Let the durability and neatness of your bindings be the primary requisites. Ornament judiciously and sparingly, rather than carelessly or gaudily.
Poetry and sermons are not to be treated alike, either in colour or degree of ornament to be employed.
The value of a library will be enhanced by the amount of knowledge and taste displayed in the bindings.
Russia leather is no protection against worms, and it speedily cracks along the joint.
Uncut books will command a higher price than those that are cropped.
To bind a book well, it should have ample time to dry after each process.
When you receive a volume from the binder, place it upon your shelf in such a manner that the adjoining volumes will press tightly against it and keep it closed; or, if you lay it upon your table, place other volumes upon it, to prevent the boards from warping, and do not, for some time, use it near the fire.
Upon opening a volume, do not grasp the leaves tightly in your hands. You might thereby break the back. If the book is too tight in the back, lay it upon a flat surface, and open it by taking a few sheets at a time, and lightly pressing upon the open leaves, going thus from the beginning to the end, until the requisite freedom is obtained.
Use a paper-knife, or folder, to cut up the leaves of your uncut books, so that the edges will be smooth and even; otherwise the book will have to be cut down when it is bound.
Do not bind a newly-printed book. It is liable to set off in the pressing.