Book Boxes and Others

The John Willis Challenge this year was Glam Boxes, featured else where. It was a typo for clam boxes, a common storage box for books and literature. In the process of making a  few boxes, I asked my self,  “Why make boxes? " I have seen some weird ones and some go to inordinate lengths to make them.

Here are two of John Willis Box bindings and I think rightly called Glam Boxes.

 

 

 

John was a member of the Prayer Book Society and these two were his hard back commercial prayer books, the Book of Common Prayer and the Illustrated Gospels. The Boxes were made to accommodate these books and were entered in Melbourne Royal Show Bookbinding competition but I do not know which year. The cases are drop back  clam shells   single layer with book cloth covers. The front of each has an oval shaped leather onlay with an inset illustration  matched to the era of the book. The Hand Gold foil  tooling of the title is on the leather. The lining is satin.

A fitting standard of finish for us to aspire to.

This lead to the thinking about the different  boxes used in book binding, and the whys and how of the techniques. Here is a sort of summary of the options that come to mind, and all these are in my bindery.  I didn’t make them all, but  they are certainly all used.

 

 

1/ As a development of bookbinding skills.  Box making takes many of the same skills as book making. Designing the box, selection of appropriate materials, design techniques,  and glues , then cutting to size so the book fits neatly, but not too small or too large, easy to open and close, covering, lining are all book skills. In some ways simpler as a wrong dimension just means a finished book for storage of “stuff” rather than a specific book. This one a double wall  clam shell. When made well it is almost air tight.

 

2/ To protect a book. The design of the box so that the book is held gently, so getting the book in and out is  easy, and once closed the book cant move around is really important. Double wall, double clam shell, felt lined, with finger gap to allow easy book removal. Old English Game Fowl.

 

 

         

 

 

2B. Here is another protection box for  the   Bone Folder reprinted.  Book, chemise, slipcase

Cloth slip case on book board, book covered with goat skin leather covered, leather onlay of a laying press, ivory inlaid bone folder, marbled book end paper, eel skin leather board lining . The Chemise is cloth covered matching the skip case with hand marbled paper linings.

 

3/ To store the book effectively. I am reminded of the life of  Daniel Solander, a botanist  born  1733 died 1782 . The first botanist to set foot in Australia, developed a box for the transport of sample but it had to float and be fire resistant.   Many samples and collections  of the era were lost in boating mishaps. Solander set about the design of a box that would give his samples the best hope of surviving. and the same techniques go into our modern Solander boxes. Much museum storage is in these design boxes  as they have been shown, when close stacked ,they resist fire damage and water and smoke entry.  A bit unruly in my6 stacks , but effective storage.

 

 

4/ To store items used in making a book. In the preparation stages, sorting and collecting of materials  for projects often gets lost in the materials on the bench, ( if you are messy like me, so I select all the stuff I will use and put them in a box specifically to ensure all match before I start. These are recycled document boxes.

 

5/ To store items  not suitable to be made into a book. I often have pamphlets, booklets, and  ephemera from various sources which should be kept together, but don’t suit binding. So I  find a suitable sizes box, or make a suitable sized box, label it and store all the “bits” together. Similar to above.

 

 

 

           

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

6/ To store a book that is valuable. This is an important reason. But value is in the eyes of the beholder, so I store many books in different styles , and always books with a significant either in price, history, or preference. So examples follow.

This sequence shows a book with a history and I feel compelled to tell the story. I was in a bookshop not long after  I first started binding,  seems like many years ago,  and saw a laying press. I asked if it was for sale and was told everything was for sale. It was the whole bindery of Bettine Gresford, a well known Canberra Binder who had retired to Queensland.

After some negotiation and the expenditure of a substantial amount, and a return trip from Melbourne to Brisbane with an empty van, I had a complete bindery with lots of bits and pieces. In there was the records of every book Bettine had bound. I kept the bindery together and record in a little book all the tools and equipment so as to keep the integrity as far as possible of the bindery.

