-binding and an ugly thickening of the book. There is, however, a new method, which may prove of real value: the actual print is made on a very thin paper, which is at once laid down on a sound sheet.

All these operations are expensive as at present provided for in most libraries. They require great care and skill, and take a long time; and it may safely be said that any trustworthy binder entrusted with such work, which is quite out of the ordinary schedule, is fully justified in charging highly for it. The necessary materials are, however, quite simple, so that if there should be a skilled binder on the staff, all such work can practically be done and counted at the cost of time-work only--an immense saving.

There are numerous other small accidents which befall books in all public libraries about which the same things may be said--accidental ink-spots, leaves crushed from a fall, torn places, cut places, damp or wet marks found out in time; all these are expensive to send out and cheap to do on the premises. Besides this, in many cases such as ink-stains or wet an immediate treatment is often quite successful, whereas a delayed treatment can rarely be so.

All this comes under the category of small repairs; but there are other matters which rank a little higher in the bookbinding world which can also be easily and effectively done by a resident binder with few appliances. In all libraries there are a number of pamphlets and thin books which come under the usual binder's schedule at a fair price, but which, if dealt with by the "stabbed" method on the premises, will be equally strong at about one-third the cost. An ordinary octavo periodical, measuring 10 by 7 inches, and 1-1/4 inches thick, can, with the help of a cheap stabbing machine, be strongly and effectively bound for about 10d., with boards, cloth back, paper sides, and lettered in hand type on a paper label. I showed a specimen to the Library Association on Dec. 18, 1902, when I read a paper on the subject, and it was much approved. I do not advise the stabbing for a book of value, but it does admirably for unimportant books, and is quick and easy to do.

It might be worth pointing out that in binding in this way a collection of pamphlets of the same size, the collection can easily be taken to pieces for insertion of a new piece, if required, without further injury to the pamphlets already stabbed.

Next to this comes binding proper, books sewn with sewn-in bands or flexible, then properly forwarded and finished. This is all skilled work, and if any library is able to afford it there is no question but that a large saving would be effected, both in money and in efficiency, if it would set up a small bindery of its own. I think, however, that it would not be wise to set up such a bindery unless some member of the superior staff has gone through the binding shops and is able to bind a book properly himself. [N.B.--In London the practical knowledge is very difficult to obtain, as the Technical Education Board of the London County Council does not admit amateurs.] Without this knowledge it is impossible to know whether a book is truly or fraudulently bound.

A very common fault is that binders will not draw the ends of the bands of a book properly in to the boards. They cut off the ends of the bands or scrape them so thin that they are of no strength--this is done so that the joint should look quite flat. The result is that when the cloth, buckram, or leather with which the back is covered, gives way, off come the boards; the book is then sent to a binder, who sticks a new strip of leather along the back, and letters it, and charges the same as for re-binding, the operation is done by one's own binder with own leather, costing about a few pence only. In a properly forwarded book with the bands properly drawn in, the boards are very securely fastened and may well remain so for hundreds of years, irrespective of whatever substance is used to cover the back. If the sewing of an old book is still sound, but the ends of the bands are broken off, new bands can be added by means of tape glued over the old ones and then fastened on to the boards and properly covered with a new bit of leather. Sometimes when they are sound, the remaining ends of old bands will bear a new bit sewn on to them. In all repairs care should be taken to match any old leather that can be retained as nearly as possible. The proper sewing and forwarding of the book is the integral part of the binding, the outer covering is of little real use except for the protection of the threads which in the case of a flexible sewn book would soon wear through if not enclosed. The outer covering of a book, however, has great decorative possibilities and has been for centuries a much valued field for designers, jewellers, enamellers, goldsmiths, and workers in blind and gold tooling. Much fine decorative work done on modern calf and bright coloured leathers will probably perish in a very few years.

The question, therefore, of quality and soundness of the leather used for covering the proper sewing of a book is of much importance. There is strong need for sound leather, which is difficult to get, and ordinary persons, even bookbinders and librarians themselves, cannot by a simple inspection discriminate between new good leather and new bad leather because there is no apparent difference.

We are in the hands of our leather merchants, and although several firms are now willing to sell leathers under guarantee of freedom from sulphuric acid, all are not yet so inclined. I should advise all librarians who do their own binding to accept no leather without a written guarantee of freedom from sulphuric acid, and even then I should send a cutting to Dr. Parker for examination.

With regard to the trade aspect of employing a binder directly to work on a time agreement, I am authoritatively informed that, provided the workman is paid the full trade union wage, and properly located, there is no objection to his employment in this manner. On the other hand, as I have hinted before, I think that such a workman requires some skilled supervision, so here, again, I would urge that in every library one of the superior staff should be a competent binder himself. Given such a skilled supervisor and a small body of skilled binders under his authority, there is no doubt whatever that much money would be saved in the administration of any library, and a multitude of invaluable small repairs would be possible, which under ordinary conditions must be left alone to accumulate and get worse and worse.

I am pleased to say that there are already valuable corroborations of this view in actual working, and I am permitted to cite the case of the Hull Public Library, whose report on the binding for 1901 is before me. During this year I find that the work done comprised--

3,024 volumes bound (all sizes, average 1s. 6-1/5d. per volume).

