A
Archival: relating to archives; often used to refer to acid-free or long-lasting materials.
Alkaline buffering: changing the pH (usually of paper) to be more alkaline, and therefore less acidic, through a chemical buffering agent.
Association copy: a book valued because of its association with the author or someone else connected to the book.
B
Back: multiple uses; Usually it means the spine of a book, or the rear board of a book but it may also refer to the verso side of a page. (This term is just not specific enough, so I avoid using it.)
Backing: The process of shaping the text-spine to form shoulders of a height approximately equal to the thickness of the boards.
Back-strip: see back and case-spine.
Bench trained: means that significant time has been spent actually restoring books of value with supervision from an expert in the field.
Bindery: anywhere books are bound.
Bookbinder: anyone who binds a book.
Bookbinding: assembling materials to create a book.
Book block: see text-block.
Book jacket: see dust-jacket.
C
Case: the cover of a book.
Case-binding: began in Great Britain in the 1820s; it is now the common way for hardcover books to be bound. The cover and text-block are separately constructed and then put together. The attachment is made between the extending part of the text-spine linings and the paste-downs being adhered to each board. The spine is left to be a natural hollow rather than glued shut like a paperback. A book can be called “case-bound” if it is bound in this manner.
Case-in: the process of putting the text-block and cover together. See case-binding.
Case-spine: the spine area of the cover of a book. The material between the front and rear boards of a book cover.
Cellugel: the brand name of a leather consolidant; hydroxypropylcellulose mixed with isopropanol. Used to treat red rot.
Collation: the process of going through a book thoroughly to make sure that all pages, maps, plates, and blanks are present and accounted for.
Commercial bindery: an industrial sort of workplace focused on mass production of new bookbindings. Some include a division dedicated to finer hand binding.
Condition: the descriptive points of a book that helps to determine its value.
Conservation: a synonym for preservation. See Chapter Four.
Conservation lab: a workplace focused on archival, scientifically-proven methods of prevention and preservation of a library or other archive.
Conservator: one who has been trained to preserve various kinds of materials for archives. For instance, an art conservator is trained to preserve art and a book conservator is trained to preserve books, documents and other materials.
Contemporary (period) binding: a binding (cover of a book) that reflects the time period in which the book was originally bound. According to Roberts and Etheringtons’ Bookbinding and the Conservation of Books: “Contemporary bindings of this type, while not creative or imaginative, are not unethical provided no attempt is made to disguise the fact that they are new bindings of older books.”
Cover: the outer construct of a book; that which is not the text-block.
D
Deaccession: to part with books from a collection through selling, or even just moving them to a separate section of the library
Deacidification: this is a misnomer in some ways. The process halts further acid decay but doesn’t actually reverse it or fully remove it. There are sprays available at scrapbooking stores and art supply stores that are easy to use, but the better-quality stuff is only available at archival supply stores online. Conservators are now questioning the benefits of these sprays.
Dis-bind: to take a book apart into separate structural pieces.
Dust jacket: a printed paper wrapper fitted to a books’ height and folded around the front edges of the boards of a book’s cover. There are some exceptions to the rule of this definition. Dust jackets account for about eighty percent of the value of a book. Also known as: DJ, book jacket, jacket, jacket cover, dust cover, dust wrapper (not to be confused with wrapper), paper jacket, paper cover, publisher’s jacket, and case wrap.
E
Embossing: stamping or printing without ink or color.
End-bands: a decorative cloth band, or a sewn element at the head and/or tail of the text-spine; also known as headbands.
End-caps: on leather books, the part that gets folded over at the head and tail of the spine.
End-sheets: there are various permutations of the construction of endsheets, but the most simplistic form is made up of a folded sheet of paper attached to the front and rear of a text-block, the two halves consisting of (a) the paste-down (attached to the board) and (b) the fly leaf, which is the first loose “page” of a book (it’s not actually a page though); also known as end-papers.
Extra bookbinder: one who puts in extra care and attention to quality details in the binding of a book, especially the gold finishing.
F
Facsimile: a reproduction (see the section on “sophistication” in Chapter Seven).
Flyleaf: typically, this is a part of the end-sheet; also known as a fly sheet or free flyleaf.
Foil stamping: adding text and/or embellishments to the spine or front cover, using heat and pressure, with colored foil. Foil stamping can be applied to leather or printed paper labels, which are then affixed to the book. Other options include direct stamping or hand tooling the text and/or embellishments directly onto the spine or cover.
see also Kwikprint hot foil stamping machine
Fore-edge painting: an image that is painted or otherwise drawn on the edges of a text-block in such a way that the image only appears if the pages are fanned to one side.
Forgery: something created with the deliberate intent to defraud.
