MATERIALS
In a recent pamphlet issued by the Government Printing Office, containing a list of materials and articles used in the printing and binding of public documents, the number of items for binding alone reaches the surprising total of 171. Many of these are materials used in marbling, others indicate slight variations of color and weight in standard leathers and cloths. But exclusive of all these the number of materials called for is over forty.
It is not the writer's purpose to discuss all of these forty or more materials, but it seems necessary to mention that many materials other than those used in covering books (always some kind of cloth or leather) are used in binding. Furthermore, the strength of the book after it is bound will depend almost as much upon the materials used in its inner construction as upon those used in covering it. The inner materials, if not wisely selected as to quality or in reference to the kind of service which the book is to receive, may cause an otherwise excellently bound book to give poor service.
In general, however, a reference to binding materials means those which are used in covering books. It is the cover which renders a book attractive or unattractive, and which contributes more than any other one item, except possibly sewing, to the long life of the book. We should therefore know the initial cost of different covering materials and the length of service which each material will give under different conditions. When they are not imitations we should be able to recognize the best-known materials, either on or off the books. An unscrupulous binder can easily take advantage of ignorance of these matters.
So far as the librarian is concerned only two classes of materials need be considered for the covers of books—leathers and book cloths. This does not indicate a restriction of choice, for when we consider that leather comes from a large number of animals, that there are a great many different kinds of cloth, that cloths and leathers can be obtained in a great variety of colors, there seems to be an embarrassment of riches. As a matter of fact most librarians confine themselves to four kinds of leather and four or five kinds of cloth, each in three or four different shades.