Library Bookbinding

by Arthur Low Bailey

2. The book can remain in circulation at the time when it is most needed. Formerly one of the greatest trials in public libraries was the necessity of withdrawing from the shelves practically all the copies of a popular novel in order to send them to the bindery where they remained from four to six weeks, the public meanwhile hurling anathemas at the librarian for not providing sufficient copies of the book. Not only were the books out of circulation when most needed, but much time was used in preparing them for the bindery, checking them up on return, putting on the library marks of ownership, making cards, marking pockets, etc., all of which added to the expense. Today, in the case of new novels which are sure to be popular, such troubles are unnecessary. Instead of buying the original publishers' binding, the wise librarian buys a sufficient number of copies bound from the sheets; if the binding is properly done, he need pay no more attention to them until they are worn out. He has done what he could to prevent the public from becoming dissatisfied, and he has saved the cost of the work required to send them to the bindery.

3. Not only has he served his public better and saved the time of assistants, but in most cases he has actually saved money on his binding bills. Let us suppose that he pays $1.50 for a book bound from the sheets; and suppose that he also buys a copy of the same book in the publisher's cover at a cost of $1.22, which, after it has been issued twenty times, has to be bound at a cost of 50 cents, making a total cost of $1.72. If they are issued the same number of times there is a clear saving of 22 cents in favor of the book bound from the sheets. As a matter of fact, however, statistics kept by the Wilmington Institute Free Library indicate that the first book will be issued 125 times before it is discarded, and the second 100 times—twenty before binding and eighty afterward. If this be true, it is clear that there is a further saving, provided that both have to be replaced when finally worn out.

While these advantages are well worth considering, the librarian should not necessarily get all his books in this form. It is a plan which is peculiarly advantageous in the case of fiction and those few other books which are in constant use. In the case of juvenile books one must be cautious. Juvenile books, particularly books for boys, become soiled so much more quickly than the adult books that they frequently have to be discarded because they are dirty rather than because they are worn out. If the books were bound before purchase the library may have lost money, because one can frequently buy a publisher's book and rebind it more cheaply than he can purchase the book bound from the sheets.

Most books in the classes should be purchased in the regular publisher's binding unless they are constantly used. In other words, the use a book is to receive is the test of whether it should be bound from the sheets before purchase. Having decided that the use of a book warrants binding from the sheets, it is well to consider other facts.

1. It may not always be wise to bind from the sheets all the copies of a new book by a well-known author whose works are always popular and likely to continue so for years. If ten copies are approximately sufficient for use during the first year, it is safe to say that in most cases they will be too many for the needs of the library during the second and third years. If they are bound in leather before purchase they will not wear out and during the third and succeeding years a number of them may be deadwood on the shelves. It is therefore wiser to buy a few copies in leather binding and the others either in a regular publishers' binding, or in some publisher's cover reinforced. When these volumes have come to the point where they need binding the period of greatest popularity may have passed and they may be withdrawn, thus saving the library the expense of binding.

2. When the book is finally worn out and must be withdrawn from circulation, the question always arises, must it be replaced with a new copy? The majority of fiction and juvenile books so replaced are books of wide popularity. Occasionally a book, such as Henry James' "Princess Casamassima," or W. D. Howells' "Modern instance," is replaced because the library must have it on the shelves, not because it is popular. But ordinarily the popularity of a book is the determining factor in replacing worn-out copies. The decision to replace carries with it the decision to keep a book on the shelves indefinitely. Since the book has proved its worth and is to receive hard wear, the reasons which prevailed against buying it in a strong binding when it was new no longer exist. The strongest binding that can be obtained suited to the strength of the paper is none too strong.

Perhaps the most vehement objection to books bound from the sheets comes from those librarians who have a strong sense of aesthetic values and who claim that these books are not so attractive to the eyes as the regular books in their bright and gay publishers' covers. The objection is valid. It must be admitted that the leather-covered books have the appearance of strength and serviceability, but not of beauty. If a reader knows that he wishes a particular book, he will not be prevented from taking it because of its appearance, but if it is bound in leather and he knows nothing about it, he will very likely pass it over and select some book which has a bright, attractive cover. This is true even of adults, while of children it is doubly true. A large part of the popularity of that well-known book, "Fighting a fire," is due to the attractive cover which almost always excites the interest of boys who happen to see it.

Although the first cost of books bound from the sheets is always greater than that of books in the regular publishers' covers, it is hoped that the economy of buying them under certain conditions has been made clear. There is, however, a cheaper way of buying some books which one would otherwise obtain in this form. Every year many copies of popular fiction and juvenile books find their way to the shelves of second-hand book dealers. Some of these copies show signs of wear, while some of them are in excellent condition. In any event it is always wise to submit a list of replacements to some large dealer in second-hand books; to buy such books as may be obtained from him (generally at considerably less than one-half the published price); and to send them at once to a good library binder for rebinding before placing upon the shelves of the library. In this way one should get from 25 per cent to 33-1/3 per cent of fiction replacements in a substantial binding at a cost much less than the cost of a book in the original publishers' binding.

REINFORCED BOOKS

For those who wish strong bindings, but who wish them attractive also, reinforced bindings can be recommended. Reinforced books are those which have been strengthened either by the publishers in the regular course of manufacture, or by some binder who takes the book as it comes from the publisher, removes the cover, strengthens the book and puts it back into the same cover. A reinforced book generally appears in the attractive publisher's cover, and it always appears in some form of cloth, never in leather.