Cloth Book

Bookbinding – I Am The Covering Material Of A Well Bound Book

Within the realm of craft bookbinding, there are many materials that are used as a covering medium. Some are very expensive, like vellum which can cost over £100.00 for a small skin of 5 square feet, through to lightweight book cloths, which can be had a for a few pounds per square yard.

But it is no use using expensive vellum as a bookbinding material, unless all the other factors that go to make a well bound book are employed.

So, I could be vellum, I have been used for centuries as a bookbinding material, and no one can question that a book well bound in vellum with a scarlet leather label titled in gold leaf, looks positively regal in appearance. Not only that, but well done such a bookbinding should last centuries.

I could also be bound in one of several leathers, but once again, no use employing costly leathers unless the rest of the structure of the book is of similar quality, in bookbinding it often comes down to a question of balance, a costly leather means costly additions to the structure. A simple binding in book cloth requires much less in the way of complicated structure.

Goatskin and calf are the leathers most used in craft bookbinding; both of them if properly tanned should prove a durable covering material.

Morocco leather is made from goatskin, there is at least one company I know of who still produce a hand grained Morocco bookbinding leather, that is Hoffmann of Germany.

Calf has been used for many centuries as a bookbinding material, being a flat and featureless leather, it was subject to more forms of decoration than any other leather, it was marbled with ferric compounds to produce a bewildering array of designs and patterns.

Being a very smooth leather it also lent itself very well to gold leaf decoration.

Not all leathers require a costly hidden structure, there are thin sheepskin skivers which can be treated like bookcloth, and do not require the sort of hidden structure that a book bound in full thickness bookbinding in Morocco would require.

Library quality buckram is a very strong and durable material. Made of closely woven linen, and given a washable coating, it will last at least as long as good quality leather. It is a relatively thick material, though the buckram being made now is quite flexible.

There is a material called “crash canvas”, this is a heavyweight cloth filled with starch (more or less), I feel it has more character than library buckram, but it is not washable, so finds little employ in library work.

Lastly let us come to the various lightweight book cloths, though not as strong or as durable as buckram, none the less they have been used a great deal in the past, and continue to be used today.

Some of these book cloths are made from man made fibres and have a paper backing, there is another book cloth which is a simple close cotton weave which has been filled with a starch, hence they are known as “starch filled book cloths”.

So I could be vellum, leather, buckram or book cloth, all these materials are strong and have proved their worth over centuries.

If I were any of these I would be able to say, I am the covering material of a well bound book.

By Richard Norman

About the Author

Eden Workshops At the Eden Workshops we are devoted to craft bookbinding. Here you will find free bookbinding tutorials, learn at home DVD’s and equipment and materials.

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