[Rarebooks] FS: A Short List of Books about Bookbinding

[John & Karen Howell]

Offered today, 7 titles related to book bindings.

1 COCKERELL, Douglas.  Bookbinding, and the Care of Books: A Text-Book for Bookbinders and Librarians.  With Drawings by Noel Rooke and Other Illustrations.  London: Sir Isaac Pitman & Sons, (1945).  The Artistic Crafts Series of Technical Handbooks.  Fourth Edition, sixth printing.  12mo.  7 ½ x 5 inches.  333, [ads 3] pp.  Half-title, frontispiece, 120 figures, tables, glossary, 8 plates, index; text unmarked, foxed.  Quarter beige cloth, green paper over boards, spine and front cover titled in black; binding  square and tight, rubbed, corners bumped, inner hinge cracked.  Ownership signature on front free end-paper.  Good.  $ 15
 
2 LYTTELTON, John Cavendish, 9th Viscount Cobham (1881-1949) and WOOD, Sir Henry Trueman (1845-1929), editors  Report of the Committee on Leather for Bookbinding  Edited for the Society of Arts and The Worshipful Company of Leathersellers by….  London: Published for the Society of Arts by George Bell & Sons, 1905.  4to.  10 ¾ x 7 ½ inches.  [x], 120, [2] pp.  Color frontispiece mounted on black paper which in turn is mounted upon a stub, 19 figures, tables, 11 plates (including 10 tipped-in color plates), index; text clean, unmarked.  Gilt-stamped blue cloth, gray end-papers with recesses where 12 leather samples are mounted in the end-papers, includes sheets of paper loosely laid in which have absorbed offsetting from the leather samples; rubbed.  Bookplate of William P. Wreden.  Includes a sheet of paper titled “A Report of the procedure adopted by Alfred Seymour-Jones to produce the samples of leather illustrated in Plates II. To IX. Inclusive, the whole forming part of the published report of the Society of Arts Bookbinding Committee’s investigations into the decay of bookbinding leathers,” tipped in the preliminaries.  Very Good.
$ 300
SECOND EDITION.  “The first edition of this report was printed in July 1901” is printed on the verso of the half-title.  Explores the problem that many old books had their bindings still in good condition, while others more recently bound had become dilapidated.  Two part report on 1) libraries and bookbinding and 2) on preparation of leathers for bookbinding. 
 
PROVENANCE: William P. Wreden (1910-1995) was a Palo Alto antiquarian bookseller.  Wreden was the descendant of an early San Francisco brewing family.  He was born on a chicken farm in Petaluma, graduated from Galileo High School, and graduated from Stanford University in 1934.  He opened his antiquarian book business in Burlingame in 1937, moving it to Palo Alto after a 1953 fire. 
 
3 MIDDLETON, Bernard C (b.1924).  Restoration of Leather Bindings.  Newcastle, DE; London: Oak Knoll Press; The British Library, 1998.  4to.  xv, 304 pp.  Black-and-white illustrations throughout are photographic or drawings, takes one through the restoration process, bibliography, index; text clean, un-marked.  Maroon cloth, gilt spine, dust-jacket in archival mylar; binding square and tight.  Fine.
$ 75
THIRD EDITION, revised and expanded.  This celebrated book is a classic on the fine art and craft of restoring fine leather bookbinding.
 
4 PLEGER, John J.  Bookbinding: Blank, Edition and Job Forwarding, Loose Leaf Binders, Pamphlet Binding, etc.  Finishing, Hand Tooling, Stamping, Embossing, Gilt Edging, Goffered Edging, Marbling, The Care of Books, Some Inconsistencies in Bookbinding, Incongruity of Binding Styles.  Chicago: Inland Printer Company, 1924.  8vo.  8 ¾ x 6 inches.  xxi, 425 pp.  Black-and-white photographic frontispiece portrait of the author, glossary (entitled “Binding Definitions, Process Terms”), hundreds of illustrations both photographs of binding equipment and drawings of processes, tables, 1 example of red cloth stamped in gilt bound in, double-page color plate with examples of marbled edges; text clean, un-marked.  Blind-stamped green cloth, stamped in gilt, decorative end-papers; binding square and tight, lower corners bumped.  Very Good.
$ 175
Revised Edition of Bookbinding and Its Auxiliary Branches  An exhaustive presentation of the contemporary state of the art of bookbinding in the United States. 
 
5 STROUSE, Norman H.  “English and American Bookbinding: Modern Bibliopegy at its Best.”  To Introduce Modern Fine Bookbinding in England and American, An Exhibition of 84 Bindings.  Stanford and Berkeley: Stanford University Library; Bancroft Library, 1973.  8vo.  8 ¾ x 6 inches.  [ii], 36 pp.  Title-page printed in red and black inks, list of 84 bindings from the collection of Norman H. Strouse, index of binders; text clean, un-marked.  Printed wrappers; binding square and tight, very minor shelf wear.  Very Good.
$ 12
Designed and printed by Alfred and Lawton Kennedy, describes 84 bindings exhibited at Stanford and Berkeley in 1973 and 1974, with discussion of 5 important binderies and a section on 13 important women binders. 
 
Includes 66 Cloth Samples
 
6 TOMLINSON, William and MASTERS, Richard.  Bookcloth, 1823-1980.  A Study of Early Use and the Rise of Manufacture, Winterbottom’s Dominance of the trade in Britain and America, Production Methods and Costs, and the Identification of Qualities and Designs.  Stockport, Cheshire: Dorothy Tomlinson, 1996).  8vo.  10 x 7 inches.  xvi, 143 pp.  Half-title, color frontispiece of Archibald Winterbottom, illustrations throughout (many color), 11 pages with color samples tipped in; text clean, un-marked.  Red cloth, gilt spine; binding square and tight.  Cloth covered slip case.  Fine
$ 250
FIRST EDITION.  The first and only comprehensive study of Winterbottom’s methods of manufacturing book cloth.  “This volume compels the reader to be aware of all the processes that cloth goes through, and the potential hazards involved in manufacturing a consistent product in a range of scores of thousands of ‘effects’ (grains, colors and combinations thereof); with new eyes and respect for the people who made them.”  From Bernard Middleton’s Foreword.  Originally published at $ 500.00. 
 
7 [Zaehnsdorfs]  BROOMHEAD, Frank.  The Zaehnsdorfs (1842-1947): Craft Bookbinders.  (Middlesex): Private Libraries Association, 1986.  LIMITED EDITION of 2,250 copies, 1,000 for sale.  8vo.  10 x 6 1/4 inches.  109 pp.  Half-title, title-page vignette, illustrated throughout in black-and-white with photographs of people and places, examples of the work, bookplates, and more, index; text clean, unmarked.  Maroon cloth, spine titled in gilt, top edge stained, no jacket as issued; binding square and tight, minor shelf wear.  Very Good.  $ 35
 
TERMS OF SALE: Subject to Prior Sale.  10 % discount to the trade. Postage and insurance to be billed at cost. Check or PayPal preferred; credit cards also accepted. Institutions, dealers known to us, and prior customers in good standing may request invoice; otherwise CWO. All items are guaranteed, returnable and fully refundable within 30 days of receipt, provided prior notice of return given. CA sales tax where applicable, unless valid resale certificate provided or on file. Call or e-mail to reserve.

Thank you for your consideration

John Howell
310 367-9720
www.johnhowellforbooks.com