Foxing: brownish or orangish stains on paper that are caused by various things, such as fungal colonies and metallic inclusions, that are thought to have been introduced in the papermaking process
Fraud: the intent to cause another party harm through deception
French joint: the indented space between the boards of the book and the shoulder of the text-block.
Fume hood: The suction device placed over areas where strong toxic chemicals are used to protect the user.
G
Gilding: the process of applying metals such as gold or silver to books for decoration.
Gilt: the gold applied to edges of books or as decorative elements.
Grain, grain direction: the way the fibers in paper line up in the creation process that makes it easier to fold a sheet of paper in one direction rather than the other. The grain is most typically running along the long side of a standard book. For landscape books, the grain would be along the short side. It will always run along the spine if the book is to open well. (Ironically, because the paper in the book is a folded sheet, the grain, while running along the long side (spine) of regular books would actually be short grain and vice versa for books in landscape form.)
Guarding: strengthening the spines of signatures before resewing.
H
Half binding: a style of binding in which the spine material covers about a fifth to a quarter of the covers with relatively small corners of the same material. The sides are covered with a different material, usually cloth or paper.
Hinge: the flexible connecting point on the inside of a book between the cover and the text-block. Many people referring to a hinge mean both the inner and outer connecting points of the board to the spine. Along with Carter’s ABC for Book Collecting, I am advocating for the distinction to be made between the outer portion and the inner portion of this mechanism. The outer should be called the joint (or even the outer joint, to be perfectly clear) and the inside area should be called the inner hinge.
Hollander beater: a machine that breaks up fibers to make paper.
Hollow spine: the space created naturally between the text-spine and the case-spine when a book is case-bound. Other styles can create a hollow spine as well.
I
Imprinting: see Foil Stamping.
Inherent vice: poor-quality materials used in the original binding of the book.
Inner hinge: the flexing part on the inside of a book between the cover and the text-block (as opposed to the outer joint); see also hinge.
J
Japanese tissue: a common term used to describe long-fibered paper (typically from Japan but also from other countries like Korea) used to repair book pages and other book repairs. It comes in a wide variety of thicknesses. Also known as Japanese paper, washi or from Korea, hanji.
Job backer: a heavy metal press the size of a small table made for clamping a book so that the spine is exposed; used to work on such tasks as rounding, backing, and lining.
Joint (outer): the outer/exposed part of the flexible hinge of a book cover; see also hinge and outer joint.
K
Kerf sewing: A quick fix sort of sewing method whereby one saws into the spine of the book creating cuts called “kerfs.” Several pairs of cuts that lean in towards each other (at the bottom of the cut) are made and then thread is wrapped around each station, creating an inflexible binding.
Kwikprint hot/foil stamping machine: a machine designed to hold metal type and heat it up so that it can be impressed onto book covers and other flat items either blind or with colored foils.
L
Laid paper: a type of paper that has distinctive lines that were created during the paper-making process.
Leafcaster: A machine used to create the perfect match for losses in paper.
Leather dressing: any concoction used to shine up or preserve leather. Conservators used to recommend a mixture of lanolin and neatsfoot oil, whereas now they say these should only be used very sparingly, and the new thought is to use something that seals the leather rather than penetrating it. Archival waxes are now preferred, such as Hewit’s leather dressing.
Leaves: the leaves of a book each have one page on the recto and one on the verso (one leaf makes up two pages of a book). Leaves could also just be sheets of loose paper.
Library marks, ex-library marks: ink stamps on the edges of text-blocks, or directly on pages identifying the library that made the mark. Also: labels, or perforations.
Lining: refers to both the process and the materials used to stiffen the spine of a book.
Loss: a missing piece or hole.
M
Made-up: see marrying.
Marrying: putting together a whole set or a single book by swapping in missing parts, dust jackets, or volumes from a different copy of the same set or book. Marrying should only ethically be done between the same editions. It is frowned upon in the book collecting world.
Methyl cellulose: a chemical used to add slip time to glue. Also used in foods such as soft-serve ice cream.
Mounted or lined: when a page, or plate, or map — or anything really — has been attached to another supportive material such as paper or Japanese tissue.
Mull: an open-weave fabric used to strengthen and consolidate the text-spine of a book; also known as crash, tarlatan, or super.
O
Outer joint: see joint
Over-sewing: this is sewing that stabs through a page, signature, or text-block along the edge, rather than through a fold leaving a binding that is less flexible.
P
Paste: a plant-based adhesive, typically wheat or rice starch based.
Paste-down: the half of the end-papers that is adhered to the inside of a book cover; also known as end lining, lining paper, or board paper.
Peak: the degree to which the text-spine curves when the book is opened to the middle. Ideally, it is rounded like a hill rather than pointy like the Alps. Also known as the “throw up” (seriously, that’s the British term!).