247 volumes re-sewn (with new sides to 113 volumes).

306-1/2 dozen volumes lettered and 114-1/2 dozen volumes alterations in numbers.

46 reading cases made.

Repairs, maps and sundries.

The cost of the above work was-- £ s. d. WAGES 210 4 4 MATERIALS-- £ s. d. Millboards 25 8 4 Cloth 11 2 4 Tapes 3 3 0 Paste and glue 3 16 6 Calico 7 10 2 Gold leaf 4 9 3 Leathers 41 8 6 Thread 5 2 1 Gas, carriage, &c. 9 8 6 End papers 7 8 6 ---------- 118 17 2 ------------ £329 1 6 ============

The mere enumeration of these materials shows the immense value of the system, enabling the administration to accomplish numbers of small repairs, each of which would have cost very much more if they had been done by an outside bookbinder.

The report for 1902 is similar, but the sum spent is £396 1s. 11d., and the work done was--

3,756 volumes bound (all sizes) average 1s. 7-1/3d. per volume.

6,901 volumes lettered and 1,098 volumes alterations in numbers.

Maps mounted and repairs.

In 1903 we find an expenditure of £397 7s. 4d., and work done--

3,465 volumes bound, all sizes (1s. 8-1/7d. per vol.). 633 " re-cased. 1,697 " repaired and glued up. 3,241 " numbered, and 224 volumes numbers altered. 77 reading cases made. 50 boxes for application forms made. 589 sheets of ordnance maps mounted and repaired.

The increased cost in binding "is principally owing to extra labour incurred in preparing the books for sewing, necessary in consequence of the poor quality of paper on which books are now printed, and the method of sewing adopted by publishers."

Here we begin to find the result of the bad paper of to-day, and we must also note the warning to publishers contained in the last paragraph. I can thoroughly endorse it, and I know that nine out of ten new books are so badly put together that it takes a long time and much trouble to pull them to pieces before they can be properly sewn.

For 1904 there is an expenditure of £416 16s. 6d., and the work done--4,352 volumes bound (average cost 1s. 8-1/2d. per vol.), and various items of mounting ordnance maps, always a very expensive operation, re-sewing, lettering, and miscellaneous repairs, all very necessary and, if sent out, very costly. It will be noted that the cost of binding per volume is steadily increasing, and this not because the work is better done, but because of the bad quality of the paper and sewing as sent out by publishers. Books are sent out fastened by little wire clips, which rust, and have to be very carefully extracted before a book can be properly sewn. These little clips are abominations, and the process of removing them, however carefully done, is likely to cause damage which must be repaired in its turn. Then machine sewing has not yet reached its final stage; there is a difficulty about the return of one of the threads, and it is clumsily brought back by tearing through the upper and lower extremities of each section. This damage is glued up and hidden by a head-band stuck on, but when the book is pulled so that it may be properly sewn, the torn parts have to be laboriously mended.

My thanks are due to Mr. William F. Lawton, the librarian of the Hull Public Libraries, who has most courteously given me the particulars I asked him for; and he tells me further that his books are all half-bound, mostly in sealskin--a very valuable leather; also that he is getting a far better binding both as regards the quality of the materials used and the highest average he mentions, 1s. 8-1/2d. per volume for a satisfactory binding must be something of a revelation to most librarians, whose average, even if they employ the cheapest binder in their neighbourhood, must be very much higher than this, and in all likelihood the work and materials not in any way near the same standard of excellence.

There is another point about an old library which is of much importance, and for which the services of a regular working binder are invaluable. This is the periodical cleaning and polishing of books. It is no use to try to clean old books with water; it will do more harm than good. But until some competent chemist chooses to suggest a proper dressing, it will be found that a good furniture polish is excellent for the purpose. Among the several skilled members employed in my library, one of the best is always cleaning and polishing old books; in fact, old leather really requires some sort of feeding to keep it in sound condition, and the state of perfect repair in which numbers of 15th century books and books of about that date still are is a remarkable testimony to the excellence of old systems of preparing leather and its permanence if carefully kept. Calf, vellum, and goat-skin all last splendidly, but all do better if kept in the dark and under glass; and it must never be forgotten that damp is one of the worst enemies of both paper and leather. Bookcases should never touch an outer wall, but a ventilation space should always be left between the wall and the back of the bookcase. This should even be done when the bookcase abuts on an inner wall. Bookshelves should never be cleaned or washed with water--only use furniture polish; and vellum books should be kept with their backs inwards, the title, if necessary, being written on the fore-edge. Old vellum books were usually kept so in olden times, as light makes vellum brittle like egg-shell.

Books should be close enough on a shelf to support each other; they should not be allowed to flop about; if they are there will be a tendency to fall away from the upper bands, especially in the case of large books. A simple angle iron, the lower wing being inserted under the last few books on a shelf not full, will enable the books to be kept always at the proper lateral pressure.

Big books, such as newspapers, should have a strong handle loop of leather bound in, coming out about the middle of the back.