Carved wooden book covers

Technically all books are made of wood. But these take it to another level.

From: bibliophilic.org

From: bibliophilic.org

From: collectorsquest.com

From: disboards.com

From: yourcoolpics.com

From: artatheart.co.uk

From: ralphroberts.net

I've got to say, I'm getting ideas. I have chisels, saws, sandpaper and timber. I could also use homemade paper...

Home book binding for beginners

Homemade books are often sewn, as are hardback books. Hardback books published at a printing house are often bound by the use of thread and glue as the weight of the book and material of the cover demand greater adhesion between the two. If you are making your own book at home it is likely you will sew it no matter the size, weight or cover type as this type of binding can be produced by anyone competent with a needle. Gluing a book at home can be messy and difficult for those not used to more industrial type glues.

Paperbacks are bound by pressing the cut edges of the pages into a thick layer of glue and then wrapping the two page cover and spine around the wedge of paper. It is then often heat and/or pressure treated to strengthen the bond. Finally, the edges are sanded or cut back so that the edges of the book are smooth to the touch rather than rough. You will find bindings where some of these stages are skipped, mostly the last one.

Watch this if you want to bind the paperback way at home:

There are several different ways you can sew your book together, just as there are several different ways you can sew anything. Its all in the stitching and elaborateness.

Here is a basic pattern to get you started. You might need to stare at a while to decode it but it is essentially running stitch looped through at the ends and brought up or down a level. Be careful you catch each sheaf of paper as you run the thread past them or your binding will come loose and your book will fall apart because it can't support its own weight.

Cover, spine, glue, stitching, paper folds, sizing, evenness and text layout have to be kept in mind during each stage of binding. Be mindful not to cut too much off the edge of your page or you might remove text with the excess. Be careful to leave extra room in the margins for binding to be possible without text being lost into the bind. Stitch carefully and follow through each step or your book will fall apart. Choose a cover of the right thickness, weight and strength for the type of book you are making. If pages are printed on large sheets of paper to be folded rather than single or double-sided cut pages you will need to be mindful of your layout so that the text runs in order. Keep in mind that the binding can not only be sewn or glued to the spine alone but to the endpapers of your book, increasing the strength of the bind.

Here is a general idea of what is involved in creating a book. Endpapers are usually of thicker and stronger paper. Glue is of high strength. Bind neat and tight (not too tight). The cover needs to have some resistance to it, whether it is made for a paperback or a hardback, as the cover and spine bear the brunt of your reading habits (dog-earring is not the worst you can do to a book).

Make sure the hard outer spine of a hardback pushes the inner spine and sewing outwards so that the whole book doesn't lend its weight to a single section of it. If the spine isn't strong enough the book may crack in half. You may also find this happening with paperbacks as the glue toughens with age but there is little that can be done to prevent this when making a paperback. The difference between a paperback and a hardback, in terms of longevity, is that the hardback is made to last while the paperback is made for short term use.

Remember the mention of using paper that require folding? There are a series of terms for this but for the home bookmaker all you need to know is that if you print 8 pages of your book over a sheet of paper, double-siding, then you will have to make sure your text is placed in the correct order so that when the paper is folded and cut into the pages you will read then they appear in the correct order. This is the way it is done by printing houses but most at home will only print 4 pages of text over a single sheet, double-siding, and fold that sheet in two. This still requires some awareness and layout so be careful when designing and printing to lay out the pages of text correctly.

Writing on human skin part II

For my book I had to look up whether there was a special name for the vellum made of human skin rather than animal. As it is, I haven't yet found that out as I was waylaid by morbid curiosity after running across this information.

A long and sometimes gruesome history lies behind the writing on human skin. My previous post was on the tattooing of quotes, the lighter side of writing on human skin. This is the darker side.

In the history of use of human skin and tissue for writing you will run across the Nazis, Ed Gein, Marquis de Sade and Saddam Hussein (wrote in blood). Anatomy textbooks were often bound in skin as were erotica books. Also, judicial recordings were frequently bound in the skins of the condemned. On the most acceptable side, newly popular or informative texts bound for longevity had human skin covers, complete with inscriptions, that often resulted from a voluntary donor (requested in a Will).

