The earliest writings were purely monumental, and accordingly those materials were chosen which were supposed to last the longest. The same idea of perpetuity which in architecture found its most striking exposition in the pyramids was repeated, in the case of literary records, in the two columns mentioned by Josephus, the one of stone and the other of brick, on which the children of Seth wrote their inventions and astronomical discoveries; in the pillars in Crete on which, according to Porphyry, the ceremonies of the Corybantes were inscribed; in the leaden tablets containing the works of Hesiod, deposited in the temple of the Muses, in Boeotia; in the ten commandments on stone delivered to Moses; and in the laws of Solon, inscribed on planks of wood. The notion of a literary production surviving the destruction of the materials on which it was first written—the “monumentum aere perennius” of Horace’s ambition—was unknown before the discovery of substances for systematic transcription.

Tablets (tabulae) of ivory or metal were in common use among the Greeks and Romans. When made of wood— sometimes of citron, but usually of beech or fir—their inner sides were coated with wax, on which the letters were traced with a pointed pen or stiletto (stylus), one end of which was used for erasure. It was with his stylus that Caesar stabbed Casca in the arm when attacked by his murderers. Two such tablets, joined together, were called diptycha, x the earliest specimens of bookbinding. They were fastened together at the back by wires, which acted as hinges; the pages were called cerae, from their waxen coating, and a raised margin was left round each to prevent obliteration by friction. Wax tablets of this kind continued in partial use in Europe during the Middle Ages; the oldest extant specimen, now in the museum at Florence, belongs to the year 1301. The leaves of the palm tree were afterwards used in their stead, as also the inner bark of the lime, tho ash, the maple, aud the elm. But the earliest, though long obsolete, flexible material of importance was made from the concentric coats which wrapped the stalk of the Egyptian papyriis, from which is derived our word paper. The time of its introduction has been much disputed; but it was certainly known long before Herodotus. The length of the Greek papyri is said to vary from eight to twelve inches; the Latiu often reach sixteen. Some rolls, however, have been found as long as thirty feet. They were written on with reeds dipped in gum-water coloured with charcoal or soot of resin, the writing being readily obliterated with a sponge; and it is conjectured that the surface was sometimes prepared for that purpose with a wash or varnish. Pliny mentions also the ink of the cuttie fish as having been used for writing, as well as a decoction of the lees of wine. Red ink consisted of a preparation from cinnabar. The next material commonly employed after papyrus was parchment, made from the skins of animals, usually of sheep or lambs. Vellum is a finer substance, consisting of prepared calf-skin. Parchment is commonly ascribed to Eumenes, king of Pergamus, in Asia Minor; but he was, in all probability, not the inventor but the improver. Writing on skins is mentioned by Herodotus as common in bis day; and Diodorus and Ctesias speak of ancient Persian records on leather. The word itself (pergamena) first occurs, according to Mabillon, in the writings of Tatto, a monk of the 4th century. It appears to have superseded papyrus about the 7th century; but its quality afterwards deteriorated. At first only one side was written on, the back being frequently stained. Parchments written on both sides are called by Pliny opisthographi. The term boc-fell is found, in early English, to designate this material. Its dearness in classical times led to the practice of erasing the original writing for the purpose of substituting new. Parchments so obliterated are known as palimpsests, from a Greek word signifying twice rubbed, or prepared for writing; and they are alluded to under that name by Cicero (ad Div. vii. 18). Paper made from cotton (charta bombycina') came into use, according to Montfaucon, towards the end of the 9th or the beginning of the 10th century; and the invention was opportune, as it checked the further use of palimpsests, which, from the scarcity of parchment and the demand for books of devotion, had imperilled the preservation of much classical literature. Cicero’s De Republica was discovered by Angelo Mai in the Vatican library written under a commentary of St Augustine on the Psalms; and the Institutions of Gaius, in the library of the chapter at Verona, were deciphered in like manner under the works of St Jerome. But the invention of linen paper gave the first real impulse to book production. The precise date of this invention is disputed; Mabillon refers it to the 12th century. Montfaucon, however, found no specimens earlier than 1270, and Maffei none before 1300; the most numerous of them belong to the 14th century. Scaliger ascribes the invention to the Germans, Maffei to the Italians, and others to certain Greek refugees at Basel; while Duhalde refers it to the Chinese, and Prideaux to the Saracens in Spain. For further particulars respecting the various substances of early books, the reader may consult the first volume of the Nouveau traité de diplomatique, by the Benedictines of St Maur, and the Essai sur Vhistoire du Parchemin et du Vélin, by Peignot, who has given a list of authorities on this subject

The form of ancient books differed with the materials of which they were composed. When flexible matter came into use, it was found convenient to make books in the form of rolls, and the two names are synonymous in legal phraseology to this day. The papyrus, and afterwards the parchment, was joined together to form one sheet, and then rolled upon a staff into a volume (volumen). When an author divided his work into portions or “books,” in the literary sense of the word, each division was usually a volumen by itself,—thus Ovid speaks of his fifteen books of the Metamorphoses as so many volumina ; and the same was done when an entire work was too bulky to be rolled on one stick. The staff in the Herculaneum rolls is concealed by the papyrus, but it usually projected, the ends being ornamented with bosses (umbilici) of wood and ivory. The title (titulus index) was either suspended like a ticket to the roll, or pasted on the outside. These rolls were frequently protected by a parchment cover; they were deposited in a cylindrical box (capsa or scrinium), or were arranged horizontally in cases round the walls of a library, as at Herculaneum. Many books could probably be stowed away in small compass by this means; and the smallness of the rooms devoted in ancient times to such collections is readily explained in this manner. The volumen, however, in most cases, was far from containing as much as our ordinary books, even in an octavo form. The square form, originally applied to the codices or wax tablets joined together in the way described above, was resorted to afterwards for separate leaves, the same name being retained with altered materials. Martial speaks of this later kind of codex as a novelty in his day. It was common, however, in Greek MSS., among the earliest of which Montfaucon discovered few specimens of rolls. The term liber in the 4th century is found applied to both rolls and squared leaves, but the former were discontinued in the Middle Ages, and covers of boards -were gradually introduced, the leaves being stitched together as well as folded.

The internal arrangement of books has undergone many modifications, which belong, however, chiefly to the subject of early writing. At first the letters were divided only into lines, then into separate words, and these by degrees were noted with accents, and distributed by points and stops into periods, paragraphs, chapters, and other divisions. In some countries, as among the Orientals, the direction of the characters was from right to left, in others, as among the Northern and Western nations, from left to right. The early Greeks followed the two directions alternately,—a method which was called boustrophedon, from its analogy to the path of oxen when ploughing. In most countries the lines run from side to side, but in some, particularly among the Chinese, their direction is vertical.

The diffusion of early books concerns especially the literary historian. Their scarcity before printing is illustrated by the conditions attached to purchase or loan; but it must be remembered that a particular book might easily bear a monopoly price, and that this is no test of the cost of those which might be multiplied by transcription. When, however, the small number of copyists in the Dark Ages and even later is considered, the high prices recorded in many instances do not appear surprising. A curious collection of scattered notices of this kind is given in the first volume of Warton’s History of English Poetry. A catalogue of the books in the Sorbonne in 1292, consisting of upwards of 1000 volumes, is mentioned by Chevillier as having been valued at 3812 livres, equivalent, according to an English writer, to as many pounds sterling of the present day. In 1425, when the English became masters of Paris, the duke of Bedford, regent of France, sent the whole of the royal library into England; and the collection, which amounted to only 853 volumes, was valued at 2223 livres.

