A Manual of the Art of Bookbinding: Containing Full Instructions in the Different Branches of Forwarding, Gilding, and Finishing. Also, The Art of Marbling Book-Edges and Paper. The Whole Designed for the Practical Workman, the Amateur, and the Book-Collector
Philadelphia: Henry Carey Baird, 1856. First edition of the first American bookbinding manual. 8vo (18.6 x 12.5 cm). 318, [1, 18 ads] pages. 12 plates, including frontispiece, seven original marbled paper specimens (some offsetting), illustrations in text. (Text block cracked at p. 206, some occasional soiling and spotting, specimen leaves standing out a bit from text block.) Original black blind-blocked cloth, gilt-lettered on spine (wear and ends of spine and corners, a bit soiled). In a cloth folding case. A good copy of this oft-used cornerstone reference in American bookbinding literature. Item #410689
Nicholson based his manual on John Andrews Arnett's BIBLIOPEGIA, OR, THE ART OF BOOKBINDING IN ALL ITS BRANCHES (London, 1835), which was the sixth bookbinding manual to be published in England. Arnett's was the first manual to carry illustrations of the equipment, and Nicholson followed this practice, and supplemented the production with original marbled paper specimens. Nicholson's preface notes that while Arnett served as the primary source, much material had to be rejected and then added from other sources, such as Cundall of ornamental art, Woolnough on marbling, and Leighton on design. The section on marbling (pp. 82-103) reprints the entire text of Charles Woolnough's manual of 1853. The marbled specimens were executed by Charles Williams of Philadelphia. Includes sections on sheet-work, forwarding, half-binding, boarding, cloth-work, finishing, tooling, coloring, marbling, and various forms of ornamentation. The final sections discuss the restoration of old bindings, the supplying of imperfections in antiquarian books, tips for book collectors, and a glossary of technical terms. An index is useful to the reader's navigation of the book. Appleton 83; Brenni no. 39; Mejer 1950.
Price: $1,000.00