Library Bookbinding

over $40,000 a year for this one item. It must be admitted that these are large sums and that a knowledge of binding materials and processes is necessary in order to spend this money wi

oes not desire more

e easily wasted. Possibly one reason for the ignorance about binding is that, except in a minor degree, it does not directly affect the public, for librarians are quick to make changes which will incr

line of adapting different methods to different books, according to the paper on which they are printed, or according to the kind of use they will receive. It is reaso

from fiction which must be kept on the shelves, but which is not popular; it is easily apparent that McCutcheon's "Graustark" should be bound differently from Henry James' "Golden bowl." Heavy reference books constantly consulted should be bound differently from reference books used only occasionally,

t depend on the initial cost per volume, but on the ratio of cost to circulation. This is a point first brought out by Mr. J. C. Dana in his "Notes on bookbinding for libraries," and one on which it is impossible to lay too much emphasis. A book which costs 35c. to bind and which circulates 35 times has cost one cent for each time it has been issued after rebinding; while a book which has cost 50c. to bind and has been issued 100 times (a fair average for a 50c. binding) costs one half cent for each time it has been issued. Obviously t

f the strengthening processes which must be used on fiction and juveniles may be omitted. It should be noted that while this is true of public libraries, th

ee general ki

ial, or edi

istic b

brary

e. From their point of view they cannot be severely blamed for making strength a secondary consideration. By far the largest part of their product is sold to individuals, and the strength of the binding is adequate for the amount of use that these books will receive. From the library point of view, however, publishers' bindings are entirely inad

or workmanship, would make most books outside of fiction sufficiently strong to withstand all the wear that they will receive. Unfortunately the publishers fail to realize this, and books by the thousands come from the binderies covered on the

One has only to turn to the 1912 edition of the Century Dictionary or to the United States Catalog, which are practically machine bound throughout, to realize this f

and the main object in view is beauty, it follows, of course, that such books are much stronger than those bound by publishers. But the strength of these books is in many cases not proof against the wear that they would receive in libraries. No special methods of sewing or strengthening the first and last sections are

s. Library binding is all hand work. Although machine binding can be made exceedingly strong, machines cannot be used on library binding, because the books vary so much in size and lettering. The main reason why commercial binding can be done by machinery is because a large number of books a