ely protect books, can be seen from the large number
of fifteenth and sixteenth century bindings now existing on books
still in excellent condition. That bindings are made, that fail to
protect books, may be seen by visiting any large library, when it will
be found that many bindings have their boards loose and the leather
crumbling to dust. Nearly all librarians complain, that they have to
be continually rebinding books, and this not after four hundred, but
after only five or ten years.

It is no exaggeration to say that ninety per cent. of the books bound
in leather during the last thirty years will need rebinding during the
next thirty. The immense expense involved must be a very serious drag
on the usefulness of libraries; and as rebinding is always to some
extent damaging to the leaves of a book, it is not only on account of
the expense that the necessity for it is to be regretted.

The reasons that have led to the production in modern times of
bindings that fail to last for a reasonable time, are twofold. The
materials are badly selected or prepared, and the method of binding is
faulty. Another factor in the decay of bindings, both old and new, is
the bad conditions under which they are often kept.

The object of this text-book is to describe the best methods of
bookbinding, and of keeping books when bound, taking into account the
present-day conditions. No attempt has been made to describe all
possible methods, but only such as appear to have answered best on old
books. The methods described are for binding that can be done by hand
with the aid of simple appliances. Large editions of books are now
bound, or rather cased, at an almost incredible speed by the aid of
machinery, but all work that needs personal care and thought on each
book, is still done, and probably always will be done, by hand.
Elaborate machinery can only be economically employed when very large
numbers of books have to be turned out exactly alike.

The ordinary cloth "binding" of the trade, is better described as
casing. The methods being different, it is convenient to distinguish
between casing and binding. In binding, the slips are firmly attached
to the boards before covering; in casing, the boards are covered
separately, and afterwards glued on to the book. Very great efforts
have been made in the decoration of cloth covers, and it is a pity
that the methods of construction have not been equally considered. If
cloth cases are to be look