made with brown paper. Then leather so
thin as to have but little strength, but used because it is easy to
work and needs no paring, would be stuck on. The back would often be
full gilt and lettered, and the sides sprinkled or marbled, thus
further damaging the leather.

In every large library hundreds of books bound somewhat on these lines
may be seen. When they are received from the binder they have the
appearance of being well bound, they look smart on the shelf, but in a
few years, whether they are used or not, the leather will have
perished and the boards become detached, and they will have to be
rebound.

As long as librarians expect the appearance of a guinea binding for
two or three shillings, such shams will be produced. The librarian
generally gets his money's worth, for it would be impossible for the
binder to do better work at the price usually paid without materially
altering the appearance of the binding. The polished calf and
imitation crushed morocco must go, and in its place a rougher,
thicker leather must be employed. The full-gilt backs must go, the
coloured lettering panel must go, the hollow backs must go, but in the
place of these we may have the books sewn on tapes with the ends
securely fastened into split boards, and the thick leather attached
directly to the backs of the sections. (See specification III. page
307.)

Such a binding would look well and not be more expensive than the
usual library binding. It should allow the book to open flat, and if
the materials are well selected, be very durable, and specially strong
in the joints, the weak place in most bindings. The lettering on the
back may be damaged in time if the book is much used, but if so it can
easily be renewed at a fraction of the cost of rebinding, and without
injury to the book.

While the majority of books in most libraries must be bound at a small
cost, at most not exceeding a few shillings a volume, there is a large
demand for good plain bindings, and a limited, but growing, demand for
more or less decorated bindings for special books.

Any decoration but the simplest should be restricted to books bound as
well as the binder can do them. The presence of decoration should be
evidence that the binder, after doing his best with the "forwarding,"
has had time in which to try to make his work a beautiful, as well as
a serviceable, production.

Many books, although well bound, are better left plain, or with only a
little de