[Naudé On Binding]
“The fourth is, to retrench & cut off all the superfluous expences, which many prodigally and to no purpose bestow upon the binding and ornaments of their Books, and to employ it in purchasing such as they want, that so they may not be obnoxious to that censure of Seneca, who handsomly reproaches those, Quibus voluminum suorum frontes maxime placent titulique; & this the rather, that the binding is nothing but an accident & form of appearing, without which (at least so splendid and sumptuous) Books become altogether as useful, commode & rare; it becoming the ignorant onely to esteem a Book for its cover; seeing it is not with Books, as it is with men, who are onely known and respected for their robes and their clothes, so that it is a great deal better, and more necessary, for example, to have a good quantity of Books, well & ordinarily bound, than to have a little Chamber or Cabinet full of washed, gilded, ruled, and enriched with all manner of nicity, lux and superfluity.”
From John Evelyn’s translation of Gabriel Naudé’s “Instructions Concerning Erecting of a Library.” London. 1661. Chapter 5.
[Preface to Second and Revised Edition]
In the first edition of this book I said that it ought not to be taken as a final authority, but as a set of suggestions which I hoped would arouse interest in the subject of library binding and lead a few to pursue the subject further. Some of the changes made for this edition indicate that I have followed the topic a little further myself,—I hope with advantage to my readers.