The characteristics of early printed books are noticed under the head of Bibliography (q. v.) The folio and quarto sizes, originally adopted from the largeness of the types in the infancy of printing, are now generally restricted to works of bulk, as dictionaries and other books of reference. The size of a printed book is named from the dimensions of the paper and the number of leaves into which it is folded. The ordinary sizes for a long time were royal, demy, and crown; and the demy 8vo is now the commonest size in use. Post and foolscap are frequently but inaccurately described in catalogues as duodecimo. “Paper-moulds,” says Mr W. Blades, a competent authority on this subject, “have fixed conventional sizes; but since the introduction of machines for making paper, and the consequent disuse of moulds, makers work more by a given number of inches than by names of sizes. Consequently, the correct description of book sizes has become impossible, and the trade describe the new by the names of the old size they most resemble. To determine the real size of a bound book,” he adds, “find the signature (a letter or figure at the bottom of the page), and count the leaves (not pages) to the next. A further test is the binder’s thread in the middle of the sheet; the number of leaves from each thread to the next will give the same result. But these rules do not apply to old black-letter books and those of the 15th and 16th centuries, in which the most satisfactory test is the water-mark. The rule is :—a folio volume will have all the water-marks in the middle of the page; a quarto has the water-mark folded in half in the back of the book, still midway between the top and bottom; in an octavo it is at the back, but at the top, and ofteD considerably cropped by the binder’s plough, and a 12mo and 16nιo have the water-mark on the fore-edge.” For further information regarding MS. books see Paleography, and for printed books Bibliography. (k. f. , γ.) Bookselling.

The trade in books is of a very ancient date. The early poets and orators recited their effusions in public to induce their hearers to possess written copies of their poems or orations. Frequently they were taken down viva voce, and transcripts sold to such as were wealthy enough to purchase. In the book of Jeremiah the prophet is represented as dictating to Baruch the scribe, who, when questioned, described the mode iu which his book was written. These scribes were, in fact, the earliest booksellers, and supplied copies as they were demanded. Aristotle, we are told, possessed a somewhat extensive library; and Plato is recorded to have paid the large sum of one hundred minae for three small treatises of Philolaus the Pythagorean. When the Alexandrian library was founded about 300 n.c., various expedients were resorted to for the purpose of procuring books, and this appears to have stimulated the energies of the Athenian booksellers, who were termed βιβλίων κάπηλοι. In Rome, towards the end of the Republic, it became the fashion to have a library as part of the household furniture; and the booksellers, librarii (Oic., De Leg., iii. 20) or bibliopoles (Martial, iv. 71, xiii. 3), carried on a flourishing trade. Their shops (taberna librarii, Cicero, Phil., ii. 9) were chiefly in the Argiletum, and in the Vicus Sandalarius. On the door, or on the side posts, was a list of the books on sale; and Martial (i. 118), who mentions this also, says that a copy of his First Book of Epigrams might be purchased for five denarii. Iu the time of Augustus the great booksellers were the Sosii. According to Justinian (ii. 1, 33), a law was passed securing to the scribes the property in the materials used; and in this may, perhaps, be traced the first germ of the modern law of copyright.

The spread of Christianity naturally created a great demand for copies of the Gospels and other sacred books, and later on for Missals and other devotional volumes for church and private use. Benedict Biscop, the founder of the abbey at Wearmouth in England, brought home with him from France (671) a whole cargo of books, part of which he had“bought,” but from whom is not mentioned. Passing by the intermediate ages we find that, previous to the Reformation, the text writers or stationers (stacyoneres), who sold copies of the books then in use,—the ABC, the Paternoster, Creed, Ave Maria, and other MS. copies of prayers, in the neighbourhood of St Paul’s, London,—were, iu 1403, formed into a guild. Some of these “stacyoneres” had stalls or stations built against the very walls of the cathedral itself, in the same manner as they are still to be found in some of the older Continental cities. In Mr Anstey , s Munimenta Academica, published under the direction of the Master of the Rolls, we catch a glimpse of the “sworn” university bookseller or stationer, John More of Oxford, who apparently first supplied pupils. with their books, and then acted the part of a pawnbroker. Mr Anstey says (p. 77), “The fact is that they (the students) mostly could not afford to buy books, and had they been able, would not have found the advantage so considerable as might be supposed, the instruction given being almost wholly oral. The chief source of supplying books was by purchase from the university sworn stationers, who had to a great extent a monopoly Of such books there were plainly very large numbers constantly changing hands.” Besides the sworn stationers.there were many booksellers in Oxford who were not sworn; for one of the statutes, passed in the year 1373, expressly recites that, in consequence of their presence, “books of great value are sold and carried away from Oxford, the owners of them are cheated, and the sworn stationers are deprived of their lawful business.” It was therefore enacted that no bookseller except two sworn stationers, or their deputies, should sell any book being either his own property or that of another, exceeding half a mark in value, under pain of imprisonment, or, if the offence was repeated, of abjuring his trade within the university.

“The trade in bookselling seems,” says Hallam, “to have been established at Paris and Bologna in the 12 th century; the lawyers and universities called it into life. It is very improbable that it existed in what we properly call the Dark Ages. Peter of Blois mentions a book which he had bought of a public dealer (a quodam publico mangone librorum) ; but we do not find many distinct accounts of them till the next age. These dealers were denominated siαiionαm, perhaps from the open stalls at which they carried on their business, though statio is a general word for a shop in low Latin. They appear, by the old statutes of the University of Paris, and by those of Bologna, to have sold books upon commission, and are sometimes, though not uniformly, distinguished from the librarii, a word which, having originally been confined to the copyists of books, was afterwards applied to .those who traded in them. They sold parchment and other materials of writing, which have retained the name of stationery, and they naturally exercised the kindred occupations of binding and decorating. They probably employed transcribers; we find at least that there was a profession of copyists in the universities and in large cities.”

The modern system of bookselling dates from soon after the introduction of printing. The earliest printers were also editors and booksellers; but being unable to sell every copy of the works they printed, they had agents at most of the seats of learning. Antony Koburger, who introduced the art of printing into Nuremberg in 1470, although a printer, was more of a bookseller; for, besides his own sixteen shops, we are informed by his biographers that he had agents for the sale of his books in every city of Christendom. Wynkin de Worde, who succeeded to Caxton’s press in Westminster, had a shop iu Fleet Street.

The religious dissensions of the Continent, and the Reformation in England under Henry VIII. and Edward VI., created a great demand for books; but in England neither Tudor nor Stuart could tolerate a free press, and various efforts were made to curb it. The first patent for the office of king’s printer was granted to Thomas Berthelet by Henry VIII. in 1529, but only such books as were first licensed were to be printed. At that time even the purchase or possession of an unlicensed book was a punishable offence. In 1556 (3 and 4 Philip and Mary) the London Company of Stationers was incorporated, and very extensive powers were granted in order that obnoxious books might be repressed. In the following reigns the Star Chamber exercised a pretty effectual censorship; but in spite of all precaution, such was the demand for books of a polemical nature, that many were printed abroad and surreptitiously introduced into England. Queen Elizabeth interfered but little with books except when they emanated from 'Roman Catholics, or touched upon her royal prerogatives; and towards the end of her reign, and during that of her pedantic successor, James, bookselling flourished. Archbishop Laud, who was no friend to booksellers, introduced many arbitrary restrictions; but they were all, or nearly all, removed during the time of the Commonwealth. So much had bookselling increased during the Protectorate that, in 1658, was published A Catalogue of the most Vendible Books in England, digested under the heads of Divinity, History, Physic, <kc., with School Books, Hebrew, Greek, and Latin, and an Introduction, for the use of Schools, by W. London. A bad time immediately followed. The Restoration also restored the office of Licenser of the Press, which continued till 1694.

