,,the ,,bookbinder in ,eighteenth-,century ,williamsburg ,an ,account of his ,life ,times1 of his ,craft ,williamsburg ,craft ,series ,,williamsburg ,published by ,colonial ,williamsburg ,,mcmxc ,illustration3 ,decorative border ,the ,bookbinder in ,eighteenth-,century ,williamsburg ,illustration3 ,illustrated capital ,i ,in ,october #aggj the inventory of the personal estate of ,lord ,botetourt1 ,his ,majesty's ,governor ,general of ,virginia1 contained a catalogue of books in the library at the ,palace1 made after his death by his executors4 ,the shelves held over three hundred volumes4 ,today this library has been recreated by ,colonial ,williamsburg using the inventory list and other information on books in print at that time4 ,the actual library of ,lord ,botetourt was sent back to ,england--and was lost at sea4 ,much about the ,governor can be deduced from the books he owned--plus a few he had borrowed and neglected to return4 ,his interests ranged over the whole field of human knowledge1 with particular emphasis on history1 literature1 law1 and politics4 ,however1 it is not with the substance but with the form of these volumes in the renewed library that we are concerned4 ,for us the important fact is that1 with a few exceptions1 they are eighteenth-century books in eighteenth-century bindings4 ,the visitor who pauses only for a moment to look at them will see that most of them share certain outward characteristics3 ,illustration3 ,bound book4 ,they are bound in leather1 with brown calfskin predominant2 ,their spines are crossed by a number of horizontal ridges2 ,the title 7abbreviated7 usually appears in gold leaf on a small panel of colored leather glued to the spine1 and sometimes the author's name1 too2 ,the spine may also bear a moderate amount of decorative gold tooling2 and ,the sides of the volumes1 where visible1 are likely to display blind tooling1 which means ornamental indentations in the surface of the leather1 made without gold leaf4 ,these are the five most noticeable characteristics of books bound in the eighteenth century in ,england or in ,england's ,north ,american colonies4 ,standards of workmanship were on the whole higher in the mother country1 but binders on both sides of the ,atlantic used the same basic methods of bookmaking4 ,the techniques of bookbinding1 in fact1 had not changed much for a very long time4 ,men like ,william ,parks1 ,john ,stretch1 and ,thomas ,brend bound books in eighteenth-century ,williamsburg in essentially the same way as had their predecessors in medieval monasteries a thousand years before4 ,incidentally1 among bookbinding craftsmen one does not mention machine binding2 to the true binder there is no true binding except by hand4 ,the machines of a modern bindery do not bind a book according to the craft tradition1 but case it4 ,therefore1 the words bind1 bookbinding1 bound books1 and so on whenever used in this pamphlet always refer to the traditional hand operation1 never to the machine process or product4 ,and bookbinder herein is always the hand craftsman1 never the machine operator4 ,,an ,,ancient ,,art ,,and ,,mystery ,man learned to write long before he learned to make paper4 ,smooth stones1 clay tiles1 and wax tablets1 among other surfaces1 were early precursors of scratch-pads and typewriter bond4 ,later1 but before the modern form of a paged book developed1 written records were most often kept on long rolls of papyrus1 parchment1 or vellum--the latter two being much alike4 ,the lines of writing sometimes ran the entire length of these rolls1 sometimes they ran crossways1 and sometimes they paralleled the long edge but were divided into columns4 ,the third arrangement is still used in ,jewish scrolls of the law1 which are kept on rollers1 one at each end4 ,such a long strip could1 however1 be folded accordion-like instead of being rolled up4 ,if the folds were made between the columns of writing1 each column became a page and the whole began to resemble the book we are familiar with today4 ,at first these rudimentary books were protected by wooden boards pasted to the first and last pages4 ,as a next step holes were stabbed through every page near the left-hand fold1 and a cord or thong laced through the holes held the accordion together along one side4 ,by the fifth century a method had come into general use of sewing individually folded sheets together one by one1 not to each other but to a series of flexible hinges4 ,these were usually narrow strips of leather--four1 five1 or sometimes six depending on the height of the book--laid across the folded edges of the pages4 ,linen thread sewed through the folds and around each cross-strip in turn held the pages firmly in place4 ,wooden boards affixed to the thongs as well as pasted to the first and last pages protected the whole1 sometimes with the help of metal clasps and even locks4 ,illustration3 ,these methods of preserving written material have now largely been superseded by the printed and bound or machine-cased book3 7,a7 ,diptych or hinged tablet of wood1 ivory1 or the like1 often carved1 whose inner surfaces of wax carried writing impressed by the stylus4 7,b7 ,scroll with columnar writing on a pair of rollers4 7,c7 ,japanese orihon1 accordion-folded and bound along one side4 7,d7 ,codex or early form of book1 an illuminated manuscript protected between thin boards2 our word book comes from the ,german for beech 7,buch71 a wood often used for this purpose4 ,to guard the leather crossbands and linen thread from exposure and wear1 it then became customary to cover the spine of the book with a wide1 vertical strip of leather4 ,later1 for better appearance and greater protection1 the leather covering was extended partway onto the boards 7the so-called half-binding of the medieval period7 and then all the way4 ,thus was developed and perfected the bound book3 a collection of folded sheets sewn together flexibly and protected between covers4 ,its physical structure was largely the creation of monastic craftsmen of the early ,middle ,ages1 just as its literary content throughout that period was most often religious scripture or comment4 ,,books ,,can ,,be ,,beautiful ,speaking only of quality of materials and workmanship1 a book may be bound just as well in a simple cover as in an ornate one4 ,fine binding does not require adornment4 ,it does require the services of a man of high skill and matching integrity1 whose handiwork will inevitably display the quiet beauties of intrinsic quality4 ,but in the hands of men who possess the spark of creative artistry1 bookbinding can be more than pure craft