BOO 
the firft indance of this nature ; ami it is related as fome- 
thing Angular, that, a few years after, the writings of the 
perfon who had been the caufe of the Order for that pur- 
pofe thared the fame fate. The burning of thefe works 
having induced Caflius Severus to fay, in a fneering man¬ 
ner, that it would be necefTary to burn him alive, as he 
had got by heart the writings of his friend Labienus, this 
expreffion gave rife to a law of Auguftus againfl: abufive 
writings. When Cremutius Cordius, in his hiftory, called . 
C. CafTius the laft of the Romans, the fenate, in order to 
flatter Tiberius, caufed the book to be burnt; but a num¬ 
ber of copies were faved by being concealed. Antiochus 
Epiphanes caufed the books of the Jews to be burnt; and 
in the firft centuries of our era the books of the Chriftians 
were treated with equal feverity, of which Arnobius bit¬ 
terly complains. We are told by Eufebius that Dioclefian 
caufed the facred feriptures to be burnt. After the fpread- 
ing of the Chriflian religion, the clergy exercifed againfl: 
books that were either unfavourable or difagreeable to 
them, the fame feverity which they had cenfured in the 
heathens as foolifh and prejudicial to their own caufe. 
Thus were the writings of Arius condemned to the flames 
at the council of Nice ; and Conftantine threatened with 
the punifhment of death thofe who fhould conceal them. 
The clergy alfembled at the council of Ephefus requefled 
the emperor Theodofius II. to caufe the works of Nefto- 
ritis to be burnt; and this defire was complied with. 
The writings of Eutyches (hared the like fate at the coun¬ 
cil of Chalcedon ; all books treating of afironomy and geo¬ 
metry in England, w ere ordered to be deftroyed by Ed¬ 
ward VI. in 1552, as being fufpefted of magic. 
With refped to the prefent exifting laws concerning 
books, it is enadted by flat. 25 Henry VIII. c. 15, that no 
perfon (hall buy any printed books brought from beyond 
lea to fell the fame again, and no one (hall buy books by 
retail brought from beyond fea by any ftranger. Like- 
wife the prices of books, exceflively increafed, (hall be 
qualified by the king’s great officers. By flat. 7 Anne, 
c. 14, if any book (hall be taken, or otherwife loft, out of 
any parochial library, any juftice may grant his warrant 
to fearch for it; and, if it (hall be found, it (hall, by order 
of fuch juftice, be reftorea to the library. By flat. 12 
George II. c. 36, no perfon (hall import or fell books firft 
written and printed in this kingdom, and reprinted abroad, 
under the penalty of 5I. and double the value of every 
book fo imported or fold. The foie right of printing 
books, bequeathed to the two univerflties of England, the 
four univerflties of Scotland, and the colleges of Eton, 
Weftminfter, and Winchefter, is fecurcd to them by flat. 
j 5 George III. c. 53. See Literary Property. 
Book° is alfo ufed for a part or divifion of a volume or 
large work. In this fenfe we fay, the book ofGcnefs, the 
firjl book of Kings, the five books of Mofcs, Sec. The Digcft 
is contained in fifty books, the Code in twelve books. 
To BOOK, v. a. To regifter in a book.—I befeech your 
grace, let it be looked with the reft of this day’s deeds. 
Skakefpeare. , 
EverlajHng Book. We find, in (ignror Caftaquo’s ac¬ 
count of the a (hellos, a fcheme for making of a book, 
which, from its imperiftiable nature, he is for calling the 
book of eternity. The leaves of this book were to be of the 
albedos paper, the covers of a thicker fort of work of the 
fame materials, and the whole fewed with thread fpu.n 
from the fame fubftance. The things to be commemora¬ 
ted in this book were to be written in letters of gold ; fo 
that the whole matter of the book being incombuflible, 
permanent againfl the force of all the elements, and fub- 
je6t to no changes from fire, warer, or air, mud remain 
forever, and always preferve the writing committed to it. 