In the first Copyright Act (8 Anne, c. 19), which specially relates to booksellers, it is enacted that, if any person shall think the published price of a book unreasonably high, he may thereupon make complaint to the archbishop of Canterbury, and to certain other persons named, who shall thereupon examine into his complaint, and if well founded reduce the price; and any bookseller charging more than the price so fixed shall be fined £5 for every copy sold. Apparently this enactment remained a dead letter.

The...

OF LIFE, or BOOK OF THE LIVING, or BOOK OF THE LORD, Psalm lxix, 28. Some have thought it very probable that these descriptive phrases, which are frequent in Scripture, are taken from the custom, observed generally in the courts of princes, of keeping a list of persons who are in their service, of the provinces which they govern, of the officers of their armies, of the number of their troops, and sometimes even of the names of their soldiers. Thus, when it is said that any one is written in the book of life, it means that he particularly belongs to God, and is enrolled among the number of his friends and servants: and to be “blotted out of the book of life,” is to be erased from the list of God’s friends and servants, as those who are guilty of treachery are struck off the roll of officers belonging to a prince. The most satisfactory explanation of these phrases is, however, that which refers them to the genealogical lists of the Jews, or to the registers kept of the living, from which the names of all the dead were blotted out.

OF JUDGMENT. Daniel, speaking of God’s judgment, says, “The judgment was set, and the books were opened,” Dan. vii, 10. This is an allusion to what was practised when a prince called his servants to account. The accounts are produced and examined. It is possible he might allude, also, to a custom of the Persians, among whom it was a constant practice every day to write down the services rendered to the king, and the rewards given to those who had performed them. Of this we see an instance in the history of Ahasuerus and Mordecai, Esther iv, 12, 34. When, therefore, the king sits in judgment, the books are opened: he obliges all his servants to reckon with him; he punishes those who have failed in their duty; he compels those to pay who are indebted to him; and he rewards those who have done him services. A similar proceeding will take place at the day of God’s final judgment.

Several sorts of materials were formerly used in making books: stone and wood were the first materials employed to engrave such things upon as men were desirous of having transmitted to posterity. Porphyry makes mention of some pillars preserved in Crete, on which the ceremonies observed by the Corybantes in their sacrifices were recorded. The works of Hesiod were originally written on tables of lead, and deposited in the temple of the Muses in Bœotia. The laws of Jehovah were written on tables of stone, and those of Solon on wooden planks. Tables of wood and ivory were common among the ancients: those of wood, were very frequently covered with wax, that persons might write on them with more ease, or blot out what they had written. And the instrument used to write with was a piece of iron, called a _style_; and hence the word “style” came to be taken for the composition of the writing. The leaves of the palm-tree were afterward used instead of wooden planks, and the finest and thinnest part of the bark of such trees as the lime, ash, maple, and elm; and especially the _tilio_, or _phillyrea_, and Egyptian _papyrus_. Hence came the word _liber_, (a book,) which signifies the inner bark of the trees. And as these barks were rolled up in order to be removed with greater ease, each roll was called _volumen_, a volume; a name afterward given to the like rolls of paper or parchment. From the Egyptian papyrus the word _paper_ is derived. After this, leather was introduced, especially the skins of goats and sheep. For the king of Pergamus, in collecting his library, was led to the invention of parchment made of those skins. The ancients likewise wrote upon linen. Pliny says, the Parthians, even in his time, wrote upon their clothes; and Livy speaks of certain books made of linen, _lintei libri_, upon which the names of magistrates, and the history of the Roman commonwealth, were written, and preserved in the temple of the goddess Moneta.

The materials generally used by the ancients for their books, were liable to be easily destroyed by the damp, when hidden in the earth; and in times of war, devastation, and rapacity, it was necessary to bury in the earth whatever they wished to preserve from the attacks of fraud and violence. With this view, Jeremiah ordered the writings, which he delivered to Baruch, to be put in an earthen vessel, Jer. xxxii. In the same manner the ancient Egyptians made use of earthen urns, or pots of a proper shape, for containing whatever they wanted to inter in the earth, and which, without such care, would have been soon destroyed. We need not wonder then, that the Prophet Jeremiah should think it necessary to inclose those writings in an earthen pot, which were to be buried in Judea, in some place where they might be found without much difficulty on the return of the Jews from captivity. Accordingly two different writings, or small rolls of writing, called books in the original Hebrew, were designed to be inclosed in such an earthen vessel; but commentators have been much embarrassed in giving any probable account of the necessity of two writings, one sealed, the other open; or, as the passage has been commonly understood, the one _sealed up_, the other left _open_ for any one to read; more especially, as both were to be alike buried in the earth and concealed from every eye, and both were to be examined at the return from the captivity. But the word translated _open_, in reference to the evidence, or book which was open, (1 Sam. iii, 7, 21; Dan. ii, 19, 30; x, 1,) signifies the revealing of future events to the minds of men by a divine agency; and it is particularly used in the book of Esther, viii, 13, to express a book’s making known the decree of an earthly king. Consequently the _open book_ of Jeremiah seems to signify, not its being then lying open or unrolled before them, while the other was sealed up; but the book that had revealed the will of God, to bring back Israel into their own country, and to cause buying and selling of houses and lands again to take place among them. This was a _book of prophecy_, opening and revealing the future return of Israel, and the other little book, which was ordered to be buried along with it, was the purchase deed.

By adverting to the different modes of writing in eastern countries, we obtain a satisfactory interpretation of a passage in the book of Job, xix, 23, 24, and a distinct view of the beautiful gradation which is lost in our translation: “O that my words were now written! O that they were printed (written) in a book! that they were graven with an iron pen and lead in the rock for ever!” In the east there is a mode of writing, which is designed to fix words in the memory, but the writing is not intended for duration. Accordingly we are informed by Dr. Shaw, that children learn to write in Barbary by means of a smooth thin board, slightly covered with whiting, which may be wiped off or renewed at pleasure. Job expresses his wish not only that his words were written, but also written in a book, from which they should not be blotted out, nay, still farther, graven in a rock, the most permanent mode of recording them, and especially if the engraved letters were filled with lead; or the rock was made to receive leaden tablets, the use of which was known among the ancients. So Pliny, “At first men wrote on the leaves of palm, and the bark of certain trees, but afterward public documents were preserved on leaden plates, and those of a private nature on wax, or linen.”

