Bookbinding, and the Care of Books: A Handbook for Amateurs, Bookbinders & Librarians

A passionate defense of craft in an age of machines, this 1920 manual by Douglas Cockerell stands as one of the few truly essential bookbinding texts in English. Cockerell, a master binder working in the twilight of the Arts and Crafts movement, writes with quiet fury against the "cheap and nasty" bindings flooding libraries in his era bindings designed to fail, to send readers back to the publisher for replacements. He lays out every technique the serious amateur or librarian needs: scoring and folding, sewing and backing, covering in leather and cloth, gold tooling and finishing. But this is more than a technique manual. It's an argument that how we bind a book reflects how we value knowledge itself. Cockerell insists on quality materials, patient work, and the moral responsibility every craftsman bears to readers who will handle these volumes decades hence. Originally written for apprentices and institutional binders, it remains invaluable for anyone who wants to understand why certain old books survive beautifully while others from the same era have crumbled to dust.