Glossary of Terms

Publisher’s advertisements (adverts or ads) are often printed on inserted leaves not integral to the book, and we note their presence or absence, specifying their date or other characteristics if that has bibliographic significance. Inserted adverts sometimes have a bearing on the issue of the book. If the book has integral adverts, we usually do not mention it.

An intaglio printmaking technique, a variant of etching, which uses powdered resin rather than a needle to resist the acid bite into the copper plate, thus creating a subtle tonal effect with a distinctive, watery look. Aquatint plates may be left uncoloured or issued with contemporary hand-colouring, as in the publications of Rudolph Ackermann.

The use of this phrase signals that any repair has been done professionally using acid-free material, and that the repair is in principle fully reversible.

A copy once owned by someone connected with the author or the book. A somewhat elastic term: would Churchill’s copy of Mein Kampf, for example, be an association copy? It would certainly add to its interest.

A letter fully in the hand of its author (i.e. not secretarial) and signed with the author’s name. Traditionally abbreviated as "ALs", though not by us. 

The material covering the spine of the book and extending round onto, but not all the way across, the boards.

A decorative feature where the edge of the board is angled or chamfered at 45 degrees or so, found in some early books with thick wooden boards and revived in the Victorian era for deluxe gift books. Reverse bevelled boards have the angled edges on the inside. 

A small paper label inside the cover giving the binder’s name, often seen in the work of German émigré hand-binders of the Georgian era, such as Christian Kalthoeber, and later used in the Victorian era by case-binders such as Remnant & Edmonds.

Blind tooling or stamping refers to indented decoration in the binding material made without the application of gilt.

An un-inked stamp, usually a mark of ownership, used to press a name or coat-of-arms into the paper, leaving an impression or indentation on the surface.

For the greatest part of the era of the printed book, bindings have been made using boards covered with some other material. Some early books were sewn into solid wooden boards, typically beech or oak, which were then covered with leather, but the vast majority of binders since have used pasteboard of various weights and densities. The use of this underlying material has persisted, through the introduction of publisher’s cloth in the 1820s, down into the era of the modern hardback book.

From the end of the eighteenth century through to the 1820s there was a brief interregnum (apparently caused by leather shortages during the Napoleonic wars) in which English books were often issued “uncut in original boards”, that is, with their page edges untrimmed, in thin pasteboard covered with blue or drab paper, with a paper backstrip in a similar or contrasting colour, usually with a printed paper spine label.

In the modern era, some hardback books are issued in case bindings which only resemble cloth, being covered not with cloth but with an outer layer of textured paper: we may also refer to these as “boards” to distinguish them from “cloth”.

Two closely-related terms for a label on the endpapers, or sometimes elsewhere in the book, used to mark ownership. A bookplate is typically larger in size, and may often be engraved either with a monogram or with a coat-of-arms (an armorial bookplate). A book label is smaller, usually simply stating the owner’s name, either engraved or letterpress, and is more likely to be modern.

Some twentieth-century collectors of the old school, such as Estelle Doheny, used leather book labels lettered in gilt. These look opulent, though they tend to cause acidification of the adjacent leaf or even leaves. If the book label is leather, we say so.

A few booksellers have thought well enough of themselves to attach a small paper label inside the cover giving their own name, as if they were collectors. These are sometimes of interest if contemporary, parochial, or imply some association.

A good quality leather used for trade or bespoke bindings. Its natural colour is a plain mid-brown, but it can be dyed different colours (in which case, we specify the colour) or treated decoratively. See panelled calf, sprinkled calf, tree calf.

Commonly found in early twentieth-century illustrated books where each plate is preceded by a thin sheet of tissue with a printed caption relating to the illustration. Neither the plate nor its tissue guard is counted in the pagination.

Book binding in which the cover (or "case") is attached to the text block principally by means of the endpapers. This has been the usual method of binding since the introduction of publisher’s cloth in the 1820s. The more traditional and robustly made hand-bound book has cords sewn across its back and attached to, and even recessed into, the boards. Case-bound books are usually only specified as such by us if they have been re-cased.

A protective construction of cloth-backed card folded around the book or pamphlet, sometimes with cloth ties, often designed to be then inserted in a slipcase or box. Chemises are usually custom-made for collectors, rather than being issued by the publisher, but some modern livres d’artistes and other lavish books of that ilk are issued with them, in which case we specify that they are the “publisher’s” or “original” chemise.

Used to hold the book closed; they are usually made with brass hinges and catches and a leather strap, though other materials may be used. They are more often found in early books.

The backstrip is cloth; the sides are plain or paper-covered boards. There was a brief period in the 1820s when some English books were issued thus, just before the introduction of publisher’s cloth, and the style is found in many modern books.

“Cocked” means that the spine of the book is slanted, a condition endemic to case-bound books that have been re-read too many times. “Rolled” is the less noticeable state of the same condition. Collectors of modern books in ideal condition will prefer spines that are square. Collectors of books with interesting provenance may welcome the implication that the book was actually read by its notable former owner.

The smooth surface of the cloth is disrupted by small pockets of air between the cloth and the underlying board where the cloth is no longer fully adhered to the board. Usually caused by the cloth having been in contact with water.

A printed statement at the end of the book, found mainly in early books (though revived in the private press era), stating usually the title of the book, the publisher and or printer, and the place and date of publication.

The smooth spaces on the spine between raised bands. Spines without raised bands can have "compartments" decoratively delineated by gilt or blind tooling.

"Contemporary" means bound at or very shortly after publication, and implies that this is most likely the book's first binding. "Near contemporary" means that the style indicates that it was done within 50 years of publication; it may not be the book's first binding, though possibly it is. Otherwise, bindings are "later", or their date is specified.