The Forwarding of Embroidered Books.

The processes used in the binding of embroidered books are the same as in the case of leather-bound books; but there is one invariable peculiarity—­the bands upon which the different sections of the paper are sewn are never in relief, so that it was always possible to paste down a piece of material easily along the back without having to allow for the projecting bands so familiar on leather bindings (Fig. 9).  The backs, moreover, are only rounded very slightly, if at all.

This flatness has been attained on the earlier books either by sewing on flat bands, thin strips of leather or vellum (Fig. 10), or by flattening the usual hempen bands as much as they will bear by the hammer, and afterwards filling up the intermediate spaces with padding of some suitable material, linen or thin leather.

In several instances the difficulty of flattening the bands has been solved, in sixteenth-and seventeenth-century embroidered books, in a way which cannot be too strongly condemned from a constructive point of view, although it has served its immediate purpose admirably.

A small trench has been cut with a sharp knife for each band, deep enough to sink it to the general level of the inner edges of the sections (Fig. 11).

[Illustration:  FIG. 9.  Back of book sewn on raised bands.]

[Illustration:  FIG. 10.  Band of flat vellum sometimes found on old books with flat backs.]

[Illustration:  FIG. 11.  Typical appearance of a book, before it is sewn, with small trenches cut in the back in which the bands are to be laid; a bad method, but often used to produce a flat back.]

This cutting of the back to make room for the bands was afterwards more easily effected by means of a saw—­as it is done now—­and in the eighteenth century was especially used by the French binder Derome le Jeune, who is usually made responsible for its invention.

The existence of the sunken bands on early embroidered books probably marks the beginning of this vicious system, but here there is some excuse for it, whereas in the case of ordinary leather-bound books there is none, except from the commercial standpoint.

In the case of vellum books there may be some reason for using the ‘sawn in’ bands, as it is certainly difficult to get vellum to fit comfortably over raised bands, although numerous early instances exist in which it has been successfully done.  Again in the case of ’hollow backs,’ the bands are kept flat with some reason.  But for all valuable or finely bound books the system of ‘sawing in’ cannot be too strongly condemned.

‘Sawing in’ can be detected by looking at the threads in the centre of any section of a bound book from the inside.  It will show as a small hole with a piece of hemp or leather lying transversely across it, under which the thread passes (Fig. 12).

[Illustration:  FIG. 12.  Typical appearance of the sewing of a book with ‘sawn in’ bands, as seen from the inside of each section.  The bands just visible.]