Wessington Springs herald. (Wessington Springs, Aurora County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1891, 1891-02-06
BOOK s1MDi,j }.


The Origin aud History ri the An.
The necessity of protecting mar IL
scripts from injury was practically
recognized in the earliest historic times.
but it was reserved fc1 tho Greeks, who
fastened the leaves ard then encasea
them in plain leather. to lay the fonda
ton OF modern bookbinding. In Rome
the covering of manuscripts assumed a
more ornamental character. (icero's
taste liz this respect vas particularly ex-
trayagant. Every s,sroll in his library
ut Tusculum had an imposing dress.
| The pugillaria, few leaves of ivory or
wood, were held together at the back
by rings. but were eventually arrayed
in leather and secured with clasps.
Horace and others tell us that book
| shop was to be found in every large
city. and the binders Casually slaves)
doubtless became persons of some i'm
portancc in the community. Another
advance i'll the art is shown in the pom
de:ous collections of statutes which the
Byzantine em.erous of the fifth century,
! evidently with an eye to effect. took
with them i'll their public professions.
These volumes were bound in leather
OF some bright color, and were slightly
ornanented. In the Middle Ages, when
many monks became binders for amuse~
ment, the typical cover consisted of two
heavy boards in leather or vellum, with
corner plates, bosses, thick clasps, and
tasteless prof,,sion of enamels, gold
ornaments. and precious stones. The
Arabs at this period showed more judg-
mcnt IN work Of the kind, but If any ex-
amples of it found their way to Western
Europe the lessons they taught were
Disregard.
The Invention of printing, joined to
the revival Of letters, naturally led to q
revolution in bibliorcgy. Books came
from the press SO quickly that a less ex-
pensive mode of binding them had to
be devised. The Italians at once solved
The problem in the most satisfactory
way. The unwie!dy wooden boards
were laid aside in favor of pasteboard
with morocco or some other fine leather
spread over it, and blind or gold tooling
was. substituted for cnamels and gems
in ornamentation. The result was q
gam to art, especially as great painters
did not think it beneath their dignity
to occupy themselves with designs for
book covers. Most Of the italian bind
ings united richness with the purest
taste, and it is not too much to say that
those turned out by Tommaso Mailio
have never been surpassed. Before
many years had elapsed French school
OF binding was founded by Grolier the
foremost book collector of his time.
Modelling his style upon that of the
Italians, he yet gave it independent
value and interest, and to the end Of
his long life was an enthusiast on the
subject. 1t is worthy of note that he
was the first to put the title on the back
of volume. In tina 18th century the
art of binding declined in Italy, but in
France. as in Germany and Flanders, it
made good progress. However pros
porous its votaries may have been, their
lot was hardly an enviable one, as they
did not escape the responsibility at
tached to the printer. In 1894, Mr..
Cundall informs ns, one Of them was
hanged in Paris for having bound libel
on Louis XIV. Before the revolution
broke out binding in France shared the
fate of Italy, having become clumsy in
form and poor IN design. England had
never possessed great bookbinder,
but towards the end OF the 18th century
she found one in Roger Payne, who by
his keen sense of artistic beauty and his
technical skill might have made a for
tune if he had not been over-devoted to
the bottle. In his portrait he appears
as "a thin, shabby old man. standing in
little room, with books on the floor
and glue pot on the fire." In this
place, which stood in Leicester square,
were executed the most splendid speci-
mems of binding, and here upon the
same shelf were mixed together old
shoes and valuable leases, bread and
cheese costly manuscripts. and early
printed books" Mr. Cundall does not
tell us that Lady Spencer's French
maid tainted on seeing her mistress in
conversation with this unlovely indi-
vidual, though the anecdote is related
on good authority. -Eucho,ge. !.