work4 ,although the binder's decorative tools are forever prefixed1 each to reproduce its own set and simple pattern1 they are infinitely flexible in the ways they can be combined4 ,it is not the tool that makes a binding beautiful or ugly1 but the hand that holds the tool--and even more the mind and eye that guide the hand4 ,the history of bookbinding is studded with the names of men who were true artists in leather4 ,for them the most rewarding commission a customer could give was a simple order to dress some work of lasting worth in a binding of appropriate beauty4 ,in the ,middle ,ages all books were rare and valuable4 ,each volume was entirely lettered by hand and its pages were customarily illuminated with elaborately drawn initial letters and gilded marginal decorations4 ,the binding of such a book was likely to be as painstakingly ornate as were its pages1 and a few bindings were quite valuable in themselves4 ,before full leather covers became standard1 the boards of some manuscript volumes--especially for a church altar or a royal library--might even be encased in beaten gold or silver and encrusted with enamel and semiprecious stones4 ,the invention of printing from type1 as everyone knows1 had extremely far-reaching consequences on the spread of public education and enlightenment4 ,it had also some effects that were not so desirable4 ,in the didactic phrase of the ,encyclopedia ,britannica1 ,printing brought small books1 cheap books1 ugly books4 ,now it cannot be denied that most books today are smaller than the great manuscript tomes of the monastic scholars4 ,they are cheaper1 too4 ,but it would be wrong to say that all books bound since ,johann ,gutenberg's day have been ugly4 ,to be sure1 introduction of the printing press increased the flow of work to the bindery4 ,but if the binder could no longer lavish time and care on every volume1 he could still devote high artistry to an occasional book1 steady craftsmanship to all4 ,innumerable examples from the hands of many binders since the fifteenth century attest that the cover of a printed book can be as beautiful as that of a manuscript book4 ,the names of ,nicholas ,eve1 ,clovis ,eve1 ,le ,gascon 7otherwise unknown71 and ,geoffrey ,tory of sixteenth-century ,france1 and ,padeloup and ,le ,monnier in the eighteenth century1 deserve mention4 ,in ,england bindings are not as easily identified with their binders1 but the names of ,thomas ,berthelet1 royal binder to ,henry ,,viii1 and above all ,samuel ,mearne1 binder to ,charles ,,ii1 stand out4 ,roger ,payne was ,england's most distinguished binder in the eighteenth century4 ,before the fifteenth century1 ,european binders usually had worked ornamentation into leather in blind1 that is1 without gold leaf4 ,the technique of applying gold seems to have been perfected by ,islamic leatherworkers of ,mediterranean ,africa1 and brought from ,morocco to ,europe via ,spain and ,italy4 ,sixteenth-century ,french binders carried this kind of adornment to a peak of intricate tooling and lavish gilding4 ,their ,english counterparts1 while they imitated the ,french1 tended to favor simpler designs and less gold leaf4 ,in the late seventeenth century and continuing through the eighteenth1 straight lines rather than curves became characteristic of ,english work4 ,for example1 the broken lines of the cottage style credited to ,samuel ,mearne resembled an outlined roof and walls4 ,later the ,cambridge style became popular in ,england4 ,it consisted of a vertical panel of thin lines 7fillets7 on the sides of the book1 with flower or leaf ornaments 7fleurons7 at the corners and perhaps in the center1 and a narrow lace border around the boards4 ,the example illustrated indicates that colonial binders continued to favor the ,cambridge design until well into the eighteenth century4 ,illustration3 ,left1 cottage style decoration on a #afgd ,bible1 bound in the shop of ,samuel ,mearne of ,london4 ,right1 ,cambridge style binding on a copy of ,muscipula printed in #agbh by ,william ,parks in ,annapolis and bound by him4 ,around #agfj a ,dutch binder developed a method of treating leather with acid to give it a marbled appearance1 and other binders lost no time in prying the secret away from him4 ,first among binders in ,england to learn the technique was an migr ,german1 ,john ,baumgarten1 who made the most of his advantage4 ,as ,thomas ,jefferson wrote to ,robert ,skipwith in #agga1 books bound by ,bumgarden in fine ,marbled bindings cost #ej per cent more than in plain bindings4 ,in addition to national styles and local designs that developed at various times and places1 certain binders perfected individual patterns of their own4 ,in some cases these were so unique as to be almost certain evidence that a book so decorated was bound by the man in question4 ,but not always4 ,as in the case of ,samuel ,mearne1 work identified with the master might actually have been done under his instruction by a journeyman in his shop4 ,among the very large number of eighteenth-century bindings that survive1 the great difficulty is to identify with any certainty the binder of a particular volume4 ,in many instances--perhaps most--it is impossible to be absolutely sure on this point4 ,except in ,france1 binders of the eighteenth century1 or any period1 who signed or labeled their work were relatively rare4 ,one ,english craftsman who did identify his products was ,roger ,payne of ,london4 ,an eccentric and a heavy drinker1 ,payne was nevertheless a careful worker and a creative artist in the bindery4 ,his books are beautifully adorned with patterns built up with small tools that he designed and cut himself4 ,in many of the books he bound1 ,payne included a detailed account of his work4 ,the following statement1 copied in part from a ,bible now owned by ,princeton ,university1 is a good example3 ,letter'd in ye most exact manner1 exceeding rich small ,tool ,gilt ,back of a new pattern studded in ,compartments4 ,the outside finished in the ,richest most elegant ,taste ,richer1 more exact than any ,book that ,i ever ,bound4 ,the insides finished in a new design exceeding elegant4 ,bound in the very best manner sew'd with silk on strong and neat ,bands4 ,the ,back lined with ,russia ,leather under the ,blue morrocco4 ,cover very strong neat ,boards4444 ,,telltale ,,tools ,although some colonial binders labeled their products1 none of the several ,williamsburg bookbinders of colonial days followed ,roger ,payne's admirable precedent4 ,examples of the work of some of them1 however1 have been identified beyond doubt through direct or circumstantial