329. General.
329. General.—Public library binding is an art by itself, and is quite distinct from ordinary commercial bookbinding on the one hand, and artistic binding on the other. A binding which is strong enough to withstand the handling of its owner and his friends, and beautiful enough to please the taste of the fastidious amateur, may be practically useless in a position where it may have to endure the handling of hundreds, or even thousands, of different persons, all of whom are not equally educated in the proper use of books. A public library book requires to be bound neatly and strongly, with particular regard to the integrity of the stitching rather than to its mere covering, although this has to be considered in the case of much-used reference books.
330.
330. For public library work only good binders who are experienced in this particular class of bookbinding should be employed. In many cases, especially in small towns, the work turned out by local binders is about as bad as it can well be, and just as likely to lead to the rapid destruction of books as to their preservation. Cheapness does not in this matter necessarily mean economy, nor is good workmanship often an accompaniment of low prices. It may be said generally that library binding is one of the items of maintenance which no library can afford to have done cheaply and badly. It is much better, in the long run, for a library in a small provincial town to send its work to a recognized bookbinder in a large town, and even to pay carriage both ways, than to depend upon the local bookseller or stationer, who only knows about the casing of magazines. A good binder will bind a book in a manner which will enable the boards to outlive the leaves, while a poor workman will require to have his work done over again very soon, if, meanwhile, his rough and unscientific methods have not tended to shorten the existence of the book.
331.
331. The question of binding books from the sheets, or rebinding cloth- and paper-board books in leather, before putting them in circulation, has been much debated, though it is really not a very formidable or difficult matter after all. As no one can foretell with certainty whether or not any given book is going to be popular and much used, it is manifestly a mistake to have any book re-bound, or specially bound from the sheets, until this very important point has been ascertained. Time alone can determine whether a book is going to be popular, and for this reason there seems little economy or gain in specially binding new books at the outset. Books in publishers’ cloth bindings, when printed on paper of fair quality, will often circulate from twenty to forty times before attaining a condition which requires re-binding, and when strongly and properly rebound in leather or other boards will outlast the book. Some claims have been advanced with regard to the durability of various styles of binding, but it is impossible to ignore the fact that it is the paper of the book and not the covers of the binding which forms the weak point.
The Great War has rendered this paper problem an acute one. For a few years before 1914 librarians had induced a few publishers to produce some classes of books on a superior paper, and in a reinforced binding—that is, one according to the Society of Arts and Library Association recommendations—but the war conditions not only stopped all this, they prevented the importation of paper and paper-materials. Hence the most appalling rubbish was made to serve the purpose of book-paper, with disastrous results for almost all books published from 1915-19. Few books published in that period are in materials that will last without any particular use for a decade, and far fewer will stand the handling of public library readers or bear re-binding in any material heavier than cloth. The public acquiesced in these materials as a war necessity; it has yet to be seen if the publishers, having found the public apparently contented with them, will persist in their use when they become cheaper. Every effort must be made to prevent it.
Dirt is also as potent a factor as rough usage in shortening the life of a book, and it really matters little what kind of special materials or stitching are employed since no book’s existence can be prolonged beyond a certain term of years when dirt and inferior paper are such important elements in the matter. There are other factors in the question of binding from sheets, and one is the difficulty of obtaining the necessary copies from publishers. Another is the fact that some cheap novels cannot be had in quires at all, and, consequently, any advantage which may result from unused sheets giving a better and firmer hold for stitching cannot be obtained. The durability of new books re-bound in special materials has been somewhat exaggerated, and librarians and committees should first adopt the ordinary method of allowing use to determine the books which require re-binding. But experiments should also be tried with special re-binding and other plans in order to ascertain what is best; and a good general rule will probably emerge—no book should be bound so well that the cover is in excellent condition long after the inside has been worn beyond redemption.