The first books were in the form of blocks and tables, of which we find frequent mention in Scripture, under the appellation _sepher_, which the Septuagint render ἀξίνες, that is, _square tables_: of which form the book of the covenant, book of the law, book, or bill of divorce, book of curses, &c, appear to have been. As flexible matters came to be written on, they found it more convenient to make their books in form of rolls, called by the Greeks κοντάκια, by the Latins _volumina_, which appear to have been in use among the ancient Jews as well as the Grecians, Romans, Persians, and even Indians; and of such did the libraries chiefly consist, till some centuries after Christ. The form which obtains among us is the square, composed of separate leaves; which was also known, though little used, among the ancients; having been invented by Attalus, king of Pergamus, the same who also invented parchment: but it has now been so long in possession, that the oldest manuscripts are found in it. Montfaucon assures us, that of all the ancient Greek manuscripts he has seen, there are but two in the roll form; the rest being made up much after the manner of the modern books. The rolls, or volumes, were composed of several sheets, fastened to each other, and rolled upon a stick, or _umbilicus_; the whole making a kind of column, or cylinder, which was to be managed by the _umbilicus_, as a handle; it being reputed a kind of crime to take hold of the roll itself. The outside of the volume was called _frons_; the ends of the _umbilicus_ were called _cornua_, “horns;” which were usually carved and adorned likewise with silver, ivory, or even gold and precious stones. Whilst the Egyptian papyrus was in common use, its brittle nature made it proper to roll up what they wrote; and as this had been a customary practice, many continued it when they used other materials, which might very safely have been treated in a different manner. To the form of books belongs the _economy of the inside_, or the order and arrangement of points and letters into lines and pages, with margins and other appurtenances. This has undergone many varieties: at first, the letters were only divided into lines, then into separate words; which, by degrees, were noted with accents, and distributed by points and stops into periods, paragraphs, chapters, and other divisions. In some countries, as among the orientals, the lines began from the right, and ran to the left; in others, as in northern and western nations, from the left to the right; others, as the Grecians, followed both directions alternately, going in the one and returning in the other, called _boustrophedon_, because it was after the manner of oxen turning when at plough. In the Chinese books, the lines ran from top to bottom. Again: the page in some is entire, and uniform; in others, divided into columns; in others distinguished into texts and notes, either marginal, or at the bottom: usually it is furnished with signatures and catch words; also with a register to discover whether the book be complete. To these are occasionally added the apparatus of summaries, or side notes; the embellishments of red, gold, or figured initial letters, head pieces, tail pieces, effigies, schemes, maps, and the like. The end of the book now denoted by _finis_, was anciently marked with a =<=, called _coronis_, and the whole frequently washed with an oil drawn from cedar, or citron chips, strewed between the leaves to preserve it from rotting. There also occur certain _formulæ_ at the beginning and end of books; as among the Jews, the word חוק, _esto fortis_, which we find at the end of the books of Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Ezekiel, &c, to exhort the reader to be courageous, and proceed on to the following book. The conclusions were also often guarded with imprecations against such as should falsify them; of which we have an instance in the Apocalypse. The Mohammedans, for the like reason, place the name of God at the beginning of all their books, which cannot fail to procure them protection, on account of the infinite regard which they pay to that name, wherever found. For the like reason it is, that divers of the laws of the ancient emperors begin with the formula, _In nomine Dei_. [In the name of God.] At the end of each book the Jews also added the number of verses contained in it, and at the end of the Pentateuch the number of sections; that, it might be transmitted to posterity entire. The Masorites and Mohammedan doctors have gone farther; so as to number the several words and letters in each book, chapter, verse, &c, of the Old Testament and the Alcoran. The scarcity and high price of books in former ages, ought to render us the more grateful for the discovery of the great art of printing, as especially by that means the Holy Bible, “the word of truth and Gospel of our salvation,” is made familiar to all classes. The universal ignorance that prevailed in Europe, from the seventh to the eleventh century, may be ascribed to the scarcity of books during that period, and the difficulty of rendering them more common, concurring with other causes arising from the state of government and manners. The Romans wrote their books either on parchment, or on paper made of the Egyptian papyrus. The latter, being the cheapest, was of course the most commonly used. But after the Saracens conquered Egypt, in the seventh century, the communication between that country and the people settled in Italy, or in other parts of Europe, was almost entirely broken off, and the papyrus was no longer in use among them. They were obliged on that account to write all their books upon parchment; and as the price of that was high, books became extremely rare and of great value. We may judge of the scarcity of materials for writing them from one circumstance. There still remain several manuscripts of the eighth, ninth, and following centuries, written on parchment, from which some former writing had been erased, in order to substitute a new composition in its place. Thus, it is probable, several of the works of the ancients perished. A book of Livy or of Tacitus might be erased, to make room for the legendary tale of a saint, or the superstitious prayers of a missal. Nay, worse instances are recorded, of obliterating copies of the Holy Scriptures to make room for the lucubrations of some of the more modern fathers of the church. Manuscripts thus defaced, the vellum or parchment of which is occupied with some other writings, are called “palimpsests,” _codices rescripti_ or _palimpsesti_, from ϖαλίμψηϛος, “that which has been twice scraped.” As this want of materials for writing will serve to account for the loss of many of the works of the ancients, and for the small number of MSS. previous to the eleventh century, many facts prove the scarcity of books at this period. Private persons seldom possessed any books whatever; and even monasteries of note had only one missal. In 1299, John de Pontissara, bishop of Winchester, borrows of his cathedral convent of St. Swithin, at Winchester, “_bibliam bene glossatam_,” that is, the Bible, with marginal annotations, in two folio volumes; but gives a bond for the return of it, drawn up with great solemnity. For the bequest of this Bible to the convent, and one hundred marks, the monks founded a daily mass for the soul of the donor. If any person gave a book to a religious house, he believed that so valuable a donation merited eternal salvation, and he offered it on the altar with great ceremony. The prior and convent of Rochester declare, that they will every year pronounce the irrevocable sentence of damnation on him who shall purloin or conceal a Latin translation of Aristotle’s Poetics, or even obliterate the title. Sometimes a book was given to a monastery, on condition that the donor should have the use of it for his life; and sometimes to a private person, with the reservation that he who receives it should pray for the soul of his benefactor. In the year 1225, Roger de Insula, dean of York, gave several Latin Bibles to the university of Oxford, on condition that the students who perused them should deposit a cautionary pledge. The library of that university, before the year 1300, consisted only of a few tracts, chained or kept in chests, in the choir of St. Mary’s church. The price of books became so high, that persons of a moderate could not afford to purchase them. In the year 1174, Walter, prior of St. Swithin’s at Winchester, purchased of the monks of Dorchester, in Oxfordshire, Bede’s homilies, and St. Austin’s psalter for twelve measures of barley and a pall, on which was embroidered in silver the history of St. Birinus converting a Saxon king. About the year 1400, a copy of John of Meun’s “Roman de la Rose” was sold before the palace gate at Paris for forty crowns, or 33_l._ 6_s._ 6_d._ The countess of Anjou paid, for a copy of the homilies of Haimon, bishop of Halberstadt, two hundred sheep, five quarters of wheat, and the same quantity of rye and millet. Even so late as the year 1471, when Louis XI. of France borrowed the works of Rhasis, the Arabian physician, from the faculty of medicine at Paris, he not only deposited by way of pledge a considerable quantity of plate, but he was obliged to procure a nobleman to join with him as surety in a deed, binding himself under a great forfeiture to restore it. But when, in the eleventh century, the art of making paper was invented, and more especially after the manufacture became general, the number of MSS. increased, and the study of the sciences was wonderfully facilitated. Indeed, the invention of the art of making paper, and the invention of the art of printing, are two very memorable events in the history of literature and of human civilization. It is remarkable, that the former preceded the first dawning of letters and improvement in knowledge, toward the close of the eleventh century; and the latter ushered in the light which spread over Europe at the æra of the reformation.

