The Library World Volume 29 Issue 11

WE give space this month to practical library binders to describe their work as they see it. Such an arrangement will commend itself to our readers, we hope, as there is no more present question with the librarian, and especially the public librarian. Since the war the quality of book‐papers has been such that binding has become the most formidable item in his annual budget except salaries and new book purchase. The cases in which publishers issue their books used to give about 60 issues before re‐binding was necessary; now they rarely give half that number. Binders have shown considerable ingenuity in discovering new methods of sewing, lining and strengthening, to meet the perishable qualities of the paper. Whether they have succeeded or not librarians may judge. The ideal binding for a reference book is an imperishable one; for a lending library book one that lasts in pleasant complexion just as long as the paper holds together. Anything less or more appears to be uneconomical.