Anthropodermic bibliopegy: the practice of binding books in human skin.

Autoanthropodermic bibliopegy: volumes created as a bequest and bound with the skin of the testator (If you wrote in your Will that you wish to have your skin used for binding books your skin may well have been used for just that).

Notes: 

Only one of the below skins may have been taken from a live human. The rest have been taken after death, two likely with consent.

The practice of using human skin to bind books was not an underground or distasteful practice for much of its history. It just wasn't common practice as a great deal of work is involved and skins needed to be obtained. In recent history there have been horrific cases of skins being obtained unlawfully and sometimes from live humans, leading to the outrage most now feel at seeing such bindings. I will not rule either way but rather show you a few examples. You can make up your mind re moral, ethical and sanitary issues. Above all though, knowledge of this practice should never be forgotten as it is one of the practices that can lead to human atrocities. Anything with such potential should not be forgotten in case we must face and fight it again.

Practicarum Quaestionum Circa Leges Regias Hispaniae

Skin from Jonas Wright, 1632.
Last page inscription: “The bynding of this booke is all that remains of my deare friende Jonas Wright, who was flayed alive by the Wavuma on the Fourth Day of August, 1632. King btesa did give me the book, it being one of poore Jonas chiefe possessions, together with ample of his skin to bynd it. Requiescat in pace.”

A True and Perfect Relation of the Whole Proceedings Against the Late Most Barbarous Traitors, Garnet A Jesuit and His Confederates

Skin from Father Henry Garnet, 1606.

Latin cover inscription translates as: “Severe penitence punished the flesh.”
The book is about the Gunpowder Plot and Father Henry Garnet was a co-conspirator to Guy Fawkes.

People believe they can see is face in the cover...

Red Barn Murder Judicial Proceedings

Skin from William Corder (The murderer. Also, his skeleton became a teaching aid in the West Suffolk Hospital), 1828.

Inscribed “The Binding of this book is the skin of the Murderer William Corder taken from his body and tanned by myself in the year 1828. George Creed Surgeon to the Suffolk Hospital.”

Narrative of the Life of James Allen, alias Jonas Pierce, alias James H. York, alias Burley Grove, the Highwayman, Being His Death-bed Confession to the Warden of the Massachusetts State Prison

Skin from James Allen, 1837.

Cover inscription “Hic Liber Waltonis Cute Compactus Est” translates to “This book by [Allen] bound in his own skin.”

The Poetical Works of John Milton

Skin from George Cudmore (unrelated and unknown to John Milton – this was all the work of a bookbinder/seller who stole the skin of the hanged murderer George Cudmore), 1852.

El Viaje Largo by Tere Medina

Skin from Unknown, 1972.

Inscription: “The cover of this book is made from the leather of the human skin. The Aguadilla tribe of the Mayaguez Plateau region preserves the torso epidermal layer of deceased tribal members. While most of the leather is put to utilitarian use by the Aguadillas, some finds its way to commercial trade markets where there is a small but steady demand. This cover is representative of that demand.”

Other books that were bound in skin:

Samuel Johnson’s Dictionary, 1818:  skin from James Johnson (unrelated).

Virgil’s Georgics:  skin from Jacques Delille (translator of Virgil’s Georgics – skin stolen when he was lying in state).

Leeds, England Ledger, 1700’s:  skin from Unknown (though suspected to be a victim of the French Revolution).

Terres du Ciel, 1882:  skin unnamed French Countess (She died young from tuberculosis but before she did she asked the book binder Flammarion to use her skin to bind a copy of his next book.)
Cover inscription: “Pious fulfillment of an anonymous wish/ Binding in human skin (woman) 1882.”

De Humani Corporis Fabrica libri septem by Vesalius, 1543: skin from Unknown.

Lincoln the Unknown by Dale Carnegie: several copies covered with jackets containing a patch of skin from an unknown male African American. Skin patches were embossed with the title.

Justine et Juliette by Marquis de Sade: tanned skin from Unknown female’s breasts.