If the ancient books were large, they were formed of a number of skins, of a number of pieces of linen and cotton cloth, or of papyrus, or parchment, connected together. The leaves were rarely written over on both sides, Ezek. ii, 9; Zech. v, 1. Books, when written upon very flexible materials, were, as stated above, rolled round a stick; and, if they were very long, round two, from the two extremities. The reader unrolled the book to the place which he wanted, ἀναπτύζας τὸ βιλβλίον, and rolled it up again, when he had read it, πτύζας τὸ βιβλίον, Luke iv, 17–20; whence the name מגלה, _a volume_, or thing rolled up, Psalm xl, 7; Isaiah xxxiv, 4; Ezek. ii, 9; 2 Kings xix, 14; Ezra vi, 2. The leaves thus rolled round the stick, which has been mentioned, and bound with a string, could be easily sealed, Isaiah xxix, 11; Dan. xii, 4; Rev. v, 1; vi, 7. Those books, which were inscribed on tablets of wood, lead, brass, or ivory, were connected together by rings at the back, through which a rod was passed to carry them by. The orientals appear to have taken pleasure in giving tropical or enigmatical titles to their books. The titles, prefixed to the fifty-sixth, sixtieth, and eightieth psalms appear to be of this description. And there can be no doubt, that David’s elegy upon Saul and Jonathan, 2 Sam. i, 18, is called קשת or _the bow_, in conformity with this peculiarity of taste. The book, or flying roll, spoken of in Zech. v, 1, 2, twenty cubits long and ten wide, was one of the ancient rolls, composed of many skins, or parchments, glued or sewed together at the end. Though some of these rolls or volumes were very long, yet none, probably, was ever made of such a size as this. This contained the curses and calamities which should befal the Jews. The extreme length and breadth of it shows the excessive number and enormity of their sins, and the extent of their punishment. Isaiah, describing the effects of God’s wrath, says, “The heavens shall be folded up like a book,” (scroll,) Isaiah xxxiv, 4. He alludes to the way among the ancients, of rolling up books, when they purposed to close them. A volume of several feet in length was suddenly rolled up into a very small compass. Thus the heavens should shrink into themselves, and disappear, as it were, from the eyes of God, when his wrath should be kindled. These ways of speaking are figurative, and very energetic.

Book is sometimes used for letters, memoirs, an edict, or contract. In short, the word _book_, in Hebrew, _sepher_, is much more extensive than the Latin _liber_. The letters which Rabshakeh delivered from Sennacherib to Hezekiah are called a book. The English translation, indeed, reads _letter_; but the Septuagint has βιβλίον, and the Hebrew text, הספרים. The contract, confirmed by Jeremiah for the purchase of a field, is called by the same name, Jer. xxxii, 10; and also the edict of Ahasuerus in favour of the Jews, Esther ix, 20, though our translators have called it _letters_. The writing which a man gave to his wife when he divorced her, was denominated, in Hebrew, “a book of divorce,” Deut. xxiv.

It would be difficult, and perhaps of little importance, to trace the origin of book-keeping. It was certainly known to the ancients (see Pliny, lib. ii. cap. 7); and Cicero seems to have had bill transactions between Rome and Athens when he arranged for his son’s education without the necessity of having to remit money (see Epis, ad Att. xii. 24; xv. 25), which infers some kind of bookkeeping. Kelly, however, who wrote on the subject in 1805, asserts, and it is not disputed, that a friar, named Lucas di Borgo, whose work on algebra was the first to appear in print, was the first to write a treatise upon book-keeping, and this was published at Venice in 1495.

This work was followed by many others, possessing considerable merit, but so complex as to make them useless. After a time the mercantile community became alive to the fact that a practical system would be preferable to the theoretical suggestions of writers who were utterly ignorant of commercial matters; and men, more or less connected with trade, began to write on the subject. The incubus of prolixity, however, still clung to them, conciseness of style seeming an impossibility, and the great fundamental principles of the art were so smothered by rules and explanations—the volumes sometimes containing 500 or 600 pages—that the difficulty was how to apply them; hence the need of still greater simplicity and improvement.

In 1796 Mr E. T. Jones of Bristol devised a plan “for keeping books correctly,” breaking the ice with a treatise which is still held in very high estimation. After that a great improvement is visible in the writings of authors on this important subject, as in those of Benjamin Booth (1789), Hamilton (1820), Jones (2d treatise, 1821, 3d treatise, 1831), C. Morrison (1823), W. and R. Chambers, Edinburgh,—the most of them, those of Jones excepted, being elementary works, more particularly adapted to schools, and illustrating the principles of the science by the example of one set of books adapted to foreign trade. In F. H. Carter’s Practical Book-keeping, adapted to Commercial and Judicial Accounting (3d ed. 1875), which gives a great variety of forms and sets of books, the recognized systems of book-keeping are practically applied, so as to enable any one, without difficulty, to acquire a thorough knowledge of the science.

The questions to which a satisfactory system of bookkeeping gives the trader ready and conclusive answers are such as relate—1. To the extent to which his capital and credit will entitle him to transact business; 2. To the assurance he has that all his obligations are honestly fulfilled; 3. To the ascertainment of the success or failure of his commercial dealings, and the position of his affairs from time to time.

There are three recognized systems of book-keeping, namely, by “single entry,” “double entry,” and the “mixed method.”

I. Single Entry. —This system is denoted by its name, transactions being posted singly, or only once, in the ledger. Three books are generally kept—the cash book, day book, and ledger, although the first-named is not essential, the cash entries being passed through the day book. Tts only use is to check the balance of cash in hand. In the day book are entered daily all the purchases and sales, whether for cash or credit; and all the credit entries arc then transferred to accounts opened in the ledger, that is, all goods sold on credit are charged against the customers, and what are purchased are carried to the credit of parties supplying them. In the same way, when cash is received from a customer for goods sold on credit, it is posted to his account, and the reverse entry is made when a trader pays for the goods he has bought. Thus it will be seen that only personal accounts are entered in the ledger.

To frame a balance sheet, or state of affairs, on this system, the book-keeper brings down the balances due by customers to him, also his stock of goods as valued, and the cash he may have in hand, on the left-hand side of the sheet; whilst on the right-hand. side he enters the balances still due by him for goods supplied, or money lent to him, and the capital, if any, with which he commenced business. The difference between the amounts of the two columns is either profit or loss; if profit, the merchant’s capital is increased to that extent, and if loss, then he is so much the poorer.

The following skeleton balance sheet will give a better idea of the working and ultimate results of the system :—

Balance Sheet by Single Entry. [table]

It will be observed that as the assets exceed the liabilities (including capital) by .£49-, 16s. 7d., that sum, being profit, must be added to capital; if, in the next or following years, any loss should emerge, as a matter of course such deficiency must be deducted from the trader’s capital The advantages of single entry are simplicity and easy adaptation to small retail trades, as the ledger contains only outstanding debts due to or by the trader. The disadvantage is in the difficulty of ascertaining the profits or losses on various goods, or on the several departments of a business.