Period binding: see contemporary binding.
Pictorial cloth binding: cloth bindings common in the late 1830s into the 1900s that are highly ornamented with gilt.
Points: particular determining factors of edition and state that collectors tend to obsess over because the value depends on them
Polyvinyl acetate (PVA): a specific kind of synthetic white glue used in bookbinding.
Provenance: the history of the object — where it came from, who owned it, that sort of thing. Specifically, the physical proof of this history.
Publisher’s cloth binding: started around the 1820s or 1830s; cloth bindings created by a publisher for an edition of books.
Purist: a book collector who prefers the original binding of a book to any restoration, alterations, or rebinding.
Q
Quire: several sheets of paper folded once all together to be sewn through the fold; also known as a signature.
R
Re-back, re-backing, re-backed: to repair the spine for a book by reattaching the original spine onto the new spine. If there is no original spine, it is called a new spine. If the spine is recreated to match the original, is a facsimile spine; or, if it is a spine sympathetic to the original period, it might be called a contemporary new spine.
Re-bind, re-bound: putting a new cover on a book (not the original cover).
Re-case: to put the original text-block back into the original case after restoration or repair has taken place.
Recto: the side of a page that faces up (can be seen) on the right side of an open book for books read left to right. See also verso.
Re-hinge: repair broken inner hinges with new materials introduced.
Re-joint: repair broken outer joints with new materials introduced.
Remainder marks: some books have a large enough print run that they are taken out of trade circulation before they are all sold. The identifying marks are typically stamped on one of the text-block edges. Sometimes, it is just a slash with a Sharpie, and sometimes it is an identifying stamp such as Knopf’s Borzoi hound dog.
Renaissance wax: a brand name of microcrystalline wax that can be used to shine up book-cloth. It is not a perfect solution, because it is hard to use to create an even coating.
Repair: any change meant to be an improvement. See also Chapter Four.
Re-sewing: traditional re-sewing means picking apart the sewing that was holding the books together and then re-sewing it as it was sewn originally. This was typically a “through-the-fold” method, which allows the book to open more fully than other options. Other methods of resewing include over-sewing and kerf-sewing, which diminish the inner margin of the book by about a quarter of an inch and make it so that it cannot open flat. While re-sewing is usually only done when the original sewing has broken, book artists may re-sew a book as part of their new design and for strength.
Restoration: nearly invisible repairs to bring a book back to its original beauty.
Restorationist: a bookbinder who focuses on restoring books.
Restorer: (a) one who has been trained to restore books; (b) one whose collecting goals are focused on beauty and function.
Rounding: the process of shaping the text-spine into a more rounded, convex shape. Sometimes this is done with a backing hammer after the spine is glued and allowed to nearly dry.
S
Scarf tear: a tear with beveled edges.
Shaken: a description of what happens when the glue on the text-spine has started to release and subsequently the text-block becomes loose within its cover. The signatures and sewing may also be loose.
Shoulders: the part of the text-spine that has been pressed outwards to about the same thickness of the boards.
Sides: the outer portion of the boards of a book. For a half binding the sides are smaller, relegated to the part of the board not covered by spine and/or corner coverings.
Sophisticated: books that have had any new materials added to the original such as facsimiles or even Japanese tissue repairs.
Sophistication: a change to a book that has added new material either through swapping, facsimile, or even restoration. See also Chapter 5.
Suction Table: A porous table that allows fragile papers to be kept in place with suction from below. this also allows chemicals to be applied with pinpoint accuracy.
T
Text-block: the body of a book; all the pages not including the end-sheets.
Text spine: the back or spine area of a text-block.
Tight-back: the book covering (usually leather) is attached directly to the text-spine. Typically, this is the method used with bound-in-boards books. Also known as a tight-spine.
Tight joint: the boards of the book are attached with no gap between them and the shoulder of the text-block.
Toning: a color change created with an aqueous wash with some pigment added.
Transition areas: the places to look on a book to determine if new materials have been introduced. These include the edges of the book cover and also places where one material ends and another begins.
Two-on sewing: a method of sewing where one pass of the thread catches two adjacent signatures. It is a way to keep the spine from swelling too much.
V
Vellum: a thin translucent material made from various animal skins typically calf. There is paper of the same name, so called because it simulates the skin of an animal, so be careful to distinguish between the two. Also known as parchment.
Verso: the side of a page that faces up on the left side of an open book that is read left to right.
W
Washed: it is possible to wash pages with no harm to them other than maybe having to resize the paper.
Wove paper: paper without laid lines. It has a more uniform and smooth overall appearance.
Wrappers, wraps: paper covers that are attached with some adhesive to the book. Sometimes meant to be temporary until new covers can be made.