He carried this projedt fo far towards execution, as to find 
a way of making a paper from the albedos, which was fo 
traffable and (oft, that it very well refembled a thin parch¬ 
ment ; this, by the fame procefs, was capable of being 
thickened or thinned at pleafure, and in either (late equally 
redded the fire. The covering of the thinned: kind of this 
Vol. 111 . No. 124. 
BOO 1 Si 
paper with fire, only made it red hot, and very clear, the 
fire feeming to pafs through it without wafting or altering 
any part of it. Copper, iron, or any other metal except 
gold or filver, expofed to the fame degree of fire in the 
fame thin plates, would be found not (o bear it in this 
manner, but to fcale, and burn into fcoriae at the furface, 
which this (lone does not. See Asbestos. 
BOOK-BIN'DER,y. A man whofe profellion is to bind 
or cover books. 
BOOK-BINDING, f The art of fewing or faftening 
together the (beets of a book, and fecuring them with a 
back, and ftrong pafteboard fides, covered with leather, 
&c. Binding is diftinguiftied from ditching, as in the lat¬ 
ter the leaves are only fewed, without bands or backs. 
There are various kinds of binding, as French-binding, 
law-binding, marble-binding, binding in parchment, in fheep , 
in calves leather, &c. alfo half-binding, 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 (till contented to bind in a 
coarfe thick paper, called binding alba rufica, the incon¬ 
venience of which is, its being liable to wear out without 
careful ufage. Without doubt, the art of binding is al- 
moft as ancient as the fcience of compofing books ; and 
both the one and the other followed immediately the fit ft 
invention of letters. Whatever the matter might be, on 
which men firft w rote, there was a necelTity of uniting the 
feveral parts together ; as well for the making them of 
one piece, as for the better preferving them : hence the 
origin of book-binding. According to Olympiodorus, it was 
one Phillatius, a learned man at Athens, who firft taught 
the ufe of a kind of glue, to faften the feveral leaves to¬ 
gether; on which account a ftatue was crefled to him. 
The manner of binding, by gluing tire leaves together, 
and of rolling them on round pieces, or cylinders, of wood, 
appears the nioft 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, call¬ 
ed Egyptian-binding, held a longtime after the age of Au¬ 
guftus; but it is now difufed, excepting in the Jewifh fy- 
nagogues, where they continue to write the books of the 
law on vellum fewed together; making, as it were, only 
one long page, with two rollers, and their clafps, of gold 
or filver, at each extremity. The [quare-binding, now in 
ufe, is laid to have been invented by one of the Attali 
kings of Pergavnus; to whom we likewife owe the manner 
of preparing parchment, called in Latin, from the name 
of his capital, Pergamena, or Charla Pergamea. 
The firft operation in binding, is to fold the (beets ac¬ 
cording to the form, viz. into two for fofios, four for quar¬ 
tos, eight for oftavos, Sec. which the workmen do with a 
flip of ivory or box, called a folding-flick : in this they are 
dire&ed by tlie catch-words, and fignatures, 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 flone 
with a heavy hammer to make them folid and imooth, and 
then preffed. Being thus prepared, they are fewed in a 
fewing-prefs, upon pack-threads or cords, which are call, 
ed bands , at a proper diftance from each other, and in a 
convenient number ; which is done by drawing a thread 
through the middle of each (beef, and giving it a turn 
round each band, beginning with the firft, and proceeding 
to the laft. Sometimes they ufe a faw to make places for 
the bands, which are funk into the paper, fo that the back 
of the book, when bound, is fmooth, without any appear¬ 
ance of bands. After this the backs are glued, the ends 
of the hands being opened and'(craped witii a knife, for 
the more convenient fixing of the pafteboards ; then the 
backis rounded with a hammer, the book being fixed in 
a prefs between boards, called backing-boards , in order ta 
make a groove for admitting the pafte-boards. The boards 
being then applied, holes are made for drawing the bar.d.3 
through, the fuperfluous ends being cut off, and the parts 
hacomeyed fmootln Then the book is prelfed in order for 
3 A cutting} 