II. Double Entry. —It is now universally admitted that this system is the best adapted for heavy, responsible, or speculative trades, for foreign trade especially, and for extensive mercantile concerns. As its name implies, it so far differs from the system already described, that every transaction must be recorded doubly in the ledger, that is to say, accounts must be opened in that book, to which all entries in the subsidiary books, after being journalized, are twice carried, to the debit of one account and the credit of another. To illustrate this, let us assume that a merchant speculates in cotton, and purchases so many bales from John Bevan and Co. upon credit ∙ he debits “Cotton account,” and credits “John Bevan and Co.” He does not pay for it in cash, but gives his bill at three months for the amount; John Bevan and Co. are debited with the bill, and “Bills Payable” are credited. He then sells the whole lot of cotton for cash to Cairns, Brown, and Co., debiting “Cash” and crediting “Cotton account.” Lastly, he retires or pays the bill granted to John Bevan and Co., debits “Bills Payable,” and credits “Cash.” We will now put all these transactions into a “journal,” posting therefrom to a “ledger,” and so illustrate book-keeping by double entry. [table]

Ledger Accounts. [table]

It may be alleged that there are many unnecessary entries, involving too much trouble and waste of time, in bringing out the above results; but upon examination of the several accounts the great simplicity and utility of double entry is evident. For instance, “Cotton” account shows the actual result of the speculation per “Mary Jane;” “John Bevan and Co.’s” account exhibits the whole transaction with them, and how it was settled; “Bills Payable” account at once shows that the cotton bill is retired or paid; and “Cash” account declares a balance of £851 in cashier’s hands, being the actual profit on the cotton, as further shown in “Profit and Loss” account.

An infinity of examples might be given, but the above will be a sufficient illustration. A brief outline, however, of the principal books required in this system may be introduced.

1. The Cash Book. —In this most important book every cash transaction must be entered of its proper date, and under its distinctive ledger heading, so as to give facility in journalizing; any balance thereon must be cash in hand, and should agree with the balance on “Cash account” in the ledger.

2. The Day or Waste Book. —This book records the daily transactions of every description in the rough, which, when properly arranged and classified, are written into the journal, and posted from thence to the ledgers.

3. The Journal. —This may be called the mainspring of the system, and is sometimes called the ‘‘posting medium/’ as in it every transaction of the business is properly recorded before being again distributed into the ledger. There are several forms of journal, but the simplest and best is that of which a specimen has been given, with the addition of a column for the insertion of ledger folios when posted. It will be observed that the debit entries are in one column and the credit entires in another; if, therefore, the summations of these agree, and the entries therein embraced are correctly posted to the debit and credit of accounts in the ledger, the double entry is correct, and the books of the concern, no matter how multitudinous the entires may be, must come to a true balance.

4. The Ledgers. —These are important books, as they arc the final recipients of every transaction of the concern, branched out or distributed into certain heads or accounts which tell their own history; and if unbalanced, must exhibit a difference either in favour of the business as an “Asset,” or against it as a “Liability.” The usual plan is to have only one ledger, embracing every account, but in large concerns there are debit and credit ledgers, and generally a private ledger, which is accessible to partners only.

The advantages of double entry are many—(l.) Unless the debit balances exactly correspond w ith the credits the books are wrong, and the error must be discovered by comparison; (2.) The discovery of such errors is more easily accomplished than in any other system; (3.) Accounts can be readily analyzed; and (4.) The profit or loss on distinct transactions can be ascertained without difficulty. The disadvantages are—(1.) More manual labour required in transcribing the journal and posting therefrom than in other systems; and (2.) There is not the same privacy, as profits and losses can be seen at a glance by any one having access to the ledger. Nevertheless, no other system as yet devised can at all compare with that by double entry.

III. Mixed Method. —This system is now extensively adopted by such companies and firms as begrudge the time expended in journalizing, and are of opinion that double entry is too elaborate, when the same results can be arrived at by a more direct and less laborious plan. There is this identity, however, between the systems, that every transaction must be recorded somewhere, and eventually twice posted, as in double entry, but without the medium of a journal; moreover, the entries are fewer, summations and not specific items being posted, and what would be the daily labour under one system is reserved under this for a monthly or perhaps longer period. There are only three books required for this system to which we need draw attention, and in doing so we will point out in what respect they differ from those kept in single and double entries.

1. Cash Book. —Every entry is posted from this book, but not all to the ledger as in double entry—“Charges” being posted to the day book. It is not journalized, and is in itself a ledger, as it contains the bank account, and reports its own cash balance. On the other hand, it is unlike the “Cash” of single entry, because every entry is posted somewhere, whereas by the latter system only personal accounts are carried to the ledger.

2. Day Book. —This book also exhibits a marked difference between the journal of double entry and the day book of single entry. The journal is simply a posting medium, and when its use is served is almost valueless. The single entry day book, on the other hand, is only a posting medium to a certain extent, as it does not embrace all transactions; but in this system the day book unites the characteristics of journal and ledger, and also becomes in itself a profit and loss account, as by deducting the amount of charges from the amount of the business fees (say for solicitors’ books) the profit on said business is shown.

3. The Ledgers. —These books also lose their completeness under the mixed method. It has already been shown that in double entry every amount must appear in the ledger, and in single entry that only personal accounts are posted in it. By this system not only are all personal accounts included, but those applicable to “Capital,” to “Banks,” “Bills,” &c.; whilst, on the other hand, such accounts as “Profit and Loss,” “Charges,” and “Cash” are excluded.

It would be out of place here to dwell on the many intricacies of this subject, or on the difficulties which are constantly presenting themselves even to the most practical men. With a thorough knowledge of the art, however, and that patience and perseverance so essential to the calling of a book-keeper, the gravest impediments are overcome, and everything becomes simple and plain. Our sole object having been to show the utility of book-keeping as a science, and the peculiar features of existing systems with their advantages and disadvantages, it is unnecessary to enter more minutely into details by describing subsidiary books or forms of accounts, as these are only so many materials out of which the fabric of. book-keeping is erected, and can be seen in any counting-house or mercantile establishment where regular systems are adopted, (f. h. c.)

For a period of one thousand years—from the end of the 5th to the 15 th century—books were excessively rare and costly, and comparatively few bindings illustrative of the art during the Dark Ages have been preserved to the present day. From being the task of slaves during the Roman empire, the transcribing of books came to be the duty of monks, who copied and bound the works which were among the chief treasures of religious establishments. Numerous documents exist indicating the attention which was given by all grades of the priestly order to the binding and preservation of their literary treasures. The general aspect of monastic bindings was thick, heavy, and solid, and according to modern ideas somewhat clumsy. Books for common use were enclosed in boards of hard wood covered with leather, with the binding protected by metallic bosses, corner plates, and clasps. The literary treasures, on the other hand, of kings and ecclesiastical dignitaries, and the sacred volumes of churches and monasteries, were encased in ivory sides, with appropriate subjects artistically carved on them, in silver and sometimes even gold plaques, or in the enamels of Limoges, &c.; and these bindings were frequently enriched besides with gems and jewels. Often these precious volumes were, in keeping with ancient customs, further preserved in boxes or cases no less rich and costly than the bindings they were meant to preserve. As the period of the Renaissance approached, silk and velvet came into use for ornamental bindings.

