Bookbinding: Its Background and Technique

Edith Diehl (1876–1955) was one of the world's foremost practitioners of traditional bookbinding and an exceptionally able teacher. From the vantage point of a lifetime's experience, she gives today's bookbinders a historical survey of this centuries-old art and an eminently practical guide.
Nearly one half of the encyclopedic volume is devoted to an overview of the historical development of bookbinding. The author shows how the codex form of the book became identified with the Christian era, how bookbinding became a craft and trade in the 15th century, and how the production and distribution of books shifted from the monasteries and universities to the illustrious printer-publishers of the 15th and 16th centuries. She describes various bookbinding practices such as sewing, the use of boards and leathers, hand versus machine binding, cased books, etc. And she examines in depth the different national styles of book decoration in Italy, France, England, Germany, North...