Year: 1888

page_text: A clerical error in the Communicator's address in the original Specification having
been amended by the Patentee with the consent of the Comptroller, the printed
Specification will now read as shown below:-

page_text: Improvements in or relating to the Manufacture of Books, which
Improvements are Useful for Securing to Publishers the Control
of their Sale, so as to Prevent Book-scalpers from Underselling
the Publisher or his Agent, and to Secure to Agents and
Canvassers generally, the Selling Territory they have Con-
tracted for.
•
communication from abroad by JAMES MOORE BEERS, of Brooklyn, New Jersey,
U.S.A.. Publisher of Books.
I, WILLIAM PHILLIPS THOMPSON F.C.S. M.I.M.E. of the Agency for Foreign
Patent Solicitors, 6 Lord Street, Liverpool, and 6 Bank Street, Manchester, both in
the County of Lancaster, and 323 High Holborn, in the County of Middlesex, Civil
Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of this invention, and in what manner the
same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the
following statement :-
The Invention has for its object to secure to publishers the control of the sale of
books published by them; to prevent book-scalpers from underselling the publishers
or his agent on his own publications and to secure to general agents and canvassers
the selling territory they have contracted for; and to that end the invention consists
of the herein described and claimed method of manufacturing, books, whereby each
book contains within itself an identifying mark so placed and combined with the
essential parts of the book in the manufacturing of the same, that the mark cannot
be removed or destroyed or tampered with in any way, without destroying the book,
and forms an integral and ineffaceable part of said book so long as the book retains
its structure and character as a merchantable and saleable book.

page_text: In practising the invention, the bookbinder is to fold, gather, stitch and round the
book as is now the custom of the trade, then after applying glue to the back edges or
folds of each signature and the stitching at the back of each book, and before the
back lining is made fast, he shall affix a seal or label bearing a separate distinguishing
or identifying mark for each book upon the folds of the signature, varing the situation
of the same at pleasure along the back edges of the signatures.
Over this seal or label or other identifying mark so applied, the back lining is to
be securely fastened so as to cover and hold in place the seal or mark or label and so
that the same cannot be removed or tampered with or destroyed, without first
removing the back lining or otherwise destroying the book as a book. The book-
binder is then to back the book, glue on the cases, and press the book.
Other ways of affixing the distinguishing or identification mark are by cutting,
printing, stamping, stencilling, perforating or otherwise marking the paper effectually
covered and protected by the back lining of the book as described; and instead of
applying the mark to the back of the signatures it may be applied in or upon any
other part of the cases, lining or back of the book, where a mark may be applied and
where it will be covered and protected by the outer part or parts of the book; but the
former way of applying the mark is preferred as best suited to infallible identification,
and it is preferable to combine it with the back of the signatures as described.
In practising the invention it is preferable to put a different mark in each
separate book made, as say a series of numbers, or of letters, or other arbitrary
marks, and as all the books will appear alike externally, and will be alike except for
the different protected marks employed in their manufacture, the publisher, to take
full advantage of the improvement, must make record of the exact marks worked into
the books that he puts out, and for his convenience in keeping such record, there may
be placed upon the title or any other page of the book, a duplicate of the protected
identification mark.
The kind of label which is preferable for use may be of cloth, paper or other suitable
substance and has a flap to protect it from exudation of the glue or from defacement
by the back lining, when for the purpose of finally identifying the book the back
lining is torn or separated from said label.
In the accompanying drawings Figure 1, shows a perspective view of a book
embodying the invention, the back being ready to be secured in proper position and
revealing the identifying label or mark, and the back lining of the book ready to be
pasted down securely over it. Figure 2 is a detail view of the form of label preferred
for use.
It is made of cloth and has the main body part a, bearing the identifying
mark of the book and the flap part b, which covers the mark and protects it from
destruction when the back lining is torn or separated from it.
Similar letters of reference in the two figures indicate like parts.
c is the body of signatures of the book, sewed or secured together in the usual way.
d is the back lining. e is the cover. As stated a is the main part of the form of label
preferred for use, and which bears the identifying mark, and 6 is the flap of the label
which protects the mark from the back lining d.
The part a is pasted down on the back of the signatures as shown in Figure 1,
and the part 6 is then doubled over it from the position shown in the drawings, so as to
cover and protect the part a from the back lining d when the latter is pasted down
over it, and so that when the lining d is removed it shall not tear or destroy the
part a or the identifying mark on that part a.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of the said
invention and in what manner the same is to be performed as communicated to
me by my foreign correspondent, I declare that what I claim is:-
1. In the manufacture of books, the method of affixing a suitable identifying mark
which consists in printing, stamping, cutting or otherwise suitably affixing said
identifying mark upon or to the inner part of the case, lining or back of the book,
and covering and protecting the same by securely and permanently applying thereto,
the outer part of the book, whereby the said identifying mark is concealed from

page_text: view and can be removed or changed only by destroying the book, substantially as
described.
2. The improved method of manufacturing books which consists in printing,
stamping, cutting, or otherwise suitably affixing upon or to the edges or folds of
the signatures of the book, a suitable identifying mark, and securely and permanently
applying thereto the lining of the back of the book, and covering and protecting the mark
by said back lining, whereby the said identifying mark can be removed or changed
only by destroying the book, and whereby the book can be identified, substantially as
shown and described.