The most ancient binding in the British Museum is the St Cuthbert gospels and manuscript, written about the beginning of the 8th century, bound in velvet intermixed with silver, with a broad silver border, enriched with inlaid gems. One of the most ancient and remarkable of bindings, a Lectionarium, which was formerly in the collection of Μ. Libri, that eminent bibliophile thus describes in his Monuments inédits : “Manuscript upon vellum of the 11th or 12th century in an ornamented cover (forming a diptych), both sides being gilt and silvered metal, with ivory carvings, figures in alto rilievo, and enamels en taille d'épargne. The borders contain thirty-two large ivory medallions (sixteen on each side), representing the old prophets and saints, with their symbols, and having inscriptions in ancient uncial letters, the whole surrounded with a foliage of ivory work in the Greek style, and with baguettes carved in compartments. The ivory medallions are very early, probably as old as the 6th century, whilst the enamels and metal ornamentation are specimens of the handiwork of a rather later period. . . . This Lectionarium has evidently been inserted in the present cover at a later period, the original one having most probably been damaged or destroyed by use.” Referring to this work, Μ. Libri, in the introduction to the volume above quoted, says: “Whether the enamels contained in this binding are Byzantine and contemporary with the ivory sculptures, or were introduced later (as we have shown was frequently the case) into an older covering, the medallions and other workmanship in ivory, adorning the sides of this coating, appear, from the character of the heads, from the inscriptions, and from the workmanship itself, to date back to the earliest period of the Byzantine school.”

With the invention of printing, and the consequent multiplication of books in a portable shape, came the modern style of bookbinding. The old massive boards, with their bosses, corner plates, and heavy clasps disappeared, and thin sides covered with leather, parchment, and vellum came into use. Bindings in which enamels, precious metals, or gems were employed almost entirely disappeared, and were followed by bindings in richly-coloured leather or vellum, with elaborate designs, blind-tooled or worked in gold and colour, and gilt gauffré edges. By the wealthy and powerful families of Italy this style of binding and ornamentation was first encouraged towards the end of the 15 th century, and skilful artists were employed to design appropriate decorations to be worked out by the bookbinders. Among the most famous early patrons of the bibliopegic art in Italy were Michael and Thomas Maioli, the books of the latter being the models on which were fashioned the bindings of later collectors and of other countries. More rare and artistically valuable still are the works of another Italian collector of the 16th century, Demetrio Canevari, commonly called Mecenate, physician to Pope Urban. They are distinguished by a medallion executed in gold, silver, and colour, with the device of a charioteer driving towards Pegasus on an elevation, and the motto, OPΘΩ2. KAI. MH ΛOSIΩ2. These elegantly gilt bindings have, in the opinion of Μ. Libri, never been surpassed.

Artistic bindings of Italy and Italian binders were brought to France by Charles VIII. and Louis XII.; but it was not till the time of Francis I.—himself a lover of books and bindings—that Grolier, his military treasurer and the governor of Milan, brought the French school of binding suddenly to the front, and placed it, where it long remained, at the head of the art in Europe. The bindings executed for Grolier usually contain on their obverse the inscription, IO. GROL·IERII ET AMICORUM, and on the reverse his usual motto was PORTIO MEA DOMINE SIT IN TERRA VIVENTIUM. Of Grolier’s bindings the learned De Thou, a later and little less famous French bibliophile, remarked “that his books partook of the elegance and polish of their owner.” The Grolier style is yet recognized as the most chaste, elegant, and appropriate method of book ornamentation, and it immediately attained an enormous reputation in France. “The very tools used by his binders,” remarks Μ. Libri, “were employed for contemporary collectors, and his admirable patterns have been imitated and copied by other French bibliophiles. The gradual change in those patterns is very perceptible. At first they were formed by a simple and chaste combination of various links only; but afterwards Grolier successively introduced into the designs more rich ornaments, such as small flowers, wreaths, &c.” Some of his later covers were resplendent with gold and coloured ornament, most elaborately tooled.

After the period of Grolier the taste for magnificent bindings in France grew into a passion, and the sumptuous bindings in which the famous Diana of Poitiers indulged are almost without parallel. The designs for many of her bindings are said to have been prepared by order of her royal lover Henry II., under the superintendence of the celebrated artist Le Petit Bernard. Her books are marked with her favourite symbols, the luuar crescent and the bow, and the monogram D q, sometimes (probably in the case of love-gifts) with the H of Henry interlaced, and surmounted by the crown. It would be a useless and almost endless task to name the patrons of artistic bindings up to near the period of the revolutionary outbreak, during which long time French binders stood at the head of their craft. Such outstanding names among many bibliophiles as those of the historian De Thou (Jacobus Augustus Thuanus) and Colbert, the minister of Louis XIV., cannot be passed over. Such was Colbert’s care for artistic bookbinding that, in a treaty with Marocco, he inserted a stipulation for a certain number of skins annually to ba used for bindings in the Bibliothèque Royale. Much less is known concerning the bookbinders themselves than of their patrons and the works they executed; but prominent among the bibliopegic artists of all times stand the chief French relieurs of the 17th and 18th centuries—Le Gascon, Abbé Dusseuil, Padeloup, and Derome. Bindings by these artists are among the esteemed prizes of modern collectors.

Although during the 16th and 17th centuries bindings were produced in England which suffer no disgrace by comparison with contemporary masterpieces of French, Italian, and German bibliopegy, it was not till well into the 18th century that England took the leading place in the workmanlike forwarding and artistic finishing of books. Silk and velvet long remained the favourite coverings for the more costly bound books in the royal library, and down to the time of James I. we find very elaborately worked bindings in these substances. But, at the same time, there are not wanting magnificent examples of work in calf, morocco, and vellum, with blind and gold toolings, and gilt gauffré edges. The bindings of John Beynes, bookbinder to Henry VIII., had embossed on them the curious heraldic conceit of a shield, supported by a pair of unicorns, charged with the emblems of the passion, and along with his monogram the inscription Redemptoris mundi arma. Before James VI. of Scotland came as James I. to the English throne, he was, as became his literary character, a collector of books and a lover of bindings. John Gibson of Edinburgh held, under James, the office of royal binder, with an annual salary of £20 Scots. A detailed list of bindings, with the prices charged by Gibson, is printed by the Bannatyne Club in The Library of Mary Queen of Scots and James VI. Mr J. T. Gibson-Craig of Edinburgh has in his excellent collection an original Scotch binding from the library of Queen Mary, the Clonique de Savoye, a small folio in brown calf, richly tooled in silver, with the Scottish arms, and the initial Μ. The same collector also possesses a Scotch binding in brown calf, with blind and gold panelling, gilt and gauffré edges, with the name and arms of the Earl of Bothwell, the third husband of Queen Mary. De Quincey, in a paper on “Secret Societies,” ranks a Bible bound by Mr Farrer in 1635 above the chefs d'oeuvre of British and Continental artists.

The acknowledged supremacy attained by English bookbinding in the latter half of last century is due in large measure to the work of Roger Payne, a man gifted with extraordinary skill, dexterity, and taste, but unfortunately also of the most erratic and dissolute habits. Payne’s work was, as he himself expressed it, “very carefully and honestly done;” his tooling especially was very beautiful, and his ornaments, many of which he fashioned with his own hands, were at once highly appropriate and artistic. In his bills he was in the habit of taking Ins patrons into his confidence in an unusual manner, and one of these may be worth copying.

