Types of Cloth
When cloth first emerged in England as a binding option in the 1820s, its colour and treatment was carried out by the binder as an ancillary operation. Fabrics were mostly cotton, although some binders did experiment with silk. Early cloth tended to hold dark colours better and, as a result, many books appeared in puce – a dark, reddish brown.
As the demand for cloth increased, the specialist book cloth supplier emerged and by 1840 book cloth manufacture was a distinct trade. Lighter and more striking colours such as emerald and orange were produced and experiments also began with marbled cloth. Striped, speckled and dappled cloth appeared in the 1840s and 1850s and was used to bind appropriate titles such as the 1849 Journal of Design.
Cloth graining, in its various forms, also emerged in the 1830s. The graining, or embossing, of cloth gave its surface a distinct raised pattern and had the added advantage of disguising its weave. In fact, the earliest grain pattern simulated morocco leather (goatskin) and whilst this wasn’t done intentionally to deceive the buyer, its purpose certainly was to provide a more “respectable” finish. Other means of decorating book cloth soon followed, including ribbon-embossing, in which a type of ornamentation beyond that of grain, was added to the cloth. The designs were usually repetitive, such as floral motifs or geometric shapes, and were often over the top of a fine ribbed background.
By the mid-19th century, book cloth was available in many different styles, in large quantities and, relative to leather, it was cheap. In addition to the morocco and ribbon-embossed styles, publishers could choose from patterns such as bead, bubble, calico, criss-cross, diaper, dotted-line, hexagon, honeycomb, linen, net, patterned sand, pebble, rib and wavy. These developments allowed publishers to bind entire series in the same affordable colour and pattern.
The use of colour and graining in cloth throughout the 19th century is of particular bibliographical importance today as it assists booksellers, collectors, librarians and conservators alike, in dating these publications, a large number of which were undated in this era.