Secret Spine Typography

2008-10-01T14:25:00.002+01:00

During my bookbinding placement I had to repair many books where the spines had deteriated through use or age and where they were no longer doing the job of holding to book block and boards together. Most detremental wear to books comes from where they are pulled off of the shelf. Understandably people will pull the books off using one of their index fingers at the top of the spine. This is usually because a shelf full of books means there is nowhere else to get any leverage. This action puts pressure on the material of the joint of the spine, and over a long period of time can weaken or tear the spine off in some cases.

I forgot to mention I am only refering to decent hardback books that have this problem, as perfect bound books (paper held together with glue) do not have a tubed spine. Perfect bound books are another nightmare problem that is not worth mentioning at this moment! Maybe thats for another post.

Anyway, this post is for the nice typographic suprises that I found hidden under some spines that I needed to repair. The reason is utterly practical. The bookbinder who made the book, or the last person to repair it needed paper of a certain weight, usually about the same consistancy as brown wrapping paper to make the spine with. It needs to be strong enough to hold together as a spine but also be flexible enough to bend as the book is opened. As this part of the book is never meant to be seen by the reader it makes no difference if there is anything printed on this paper, so binders have used whatever seemed to be to hand.

I had hoped on in reading the 'accidental content', for some secret messages left by the previous binder about current social issues of the time or some form of 'between the lines' comment on the book, but I was left dreaming. What did occur to me however was the potencial for me to be able add these messages into books that I might repair or build in the future. So if I ever publish a decent made hardback book maybe you should rip the spine off to see if there is any off the wall comments or interesting newspaper cuttings from the news the day it was made.

For more images click here.

Bookbinding in Appleford, Oxford

2008-09-30T16:32:00.000+01:00

Having finished my Undergraduate studies at Birmingham Central University I was looking for something fun and different to do over the summer, before I started my Postgrad Masters at the University of Reading. Browsing through the placement oppotunities on the UoR students page I found a beginners bookbinding placement. This seemed like something I would get a lot of enjoyment out of and learn something at the same time.

I applyed a day later and found out that I had a place a few weeks after. I worked there for two months and took the odd photo on the way, more as a reminder for myself in the future than anything else. These examples are of the preliminary stages of the construction of a book from scratch. I learnt about the general repair of books, making them from the beginning and also repairing ones that are damaged from bad treatment or the most usual of problems, age.

Unfortunatly, looking back at the photos I have taken I have realised there is a lot more visual information I could have recorded, but it was difficult as you need all hands and full attention to do a good job. As I will be going back fairly regularly there is potencial to rectify this. For more images on my bookbinding experience then click here.

Clarendon Crusader

Secret Spine Typography

Bookbinding in Appleford, Oxford