“Aeschylus Glasguoe MDCCXCV Flaxman illustravit. Bound in the very best manner, sew’d with strong Silk, every Sheet round every Band, not false bands: the Back lined with Russia Leather, Cut Exceeding large; Finished in the most magnificent manner. Embordered with Ermine expressive of The High Rank of the Noble Patroness of The Designs, 'Γhe other Parts Finished in the most Elegant Taste with small Tool Gold Borders Studded with Gold; and small Tool Panes of the most exact Work. Measured with the Compasses. It takes a great deal of Time making out the different measurements, preparing the Tools, and making out new Patterns. The Back Finished in Compartments with parts of Gold studded work and open Work to relieve the Rich close studded work. All the Tools except studded points are obliged to be worked off plain first, and afterwards the Gold laid on and Worked off again. And this Gold Work requires double Gold being on Rough Grained Morocco. The impressions of the Tools must be fitted and cover’d at the bottom with Gold to prevent flaws and cracks.”

Payne, in poverty aud distress, came prematurely to a drunkard’s grave in 1797. His style of binding bas still many admirers, and the Roger Payne style is one of the established methods of finishing in bookbinders’ establishments at the present day. After Payne, Charles Lewis was the next famous English binder flourishing in London in the early part of the present century, and his bindings come down to and connect with the work of bibliopegistic artists who still exercise their calling.

The operations of bookbinding are now carried on upon a scale which could not have been dreamt of even at the beginning of the present century, and the millions of volumes which annually issue from the press could not possibly be put into the hands of the reading public in the form and at the price at which they are sold without the aid of machinery. In Great Britain nearly all books are first issued in cloth cases, and while the greatest variety of grain and colouring has been reached in the preparation of the cloth for such cases, their gilding, embossing, and lettering, all accomplished by machinery, leave almost no improvement to be desired, and the most handsome and fairly durable bindings can thus be supplied at an incredibly small cost. At the same time, it is practicable to prepare, emboss, and gild cheap leather covers by the same processes and machinery adopted for cloth cases, and the bindings of cheap family and pocket Bibles are thus produced. But although the old solid and substantial handiwork of the craft is thus fairly eclipsed, there is still employment—and more employment than ever—for binders in leather, who chiefly rely on manual dexterity for the forwarding of their work, and individual taste and skill for its artistic finishing.

Modem bookbinding thus divides itself into two principal branches—1st, Leather work, and all kinds in which manual labour and skill are chiefly employed; and 2d, Cloth-casing, or such work as is largely executed by the aid of machinery.

It may be convenient first to notice the various operations through λvhich a book passes in ordinary or leather binding. These operations are grouped under two main di vision»—“forwarding” and “finishing.” Under the first is comprehended everything necessary to the preservation of a book; the second concerns merely the embellishment.

Forwarding.— In the first place, the sheets of a book axe folded in such a manner that the pages follow each other in consecutive order. In this operation the binder is guided by the “signatures,” which indicate the part of a sheet to be superimposed upon another. This labour is performed by women and girls, who acquire incredible dexterity by continued practice. The sheets, after being folded, are loose and bulky. The next operation has for its object the bringing them into a more compact form, which was formerly accomplished by beating them with a broad-faced hammer upon a smooth flat stone. The condensing or compacting is now generally accomplished by passing the sheets between the cylinders of a rolling-machine. A quantity of sheets, called a “section,” is gathered and arranged between two pieces of tin plate and passed through between the powerful cast-iron rollers of the machine. After rolling, the sections composing a volume, supposing it to have been necessary to press it in more than one division, are brought together and carefully collated. The whole of the sheets to compose the volume being found in their proper place and order, they are taken in sections to the standing-press, in which a number of them are piled up between boards. The form of standing-press generally used is what is termed the Atholl or Isle of Man press, on account of the three arms, or rather legs, by which the compound screw of the press is worked.

The volumes are then adjusted and clamped up in the laying or cutting-press for the operation of sawing the back. Two or three grooves are, in this operation, sawn straight across the back of the volume, according to the number of bands on which the book is to be sewed. In these grooves the bands are lodged, so that when the sewing of the book is complete, the bands are “flush” with the rest of the back, instead of projecting out as they did in old times. A slight cut is made near each end for holding the “kettle stitch,” or stitch by which the sewer fastens her thread each time she passes up and down. The sewing is done at an apparatus called the sewing-press or frame, upon which the number of cords to be employed are fastened at proper distances, in accordance with the saw-marks in the back of the volume. The method of sewing varies according as the sewer is working one or two “sheets on;” and the number of bands employed may be from two to six, according to the size of sheet, weight of the book, &c. When taken out of the sewingframe the fly-leaves are pasted on, and the volume being neatly squared, the back is covered with a coating of thin glue; it is then laid on a board and allowed gradually to dry. When the glue is quite dry the back is rounded by beating with a hammer, and subsequently the volume is placed between two feather-edged boards, above which the back slightly projects. These are then placed together in a lying-press, for the backing process, that is, the back of the book is well beaten until it projects a little over each side of the bevelled board, so as to form a groove or place for the millboard covers to lie in. The book is now ready for the boarding. The boards were formerly, as the name indicates, really of wood, but now of millboard of various thicknesses, according to the size of the book. They are cut a little larger than the book itself, and are attached by the ends of the bands, left for that purpose, being passed through holes in the sides of the boards. The ends of the slips or bands are then frayed out, pasted down, and hammered flat and smooth. The volume is next placed between pressing boards, and put with others into the standing-press, where it is submitted to a powerful f)ressure for several hours. Thereafter it is again fastened into a ying-press for cutting or ploughing the edges with a knife-edged instrument called the plough. The object of the binder in this operation is to make every page of uniform size, presenting a smooth and equal “head,” “tail,” and “fore-edge.” The binder is careful to leave as broad a margin as practicable; but the size of the smallest sheet is the real gauge of the whole book. The head is first cut, next the tail, and before the face is cut it is necessary to have the back flattened by passing “trindles” through between the cords and the boards. After the face has been ploughed the back springs back into its rounded form, and thus the face presents the appearance of having been cut in the round.

The book is now ready to have its edges either sprinkled, coloured, marbled, or gilt. Sprinkling is accomplished by merely mixing the colour or colours with paste or size, and throwing the mixture from a brush violently on the edges. The uniform colouring of the edges is done by screwing the volume up in the lying-press and applying the colour with a sponge. Marbling is usually carried on as a separate trade, and requires considerable adroitness. The colours to be used are thrown into a square shallow trough containing prepared gum water, and as they float on the top they are dexterously mixed and combed through each other so as to produce the kind of marble pattem desired. In this the edges to be marbled are dipped, and when they are withdrawn it is found that the marbled colours have adhered to them. In the gilding the fore-edge or face is first operated on; and to level it the back must again be flattened, as in ploughing. The book is then firmly fixed in the lying-press, and the edges are scraped and smoothed with a steel scraper. The edges are next coloured, the gold, size, consisting of white of egg mixed with water, called glaire, is laid on with a camel’s-hair brush, and immediately covered with gold leaf. When dry, it is burnished by rubbing with an agate burnisher, and the head and tail are put through the same processes. Gilt edges in early bound books were usually gauffré, i.e.,...