BOO 



But, in mercantile tranfaiSioiis efpecially, t^e fight cf the par- 

 ty's own books is frequently decifivc ; as the day-book of a 

 trader, when the tranfadion was recently entered, as really 

 undtriiood at the time; though fubfequent events may tempt 

 him to give it a different colour. And, as this evidence may 

 finally be obtained, and produced on a trial at law, by the 

 circuitous courfe of filing a bill in equity, the want of an 

 original power for the fame purpdfes in the courts of law is 

 a material defeiEl. 



Book-binding, the art of fewing together the fheets of a 

 book, and fecuring them with a back, and ftiong pafte- 

 board fides, covered with leather, &c. 



Binding is ditlinguiflied from Hitching, as in the latter the 

 leaves are only fewcd, without bands or backs. 



We fay, French binding, \z\v-binding, jrzrUe-iinJing, 

 binding in parchment, in {lieep, in calves leather, &c. alfo 

 hiU-hinding, wherein the leaves are generally left uncut, 

 and only the back covered with leather, the pafteboard fides 

 being covered with marbled, or blue paper. Dutch-binding 

 is where the backs are of vellum. The Italians are ftill 

 contented to bind in a coarfe, thick paper, called binding 

 alia rufiica, the inconvenience of which is its being liable 

 to wear out without careful ufe. Without doubt, the 

 art of binding is almoft as ancient as the fcience of compofing 

 books ; and both the one and the other followed immedi- 

 ately the firft invention of letters. Whatever the matter 

 Blight be, on which men firft; wrote, there was a neceflity of 

 uniting the feveral parts together ; as well for the making 

 them of one piece, as for the better preferring them ; hence 

 the origin of book-binding. 



According to Olympiodorus (apud Phot.) it was one 

 Phillatius, a learned man at Athens, who firft taught the 

 ufe of a kind of glue, to faften the feveral leaves together ; 

 on which account a ftatue was ereded to him. 



Books, th manner of binding in volumes, i.e. of gluing 

 the leaves together ; that of rolling them on round pieces, 

 or cyhnders of wood, appears the molt ancient ; though 

 that of binding them fquare, and of fewing feveral quires one 

 over another, lays claim to confiderable antiquity. The firft 

 of the two, which we call Egyptian binding, held a long time 

 after the age of Auguftus ; but it is now difufed, excepting 

 in the Jjwifli fynagogues, where they continue to write the 

 books of the law on vtUum fewed together ; making, as it 

 were, only one long page, with two rollers and their clafps 

 of gold and filver, at each extremity. 



The form now in ufe is the fqiiare-h\nCi\n^, which is faid 

 to have been invented by one of the Attali, kings of Perga- 

 mus ; to whom we likewife owe the manner of preparing 

 parchment, called in Latin, from the name of his capital, 

 Fergamena, or Charta Pcrgamea. 



Books, manner of binding. The firft operation is to fold 

 the flieets according to the form, viz. into two leaves for 

 folios, four for quartos, eight for oftavos, &c. which the 

 workmen do with a flip of ivory or box, called a folding- 

 Rick ; in this they are direfted by the catch-words and figna- 

 tures, which are the letters with the numbers annexed to 

 them, at the bottom of the pages. The leaves thus folded, 

 and laid over each other in the order of the fignatures, are 

 beaten on a ftone with a heavy hammer to make them folid 

 and fmooth, and then prefled. Being thus prepared, they 

 are fewed in a fewing-prefs, upon pack-threads or cords, 

 •which are called bands, at a proper dillance from each other, 

 and in a convenient number; which is done by drawing a 

 thread through the middle of each fheet, and giving it a turn 

 round each band, beginning with the firft, and proceeding to 

 the laft. The common number of bands is fix in fulios, 

 and five in quartos, odlavos, &c. Sometimes they life a 



BOO 



faw to make places for the bands, which are funk into tlie 

 paper, fo that the back of the book, when bound, is fmooth, 

 without any appearance of bands. After this the backs are 

 glued, the ends of the bands being opened, and fcraped with 

 a knife, for the more convenient fixing of the pafte-boards ; 

 then the back is turned with a hammer, the book being 

 fixed in a prcfs between boards, called bacling-boards, in 

 order to make a groove for admitting the pafte-boards. 

 The boards being then applied, holes arc made for drawing 

 the bands through, the fuperfluous ends being cut off, and 

 the parts hammered fmooth. Then the book is prefTed in 

 order for cutting ; which is performed by a particular ma- 

 chine called 2i plough, to which is fixed a knife. After this 

 the book is put into a prefs called the cutting-prefs, betwixt 

 two boards, the one lying even with the prefs, for the knife 

 to run upon ; the other above it,' for the knife to cut 

 againft. 



The book being cut, the pafte-boards are fquared with a 

 proper pair of iron (hears ; and it is then ready for fprink- 

 ling, gilding, blacking, or marbling the leaves. The co- 

 lours with which is is fprinkled, are ufually vermilion, or 

 fap-green ; which is done with a brufti made with hog's 

 briftles, holding the brufh in one hand, and moving the 

 hair with the other. 



In the French-hxnAm'g a book is put in parchment, i. e. 

 a flip of parchment is apphed over the back betvi-een each 

 band, and the ends parted on the infide of each pafte- 

 board. This preparation, called indoijing, feems peculiar to 

 the French binders ; who are enjoined by ordonnance to 

 back their books with parchment on the penalty of 30 

 livres, and the re-binding of the book ; it is done in the 

 prefs, where the back being grated to make the pafte take 

 hold, the parchment is applied ; and they afterwards add 

 glue to fortify it. 



In 1799 a patent was granted to Mr. John Williams and 

 Mr. Jofcph Williams, ftationers, London, for an improved 

 method of binding all forts of books. By the fpecification 

 it appears, that this invention confifts of a back, of a femi- 

 circular, femi-oval, or any other curved form, turned a little 

 at the edges, made of iron, fteel, copper, brafs, tin, or any 

 other metal, ivory, bone, wood, vellum, paper, leather, 

 or any material capable of retaining a firm fituation. This 

 back, being put on the book before bound, fo as juft to 

 cover but not to prefs the edges of the paper, will, when 

 the book is opened, prevent its fpreading on either fide, and 

 caufe it to rife in any part which is opened to nearly a level 

 furface. This firm back, turned at the edges, fo as to caufe 

 all forts of books to open freely, is the objeft of this patent. 

 The method of binding, prattifed by the inventors, is as 

 follows : they forward the paper in the ufual manner ; few 

 on vellum flips, glue, cut, clothe, and board, or half-board ; 

 and put on the firm back by failening it at the fides, through 

 holes, by vellum, or fecuring it by inclofing it in vellum or 

 ferret wrappers, or other matters, pafted down upon, or 

 drawn through the boards. Mr. Ebenezer Palmer, ilationer 

 of London, obtained a patent in 1800 for an improvement 

 in the mode of bindng books, particularly account books 

 of merchants. This confifts in the addition of a certain me- 

 tallic chain, which is made or applied in the following manner: 

 firft, provide feveral fmall bars of metal, about the thickncfs 

 of a (hilling, or more, according to the fize and thicknefs 

 of the book ; the length of each bar being from half an 

 inch to feveral inches long, in proportion to the ftrength re- 

 quired in the back of the book. At each end of every bar 

 is made a pivot of different lengths, in proportion to the 

 thicknefs of two links, which they are to receive. Each 

 link is made in an onral form, and contains two holes, pro- 

 portioned 



