I 83o.] Analyses of Books. 4 CI 
the sixteenth century some of the finest specimens of art binding 
were executed. To give the reader an idea of the beauty of 
design of these medieval and renaissance bindings, ten photo- 
lithographs, from specimens in the possession of the author, are 
given in illustration. Impressions of tools of various periods 
serve as vignettes and tail-pieces, and woodcuts of machines and 
implements occur frequently throughout the volume. 
The twentv-four chapters into which the remainder of the work 
is divided give a very detailed account of the various processes 
pursued in the binding of a book; and so minutely and carefully 
has this been done that a clever amateur would find no difficulty 
in binding books for himself. The author draws attention to a 
fact little known to the public, of the existence of two distinct 
kinds of binding, viz., “common” and “extra work. It is 
with the latter, or binding by hand, rather than the machine pro- 
cesses or “ common ” binding, that the writer treats upon at the 
greatest length. . 
Even those who do not wish to bind books for themselves may 
read Mr. Zaffinsdorf’s interesting work with profit, as it shows 
how to distinguish good binding from bad. The remarks on the 
care of books and their preservation in libraries are of great 
value, as are also the processes for the restoration of old and 
injured books. A glossary of technical terms and implements 
concludes the work. 
The author must be congratulated upon adding one to a class 
of books of which we have but too few; practical descriptions 
of any manipulative processes are far from common, and persons 
engaged in researches requiring apparatus of any kind must 
often have found difficulties in their way, and how much they 
needed some book of reference on working in metal, wood, glass, 
or other material. It would be well if those who possess me- 
chanical skill, combined with the power of description, would 
follow Mr. Zaehnsdorf’s example, and publish the results of their 
experience. 
The Cohham Journals. Abstracts and Summaries of Meteor- 
ological and Phenological Observations made by Miss 
Caroline Molesworth, at Cobham, Surrey, in the Years 
1825 to 1850. With Introduction, Tables, &c., by Eleanor 
A. Ormerod, F.M.S. London : Stanford. 
Miss Ormerod has here placed at the disposal of the scientific 
world a series of observations of very considerable value. For 
twenty-five years Miss Molesworth made regular observations of 
the weather, recording maximum and minimum temperature, 
direction of wind, occurrence or absence of rain, and general 
2 F 2 