evidence--the latter often derived by processes resembling police detection4 ,clues to the identity of a binder may be found in various facets of printing and binding3 shop records of orders filled1 materials used1 and wages paid2 place and date of publication as given on title pages2 watermarks in the paper2 and recurrent decorative patterns4 ,even contemporary newspaper advertisements may throw light on the matter4 ,illustration3 ,the watermark of paper made in ,william ,park's paper mill near ,williamsburg4 ,it represents the coat of arms of the ,virginia colony4 ,this tracing is taken from ,rutherford ,goodwin1 ,the ,william ,parks ,paper ,mill at ,williamsburg 7,lexington1 ,va41 #aici71 in which he tells how the watermark was once described by a ,new ,englander as resembling two men in long underwear with a basket of fish between them4 ,the parallel vertical lines are the chain lines characteristic of handmade laid paper4 ,evidence of every kind has been used in tracing out the story of the bookbinding craft in ,williamsburg4 ,the surest clues1 especially in tracking down and identifying individual bindings1 have been the distinctive footprints left by the binders' decorating tools4 ,archaeological excavations on the site of the ,printing ,office have yielded examples of these tools1 some for stamping letters and others for impressing the gilded decoration that made the eighteenth-century bookbinder's products as attractive as they were useful4 ,under the eye of microscope and enlarging camera even mass-produced typewriters reveal slight irregularities that are unique to each machine4 ,the brass stamps and rolls used by eighteenth-century binders for working decorations into leather were all made by hand4 ,because of some imperfection in workmanship or simply because ornamental dies were not supposed to duplicate each other1 each tool had its own peculiarities4 ,very often the distinguishing characteristics of the impressions they made are visible to the naked eye4 ,two such telltale tools--both rolls or wheel-like tools used to make continuous border patterns--proved especially useful in tracing the history of ,williamsburg bookbinders and bindings4 ,the trail of one can be followed through the ownership of successive binders for nearly three-quarters of a century4 ,another shows up again and again throughout a fifty-year period4 ,similar clues left by other tools were also helpful in the detective process1 but cannot be dealt with in this brief account4 ,for convenience we shall call the two chief telltales the ,mousetrap roll and the egg roll4 ,they serve almost as indexes to the rest of our story4 ,the impressions made by the original tools1 and the smoke imprint made by modern recuttings of the same tools1 are shown in the accompanying illustration4 ,the ,mousetrap roll owes its name to the publication on which it made its first known appearance1 a ,latin poem entitled ,muscipula1 which means mousetrap4 ,its pattern1 alternating two rather conventional motifs1 is not particularly noteworthy in appearance4 ,nevertheless1 the impression it made was not duplicated by any other roll4 ,illustration3 ,this representation of a book cover shows one of the chief clues followed in tracing the tools used and books bound by ,williamsburg binders4 ,it shows the design on a copy of the ,statutes and ,charter of the ,college of ,william and ,mary printed in ,williamsburg in #agcf by ,william ,parks and bound in his shop4 ,the ,college itself is in ,williamsburg1 of course1 but this volume is in the ,john ,carter ,brown ,library at ,providence1 ,rhode ,island1 and another like it in design is in the ,bodleian ,library1 ,oxford1 ,england4 ,the illustration was made 7except for the magnification7 as a smoke imprint of twentieth-century tools cut in the same pattern as the originals4 ,the inner panel of the ,cambridge style decoration was made by the ,mousetrap roll that ,parks brought with him from ,annapolis4 ,the intermediate rectangle1 made by the egg roll1 reveals the elongated oval that reappeared on other books connected with ,parks and his successors in the ,williamsburg printing offices4 ,the corner fleuron also appeared on earlier ,parks bindings4 ,the egg roll is no more unusual as a pattern1 but gains distinction from the fact that its built-in signature is an obvious mistake4 ,it also alternates two conventional motifs1 a ,maltese cross and a pointed oval or egg4 ,perhaps by looking at the detail of the illustration you can see why this tool identifies itself every time it appears on a binding4 ,apparently the engraver who made the original roll erred in calculating its circumference and came out uneven with his pattern4 ,so he simply made the final oval longer than the others4 ,once seen1 the flaw jumps to the eye from every binding on which it appears and might seem to offer clear proof that all such bindings done within the same period were the work of one man4 ,but even the best circumstantial evidence falls short of perfection4 ,although we can say1 for instance1 that such-and-such bindings came from the shop of ,william ,parks1 we cannot always say that he himself did the work4 ,at one time ,parks appears to have employed as many as eight or nine helpers in his printing office and nearby paper mill4 ,very probably one or more of them was specifically hired to handle the binding end of the business1 just as ,william ,hunter later employed ,john ,stretch to do both bookbinding and bookkeeping4 ,however1 like ,benjamin ,franklin in ,philadelphia1 ,william ,bradford in ,new ,york1 and ,james ,franklin in ,boston1 ,parks was doubtless quite capable of binding a book as well as printing it4 ,eighteenth-century craftsmen of every sort customarily doubled in related crafts3 the silversmith was likely to be a jeweler1 too1 and the cabinetmaker also a house-joiner4 ,printing and binding have always been complementary processes1 and nearly every colonial printer could1 if necessary1 bind the product of his press4 ,,early ,,impressions ,a great many colonial printers also published weekly newspapers1 in whose columns they advertised the job-printing services and stationery wares they had to offer4 ,the colophon of the ,virginia ,gazette of ,october #a1 #agcf1 for instance1 specified that it was printed in ,williamsburg by ,w4 ,,parks4 ,by whom ,subscriptions are taken for this ,paper1 at #ae s4 per ,annum3 and ,,book-,,binding is done reasonably1 in the best ,manner4 ,the first successful printer in ,virginia1 ,parks had been public printer to the colony of ,maryland before he moved to ,williamsburg in #agcj4 ,one of the early publications issued by his ,annapolis shop1 in #agbh1 was the aforementioned book of ,latin verse1 and the three surviving copies are all decorated in the same ,cambridge pattern and all with the roll we have named the ,mousetrap roll4 ,the ,complete ,mariner1 a manuscript volume of navigational exercises with a title page printed in ,williamsburg in #agca1 was doubtless one of the first products of ,parks's shop in ,williamsburg4 ,its cover was handsomely decorated in blind with the ,mousetrap roll and with two other ornaments that also were used on books issued by ,parks's ,annapolis shop and later on bindings done in ,williamsburg4 ,illustration3 ,rolls and small stamps used in the ,williamsburg bindery4 ,the gap in the outer edge of the fillet roll permits the binder to start and stop his impression cleanly4 ,both rolls and stamps must be heated for use and pressed into the leather quite hard4 ,in #agcf ,parks published the ,charter and ,statutes of the ,college of ,william and ,mary1 in ,virginia4 ,three copies survive in their original bindings4 ,two of these--one in ,england1 one in ,america--bear the marks of both the ,mousetrap roll and the egg roll in the simple pattern illustrated on page #aa4 ,the third is more elaborately decorated1 with many small impressions of other tools1 but around the edge is the telltale egg roll4 ,many of the same tools used on this third copy of the ,william and ,mary ,charter1 including the egg roll around the border1 reappear on one copy of a book printed nearly a decade later in ,new ,york4 ,this was ,daniel ,horsmanden's account of a ,negro conspiracy to burn ,new ,york ,city4 ,the copy in question1 now in the ,library of ,congress1 bears the brief title ,new ,york ,conspiracy on its spine4 ,the magnificent library of ,william ,byrd ,,iii at ,westover plantation included a book listed under the same abbreviated title4 ,daniel ,horsmanden was a cousin of ,byrd's4 ,could the ,library of ,congress volume have been bound for ,byrd at the ,williamsburg shop of ,william ,parks8 ,the similarities in tooling--including use of the unmistakeable egg roll--would seem to prove it4 ,another link in the chain of clues appears on the cover of a manuscript volume probably written and bound at about the same time4 ,this was a catalogue of ,byrd's library made by ,john ,stretch1 presumably bound by him1 and decorated with the egg roll and one other tool known from earlier ,williamsburg bindings4 ,stretch may have worked for ,parks before the latter's death in #agej4 ,he was in the employ of ,parks's successor1 ,william ,hunter1 for a number of years4 ,presumably he bound the books that issued from ,hunter's press during this period as well as the blank record books that were a staple item of ,hunter's business4 ,one of these blank books was used by ,george ,washington for copies of his letters and invoices from #agee to #agfe--;and it1 too1 was decorated with the egg roll4 ,one of the few printed books known to have come from ,hunter's shop was a new edition of the ,william and ,mary ,charter1 printed in #ageh4 ,one copy that survives in original covers has another roll also used on the ,washington letter book and small ornaments used on both the earlier edition of the ,charter and on the ,new ,york ,conspiracy1 plus design similarities to both of these and to the ,stretch catalogue of ,byrd's library4 ,a daybook kept by ,william ,hunter during the first two years of his proprietorship of the shop carries the trail a bit farther4 ,a daybook was simply a running record of each day's transactions of all kinds1 more often called a journal nowadays4 ,it would certainly have been bound right in the shop1 and this daybook bears the impress of a stamp previously identified with ,parks's ,annapolis and earliest ,williamsburg imprints4 ,another daybook of the ,williamsburg printing office also survives in original binding4 ,it dates from the time of ,hunter's successor1 ,joseph ,royle1 and almost beyond question was also bound in the shop where it was used4 ,its cover1 not surprisingly1 was tooled in blind with two of the familiar rolls1 including the egg roll4 ,a volume of ,york ,county records also survives from the period of ,royle's proprietorship4 ,its cover shows the impressions of three old standbys3 the egg1 the ,mousetrap1 and a third roll seen on earlier ,williamsburg bindings4 ,,the ,,binding ,,business ,if the outside covers of two printing office daybooks can add a few bits to our story1 the inside pages should be a gold mine of information about bookbinding in colonial ,williamsburg4 ,and so they are4 ,hunter's daybook for the period from ,july #agej through ,june #ageb and ,royle's covering most of #agfd and all of #agfe tell a great deal about the quantity and variety of binding work they did1 the prices they charged1 and a little about the wages they paid4 ,hunter1 for example1 at the end of #agea entered payment of #ch pounds #ae shillings against the bookbinding account ,to ,john ,stretch ,for his ,wages from the #adth of ,january to this ,day4 ,thus1 from this source1 ,stretch earned #ae shillings sixpence a week4 ,illustration3 ,a part of a page from ,william ,hunter's daybook for the ,williamsburg ,printing ,office1 especially redrawn for this booklet4 ,notice the entry for bookbinding wages paid to ,john ,stretch4 ,the kinds of bookbinding done in the shops of ,hunter and ,royle--and doubtless also by the other ,williamsburg printers1 about whose business we lack detailed information--can be divided into three main groups3 edition binding1 custom binding1 and the manufacture of blank record books4 ,as a sideline1 they also made and sold pocketbooks1 letter cases1 and other kinds of pocket cases4 ,in volume of work done in ,hunter's shop1 and probably in many other colonial binderies1 the manufacture and sale of blank books was easily of first importance4 ,obviously these were not printed books--although the pages of some of them were ruled by hand in advance of binding4 ,they were letter-copy books1 account books1 and record books of various kinds used by everyone who was at all systematic about his business affairs4 ,accounts kept after the ,italian manner1 as described in ,john ,mair's ,book ,keeping ,methodiz'd 7about #agej71 called for ten different books4 ,the three chief ones were a wastebook in which transactions were jotted down at the time they took place1 a permanent journal or daybook into which they were transcribed in a more stately hand when time permitted1 and a ledger containing in final and complete form all accounts pertaining to the