Victorian Pictorial Cloth Bindings- Michael Moon’s Bookshop, Whitehaven, Cumbria - England.
The art of covering a book in cloth was invented in the early 1820s. The first materials used were dress materials such as silk and satin, but these were unsuitable for everyday use as the glue came through easily and the lack of ‘body’ or stiffness made them difficult to work with.
Experiments were devised in around 1823 to colour the cloth – for colour, which was much more attractive than plain calico, resulting in books clothed in blues, greens, reds, and even purples. Archibald Leighton is generally credited with the invention of the cotton cloth material (1825) we know so well today.
Cloth remained popular because it was a cheap method of binding a book. Technological advances meant the covers could be decorative: machinery was invented in the 1830s which could emboss the cloth, providing further ornamentation; the means of applying black, then colour, and finally silver, developed in the coming decades, adding further decoration.
Cloth was here to stay. It could be used both for cheap editions, and for expensive gift books.
The Finicky Fox has a wide variety of books from paperback to collectors throughout the store. ... See more
