18th Century Trade Binding

As the number of books being produced increased quickly after the invention of moveable (letterpress) type, binders who were still making books entirely by hand struggled to keep up. Numerous time-saving measures were developed during the first four hundred years of letterpress printing, between the mid-fifteenth and early nineteenth centuries. Yet, the basic structure of leather binding during this time remained the same: the bookblock was sewn onto supports, the spine was shaped, paper boards were laced on, and the book was covered in leather thin enough to be flexible but thick enough to offer support to the joints. This booklet describes the techniques used to construct a leather-covered book based on binding practices in the eighteenth century. Many of the time saving measures developed by binders and some of the luxury features of books of this era are also discussed.