business4 ,subsidiary records described by ,mair were the cash book1 book of charges and merchandise1 book of house expenses1 factory or invoice book1 sales book1 bill book1 and receipt book4 ,hunter's daybook shows entries covering sales of all the principal varieties and many of the subsidiary forms4 ,in fact1 entries pertaining to blank books1 legers1 alphabets1 journals1 account books1 day books1 waste-books1 and the like far outnumber all other binding entries together4 ,royle's daybook1 which seems to have been kept on a somewhat different basis--perhaps less meticulously--than ,hunter's1 lists proportionately fewer such entries compared to those for binding printed volumes4 ,one might expect that business record books would have been bound sturdily1 but in plain and cheap dress4 ,sometimes they were1 but often they were just as well finished as were printed books1 usually in good quality calfskin1 sometimes in vellum or parchment4 ,ledgers in particular were large and heavy books2 since they got steady usage1 they needed to be made of the best materials and workmanship for the sake of durability4 ,and custom usually led to a certain amount of decoration on even the most utilitarian volume4 ,the result was that blank books were often as fine in outward appearance as those from the press--and sometimes more costly1 because of the larger skins needed to cover them4 ,not a few of the books sold by ,william ,hunter and presumed to have been made up by him or ,john ,stretch brought a price of a pound or more4 ,this was1 as we have seen1 a good deal more than ,stretch earned in a week4 ,the most imposing price charged to any of ,hunter's customers was the #c pounds #aj shillings ,john ,hall paid for a large ,record ,book ,imperial4 ,all eighteenth-century paper was manufactured by hand1 and sheets of various sizes and kinds bore such designations as pot1 foolscap1 pro patria1 crown1 demy1 royal1 super royal1 imperial1 atlas1 and elephant4 ,these names referred to supposedly standard sizes1 but actual dimensions were neither precise nor unchanging4 ,in seventeenth-century ,england a sheet of demy measured about #aj by #ae inches4 ,the ,english paper of the same name today is #ag by #bb inches4 ,this increase in dimensions of paper took place gradually1 and as the size of sheets grew the size of pages could also grow4 ,a result was that folio books became too large to be handy while quarto and octavo formats1 which were more economical to print1 gained popularity among both printers and book buyers4 ,illustration3 ,this engraving from the ,french eighteenth-century encyclopedia of ,denis ,diderot shows the interior of a bookbindery of the time1 and some of the equipment used4 ,the operations under way in the shop are 7a7 smashing folded signatures flat on a stone anvil2 7b7 sewing signatures together on the stitching frame2 7c7 trimming the edges of a book before the covers are put on2 and 7d7 squeezing a stack of finished books in a standing press4 ,,binding ,,to ,,the ,,customer',s ,,order ,some idea of the volume of binding done in ,hunter's establishment during the two years covered by his daybook may be gathered from the partial figures for supplies charged to binding4 ,these included #ef #ags4 #f;d4 for paper and #bej #acs4 #i;d4 for other binding materials1 chiefly calf and sheepskins1 gold leaf1 and pasteboard4 ,in physical quantity the totals are again incomplete but indicative3 at least #adj dozen skins and more than a ton of pasteboard4 ,these materials1 of course1 went to the binding of printed as well as blank books4 ,as their daybooks show1 the binding of books to order was a steady source of income for both ,hunter and ,royle--and doubtless for ,royle's successors as it had been for ,hunter's predecessor4 ,custom work included the rebinding of worn books1 the lettering and application of title panels1 and perhaps some binding of books the printer bought in flat sheets1 already printed1 from ,london or from another colonial printer4 ,the fact that custom binding and rebinding accounted for a prominent share of the work done by ,williamsburg binders indicates that ,governor ,botetourt was not the only man in ,virginia before the ,revolution who owned and cherished books4 ,according to one estimate1 there were at least #a1jjj private libraries with at least #bj1jjj volumes altogether before the colony was one hundred years old4 ,another study of #ajj such collections1 including the largest1 calculated their average size at #ajf titles 7possibly twice that many volumes74 ,the average is high because the study included such very extensive libraries as those of ,william ,byrd ,,ii1 ,robert ,carter1 and ,ralph ,wormeley4 ,nearly half of the libraries in the group studied had fewer than twenty-five titles4 ,however1 most ,virginia gentlemen of the planter aristocracy owned at least an armful of books4 ,an occasional book in any such collection might have been written by the owner himself4 ,hunter stitched a manuscript volume for ,nathaniel ,walthoe1 ,esqr41 and ,royle bound a handwritten book for ,john ,blair4 ,what these gentlemen had written that deserved such care can only be guessed at4 ,both were officials1 so the books might well have been public records of some kind4 ,on the other hand1 perhaps the content was less prosaic3 poetry1 maybe1 or something like the list of ,horse ,matches that ,royle bound for the ,hon4 ,john ,tayloe at two shillings4 ,music books1 volumes of collected pamphlets and magazines1 a cyphering book for ,mrs4 ,jane ,vobe1 keeper of the ,king's ,arms ,tavern1 and dozens of similar items in the ,hunter and ,royle daybooks account for only a portion of custom binding1 however4 ,the book most often bound to order was the ,bible1 closely followed by the ,anglican prayer book4 ,hunter bound a number of ,bibles for #f shillings1 but charged #ab shillings for a large ,church ,bible and #ej shillings for one neatly bound in ,turkey4 ,turkey1 levant1 and morocco leathers were all goatskin1 each taking its name from the region where it was tanned4 ,here are a few entries from ,royle's daybook during mid-#agfe1 selected not only because they show the binder's price list1 but also because the customer's name or occupation1 or his preferences in reading matter and binding1 or his concern for the intellectual advancement of the fair sex may be of interest3 shillings_/pence ,june #aa ,william ,waters1 ,binding ,corelis ,sonate1 #h_/i lettd 444 #dto ,june #ai ,hon4 ,john ,blair1 ,binding ,amelia ,county #ae_/- rent roll4 folio ,june #bg ,george ,davenport1 ,binding ,mrs ,ballard's #c_/i ,prayer ,book ,col ,robert ,bolling1 ,binding ,councel of #ag_/f ,trent1 folio1 gilt ,letter'd #ae_/- ,do 444 ,baconi ,historia1 ,henrici ,septimi1 do #b_/f ,thomas ,jefferson1 ,do ,history ,virginia1 #dto #h_/i ,july #c ,col ,robert ,bolling ,junr ,lettering ,pope's #e_/g ,works1 #i ,vols for ,miss ,sally ,waters ,aug4 #bh ,revd ,david ,mossom1 ,binding a ,bible #e_/- ,john ,gilchrist1 ,ditto ,love ,elegies #b_/- #g_/- ,aug4 #ca ,james ,anderson1 ,blacksmith ,binding a ,quarto #aj_/- ,bible4 in ruff ,calf ,an advertisement ,royle placed in the ,maryland ,gazette for ,may #b1 #agfe1 throws an interesting light on one of the characteristic labor-management difficulties of his time3 ,,williamsburg1 ,april #bc1 #agfe ,ran away from the ,printing-,office1 on ,saturday ,night1 a ,servant ,man named ,george ,fisher1 by ,trade a ,book-,binder1 between #be and #bf ,years of ,age1 about #e feet #e ,inches high1 very thick1 stoops much1 and has a down ,look2 he is a little ,peck-pitted1 has a ,scar on one of his ,temples1 is much addicted to ,licquor1 very talkative when drunk1 and remarkably stupid4 ,whoever apprehends the said ,servant1 and conveys him to the ,printing-,office1 in ,virginia1 shall have ,five ,pounds ,reward1 and if taken out of the ,colony1 ,,ten ,,pounds1 beside what the ,law allows4 ,,joseph ,,royle ,this seems a generous reward indeed for the return of a man of ,fisher's unendearing qualities4 ,not that ,fisher1 a transported convict1 was untalented in his way4 ,conveyed to ,williamsburg and lodged in the gaol1 he escaped at the end of ,july1 both from custody and from history4 ,,mass ,,production ,,by ,,hand ,the third principal variety of work done in the ,williamsburg binderies was edition binding--the stitching and uniform covering of a whole run of books printed in the same shop4 ,session laws of the ,virginia ,assembly1 and periodical codifications of them printed in editions of #a1jjj copies or more constituted the bulk of edition binding for ,parks and his successors4 ,shortly before his death ,parks had agreed to print and bind #a1jjj copies of the #agdh revision of the ,virginia code with the ,arms of ,virginia stampt on each book4 ,along with the other assets and liabilities of the printing office1 ,hunter took over this contract1 which called for the volumes to be finished by ,june #aj1 #agea4 ,in ,october of that year however1 he felt obliged to defend himself with the following notice in the ,virginia ,gazette3 hand ,the ,subscribers to the ,virginia ,laws1 as well as the ,public ,magistrates1 having loudly complain'd of their long ,delay1 and thrown the ,blame of it entirely on the ,printer2 it is judg'd necessary to assure them1 ,that they have been printed near four ,months1 and that their ,publication has been in no wise retarded through his ,neglect1 but for ,want of the ,table2 the ,gentleman appointed to draw it up1 not having yet compleated it---- ,those subscribers who are in immediate ,want of them1 on paying a ,pistole1 may have them ,stitch'd for present ,use1 which they may afterwards have bound when the ,table is printed1 making it up the ,subscription ,price4 ,illustration3 ,when he worked on a number of books at the same time1 the binder ordinarily moved them in groups through the various binding processes4 ,thus a group of books1 all damp and needing to be pressed1 could be put into such a standing press as this1 with press boards between each one4 ,while this group dried out the next was being glued up1 and so on4 ,nearly twenty years later a subsequent collection of ,virginia laws caused a different kind of trouble for three of ,hunter's successors in ,williamsburg4 ,the job of printing and binding #a1jjj copies of the great volume was too much for the public printer1 ,william ,rind1 to handle alone4 ,so he undertook it jointly with the partnership of ,alexander ,purdie and ,john ,dixon4 ,their order for leather to cover the books was answered by a shipment from ,london of ,nasty dirty little skins that could neither be used nor returned4 ,eventually the skins rotted on the wharf at ,yorktown1 while the printers had to ask reimbursement from the ,house of ,burgesses4 ,although ,william ,parks published a number of books under his own imprint1 just as he had done in ,annapolis1 ,hunter1 ,royle1 and their successors seem to have been much less active in this phase of the printing and binding business4 ,those who were public printers continued to issue the ,virginia laws and other public compilations1 proclamations1 and the like4 ,also1 they annually printed small pocket almanacs1 usually only stitched and covered in paper1 which sold in considerable numbers each ,december and ,january4 ,,other ,,williamsburg ,,binders ,the several ,williamsburg printers who followed ,royle left no daybooks or other records that have yet come to light4 ,what little we know of their bookbinding activities comes from their advertisements in the various ,virginia ,gazettes4 7,at one time three separate weekly papers were issued in ,williamsburg by rival printers1 all called the ,virginia ,gazette67 ,here are some typical samples3 ,,gentlemen may now be supplied1 on short notice1 at the ,printing ,office1 ,williamsburg1 with ,,blank ,,books of all sizes1 ruled or unruled1 and bound either in ,calf or ,vellum4 ,,old ,,books also new bound1 and any thing in the ,,book ,,binding business executed in the cheapest and best manner4 ,virginia ,gazette ,alexander ,purdie and ,john ,dixon1 ,printers ,march #ad1 #agff ,,blank ,bills of ,exchange1 ,bonds1 ,bills of ,lading1 and all other ,blanks1 may be had of ,william ,rind1 at the ,new ,printing-,office1 near the ,,capitol4 ,gentlemen may also be supplied with all ,sorts of ,blank ,books2 and old ,books are neatly and expeditiously ,bound1 at a reasonable ,rate4 ,virginia ,gazette ,william ,rind1 ,printer ,may #cj1 #agff ,a ,,complete ,,assortment ,,of ,all ,kinds of ,,stationary1 ,at ,dixon ,hunter's ,printing ,office3 ,,best ,writing ,paper1 ,imperial1 ,royal1 ,medium1 ,demy1 ,thick and ,thin ,post1 ,propatria and ,pot1 by the ,ream1 or smaller quantity2 ,gilt1 ,plain1 and ,black ,edge ,paper for ,letters2 ,parchment2 ,inkpowder2 best large ,dutch ,quills and ,pens2 red and black ,sealing-,wax and ,wafers2 ,memorandum ,books2 ,red ,ink1 in small ,vials2 ,red ,inkpowder2 ,pounce and ,pounce-,boxes2 ,black ,lead ,pencils2 all ,sizes of neat ,morocco ,pocket ,books2 all ,sorts and ,sizes of ,pewter ,inkstands2 best ,edinburgh ,inkpots1 for the ,pocket2 best ,playing ,cards4 ---- ,legers1 ,journals1 ,day-,books1 and all ,sorts and ,sizes of ,blank ,books for ,merchants ,accounts or ,records4 ,blanks of all ,kinds for ,merchants1 ,county ,court ,clerks1 c4 c4 c4 hand ,old ,,books new ,,bound1 and all ,kinds of ,,book-,,binding done at this ,office1 either in the ,,neatest or ,,cheapest ,manner1 according to ,directions2 and where any ,thing in the ,,printing ,,business is expeditiously performed1 on moderate ,terms4 ,virginia ,gazette ,john ,dixon and ,william ,hunter ,jr41 ,printers ,march #ah1 #agge ,,thomas ,,brend1 ,,bookbinder and ,,stationer1 ,,has for ,,sale1 at his shop at the corner of ,dr4 ,carter's large brick house1 ,testaments ,spelling ,books1 ,primers1 ,ruddiman's ,rudiments of the ,latin ,tongue1 ,watts's ,psalms1 ,blank ,books1 ,quills ,sealing-,wax1 ,pocket-,books1 and many other articles in the ,stationery way4 ,old books rebound2 and any ,gentlemen who have paper by them and want it made into ,account ,books1 may have it done on the shortest notice4 ,virginia ,gazette ,john ,clarkson and ,augustine ,davis1 ,printers ,august #ai1 #aghj ,alexander ,purdie and ,john ,dixon1 who placed the first of these advertisements1 were the successors of ,joseph ,royle in the shop on ,duke of ,gloucester ,street in ,williamsburg that had passed down from ,william ,parks to ,william ,hunter to ,royle to ,purdie4 ,their ,virginia ,gazette was the direct continuation of the paper founded by ,parks in #agcf4 ,we are not too surprised1 therefore1 to find the egg roll reappearing once more on the covers of several copies of a book printed by ,purdie and ,dixon in #aggd4 ,the name of ,thomas ,brend brings to a conclusion the known list of bookbinders who worked in ,williamsburg before the ,revolution4 ,brend emigrated from ,england to ,annapolis in #agfd and set up in trade there4 ,it seems probable that he moved to ,williamsburg with ,william ,rind in #agff or arrived shortly afterward4 ,rind was the ,annapolis printer whom ,jefferson and some other patriots had induced to come to ,virginia4 ,they hoped ,rind's press would offset the impact of ,joseph ,royle's1 which they thought was too much in the governor's pocket4 ,jefferson was among the men for whom ,brend bound books1 as were ,st4 ,george ,tucker of ,williamsburg and other persons less known to history4 ,this work1 however1 he did in ,richmond1 where he moved after the capital of ,virginia had been changed to that city in #aghj4 ,there he did most of his work1 including the covers of many books of public records1 as an independent binder4 ,on an account book of the state auditor for #aghe appears the familiar egg roll4 ,how it got into ,brend's possession no one can say1 since he was presumably not in the direct line of succession from ,parks through ,hunter and ,royle4 ,somehow he did acquire tools from the succession1 for the trail of detection comes full circle in #agii4 ,in that year in ,richmond ,thomas ,brend rebound ,jefferson's collection of the laws of ,virginia1 using to decorate the board edges the same ,mousetrap roll that ,william ,parks had used in ,annapolis in #agbh4 ,,the ,,binding ,,of ,a ,,book ,although this small pamphlet does not pretend to be a thorough manual on how to bind your own books1 anyone seeking a hobby might well consider bookbinding4 ,the procedures are simple1 the necessary tools and materials need not cost a great deal1 and the satisfactions one can take in the production of his own fine bindings should be obvious4 ,what we can do here is to describe only the basic tools1 equipment1 and procedures that would have been used by a ,williamsburg craftsman in binding a book in the most usual dress of colonial times4 ,the practicing binder1 of course1 would have had a comparative wealth of tools and materials with which to turn out--by the time-honored and still-used procedures--bindings in greater number and variety of finish4 ,the following lists represent the minimum essentials for binding a book4 ,illustration3 ,when the time comes for applying decoration to a binding1 the bookbinder--here using a single-fillet roll--can exercise his artistic imagination or follow a traditional pattern4 ,materials printed or blank paper 7the contents of the book7 decorative paper for fly-leaves long-fibre tissue for mending torn pages hemp cord or leather thongs for crossbands linen thread for sewing silk thread for headbands pasteboard or milled board calfskin for outer cover piece of morocco for label leather dressing gold leaf animal glue wheat paste vinegar egg white ,tools ,equipment stitching frame paring stone gluepot pastepot water basins laying presses trimming press and plough press boards bone folder skiving knife and other knives scissors needles stone or lead weights paste and glue brushes metal straightedge backing hammer awl knife and cushion for gold leaf brass alphabet stamps brass decorative stamps brass decorative rolls heater for gluepot and brass tools ,the printer's job was done when the flat sheets of paper came off his press1 each sheet containing four or more printed pages arranged so that folding would bring the pages into proper sequence4 ,the binder's first task was to fold the sheets into signatures of four1 eight1 twelve1 or sixteen pages4 ,sheets folded once--into two leaves1 a four-page signature--made a large-format book called a folio4 ,two folds in each sheet made eight-page signatures and quarto books4 ,three folds gave octavo volumes of sixteen-page signatures4 ,a different arrangement of folds produced twelve pages in a signature and a duodecimo book4 ,for any number of folds1 however1 a bone or ivory folder--a thin1 smooth blade--was essential for rapid and accurate work4 ,and it came in handy for a number of other binding operations1 too4 ,after he had folded all the printed sheets1 the binder gathered a full set of signatures in the proper order to make the book4 ,on his stitching frame--which was simply a four-piece vertical framework1 the upper crosspiece adjustable in height--he stretched four to six leather thongs or pieces of hemp cord4 ,with needle and strong linen thread he then stitched the signatures1 one after another1 through their center folds to each of the crossbands4 ,the sewing frame held them parallel to each other and at right angles to the pages4 ,these bands gave bound books their flexibility and created the ridges across the spine characteristic of most of them4 ,the stitch used in sewing the signatures to the bands was about as simple as could be1 but it cannot be duplicated by any machine yet devised4 ,the crossbands and the stitching together were the keys to the all-but-everlasting durability and the flat opening of the well-made book4 ,the binder next squared up the back of the book and applied glue to it4 ,when dry1 he put the book in the trimming press and trimmed the fore edge1 head1 and tail1 then with his backing hammer rounded off the spine4 ,having cut the boards just a bit larger than page size1 he punched holes through them close to their back edges4 ,these holes he spaced in pairs to match the position of the bands1 which he laced through the holes1 pasted firm1 and pounded smooth4 ,very little the binder had done so far would be visible in the finished product4 ,but at this point he could begin to put his artistry on display4 ,selecting silk thread in two colors to suit his taste1 he bound a narrow piece of leather across both the top and bottom of the spine1 completely covering them with something like a buttonhole stitch4 ,these headbands added little to the strength but much to the appearance of a book4 ,careful binders said that a book should no more be seen in a library without headbands than a gentleman should appear in public minus a collar4 ,illustration3 ,in the trimming press and plough1 the bound pages of a book are clamped between the heavy horizontal beams of the press while a knife held in the plough slides back and forth1 planing the exposed edge of the book smooth and even4 ,next came the drawing on of the cover4 ,the binder cut a piece of calfskin approximately inch larger all around than the covers of the book opened out flat1 and with his skiving knife pared the margins of the leather very thin4 ,after the leather had been well soaked with water on the outer or grain side and with paste on the inner side1 the binder carefully molded it around the spine and smoothed it onto the boards--being careful not to stretch it4 ,the pared margins were then turned in and the volume1 except for minor touches and drying1 was finally ready to be decorated4 ,having decided on the pattern of decoration he wished to apply1 the binder heated the appropriate brass tools to blind in the design4 ,the tools had to be hot enough to make a sharp impression in the leather1 but not hot enough to burn it4 ,each had to be pressed into the leather with just the right weight--not too much and not too little--to produce the desired effect4 ,if the pattern was also to be gilded1 the binder prepared a solution of white-of-egg1 called glair1 and painted it into the blind impressions4 ,having laid gold leaf thereon1 he again pressed the same heated tools carefully in the same indentations4 ,the excess gold was then wiped off and the leather cleaned with diluted vinegar and dressed with a good leather dressing4 ,illustration3 ,this is the ,printing ,office in ,williamsburg1 restored to look as it did in the eighteenth century when it was occupied in succession by ,william ,parks1 ,william ,hunter1 ,joseph ,royle1 ,alexander ,purdie1 and ,john ,dixon with his partners ,william ,hunter1 ,jr41 and ,thomas ,nicolson4 ,finally1 the endpapers were pasted down to the insides of the boards and the book was complete4 ,it took perhaps eight to ten hours of actual working time for a single volume1 but spaced over as much as two weeks to allow drying time between processes4 ,,the ,,williamsburg ,,bindery ,,today ,just as the printing office of ,william ,parks and his successors stood on ,duke of ,gloucester ,street in ,williamsburg two centuries ago1 so it stands again today on its original site4 ,again today it includes a bindery where gentlemen and ladies may bespeak books to be bound or rebound in the most exact manner and the most elegant taste4 ,the master binder assures his patrons that he uses only the best materials and can1 if they so wish1 decorate a volume with the egg1 the ,mousetrap1 or any other roll or ornament in his stock that pleases their fancy4 ,for he not only uses the same kinds of tools used in the eighteenth century2 some of them are actually recut to produce replicas of the old patterns4 ,and his methods of work1 too1 are the same that were employed in this shop by men who put sturdy covers on the volumes of ,william ,byrd ,,ii1 ,thomas ,jefferson1 and ,norborne ,berkeley--otherwise titled ,lord ,botetourt4 ,,suggestions ,,for ,,further ,,reading ,those who may be interested in pursuing further either the historical or the handicraft aspects of bookbinding will find the following list useful4 ,most of these books also include bibliographies or reading lists4 ,susan ,stromei ,berg1 comp41 ,eighteenth-,century ,williamsburg ,imprints4 ,new ,york3 ,clearwater ,publishing ,co41 #aihf4 ,vito ,j4 ,brenni1 ,bookbinding3 ,a ,guide to the ,literature4 ,westport1 ,conn43 ,greenwood ,press1 #aihb4 ,edith ,diehl1 ,bookbinding1 ,its ,background and ,technique4 #eth ed4 rev4 ,port ,washington1 ,n4 ,y43 ,kennikat ,press1 #aife4 ,hannah ,d4 ,french1 ,bookbinding in ,early ,america3 ,seven ,essays on ,masters and ,methods4 ,worcester3 ,american ,antiquarian ,society1 #aihf4 ,david ,muir1 ,binding and ,repairing ,books by ,hand4 ,new ,york3 ,arco ,publishing ,co41 #aigg4 ,howard ,m4 ,nixon1 ,five ,centuries of ,english ,bookbinding4 ,london3 ,scholar ,press1 #aigh4 ,matt ,t4 ,roberts and ,don ,etherington1 ,bookbinding and the ,conservation of ,books3 ,a ,dictionary of ,descriptive ,terminology4 ,washington1 ,d4 ,c43 ,library of ,congress1 #aihb4 ,c4 ,clement ,samford and ,john ,m4 ,hemphill ,,ii1 ,bookbinding in ,colonial ,virginia4 ,williamsburg1 ,va43 ,colonial ,williamsburg ,foundation1 #aiff4 ,walters ,art ,gallery1 ,the ,history of ,bookbinding1 #ebe-aiej ,a4,d4 ,baltimore3 ,the ,trustees of the ,walters ,art ,gallery1 #aieg4 ,lawrence ,c4 ,wroth1 ,the ,colonial ,printer4 ,portland1 ,me43 ,southworth-,anthoensen ,press1 #aich4 ,laura ,s4 ,young1 ,bookbinding and ,conservation by ,hand3 ,a ,working ,guide4 ,new ,york3 ,r4 ,r4 ,bowker ,co41 #aiha4 ,the ,bookbinder in ,eighteenth-,century ,williamsburg was first published in #aiei and previously reprinted in #aifd1 #aigj1 #aigc1 #aigh1 and #aihf4 ,written by ,thomas ,k4 ,ford1 editor of publications at ,colonial ,williamsburg until #aigf1 it is based largely on a monograph prepared jointly by ,c4 ,clement ,samford1 then the master bookbinder1 and ,john ,m4 ,hemphill ,,ii1 a member of the ,department of ,research4 ,the monograph has been published as ,bookbinding in ,colonial ,virginia 7,williamsburg ,research ,studies1 #aiff74 ,transcriber's ,notes --,retained publication information from the printed edition3 this e,book is public-domain in the country of publication4 --,silently corrected a few palpable typos4 --,in the text versions only1 text in italics is delimited by underscores4