After 10 years or so, I was at a function in Canberra, and I said to the person I was speaking to I had bought this bindery years ago. A person ran up to me having heard her mothers name. “ You bought mum’s collection”. “Indeed I did”.  

It turned out that they were all overseas at the time when Battine passed away, and the house Bettine was living in had to be cleared out. The bindery disappeared in the process.  “ And I have all her diaries as well “ These were very important to the family and I was happy to return them to the right place. However, I did not have a book bound by Bettine and I asked the family, if one might be available. I was offered a choice, and I chose this one.

Oliver Goldsmith, The Vicar of  WakefieldThe outside box shows some wear, but the inside is pristine, and the quality of the binding excellent, with meticulous good tooling of real gold leaf. I can identify each tool used in its making.  They are still in the collection.  It will be one of the last books to leave the collection, and perhaps even make its way back to the family. So value is in the eye of the beholder.  Excuse that I have shown too many pics. I didn’t make this book,  but its history  made the value of the book far greater.  All the Goldwork is leaf gold.  The binding record is in the diaries so I no longer have it.

 

 

  

7/ To store a book that is valuable  but damaged and in need of repairs, but maybe also beyond the owners ability.  I have a decent pile of these!!  

This box is a recycled box from I cant remember where. I added the studs to give it a bit more zing.

Inside is a copy of the first Birthday book from 1875. This one printed in the USA was bought in England by my wife's great great grandparents and has been handed down with additions for each generation. It is however damaged and I have not the confidence to remove it and start  work. The mount is acid free paper over acid free card. Maybe one day I will work ion it,  but for now we just relate the story to the family, and open the box to show the book held in a ribbon.

 

8/ To store valuable history in a book but not restore the book. By this I mean a book which could be restored but is perhaps better left I its original historic state. Lined in felt, close to airtight, book components wrapped in acid free paper, and I hope enough room so the final binding will fit in the box.

 

 

9/ To transport a book, or an archive from one place to another without damage. I have a stack of boxes  for this purpose. Some are made by commercial sources, some inherited or bought in with collections, some adapted and recovered to suit a particular use.

This box contains fragile Oracle bones reputed to be 2000 years old. The box is a delightful perfume box made in the middle East to hold perfume, now repurposed  protecting valuable artefacts.

 

10/ As a fireproofing method . One of the features of Solander boxes , perhaps described as  double shell, double shell stepped walls,  double bottom and top, all covered in bookbinding cloth, is that when stacked together, they are vert resistant to fire and in case of a fire also resistant to the entry of water and smoke, yet able in normal storage to gently breath. More difficult to make and requiring good precision, I enjoy the challenge and made them either for  specific books or as a batch of general storage. See pictures of 1, 2, 3.

 

11/ As a storage method where book shelves are not available. Good boxes, can stand in a stack and have side labels , and don’t need the shelves. Ideal for archives.  See item 3.

 

 

 

 

    

 

   

 

12/ To keep a set of books together, and protect from shelf damage.  This is a set of 5 books I published on chickens,  Numbered set no 2.  Numbered no 1 always went to the Author, as individual volumes. This is the complete set of all 5. Lift top lid, lines in marbled paper made at the Guild Marbling night, overlapping join for minimum air flow.  Each volume also wrapped separately in acid free tissue.  ( I have also a set of the PB for reading.)

 

 

      

 

13/ Simplest slip case. This style holds the two volumes together and allows easy “slip” to get them out. The missing volume is immediately shows on the shelf. An early binding, of mine blind tooled with object seen in Rome, the top of a Corinthian column and the Parthenon,  Ruins of Ancient Cities Charles Buck, tooling copied from engravings in the book.

 

 

 

 

        

 

14/ Boxes made for the exercise of box making. These two pieces were made in Florence   the purple a very small box, the lighter coloured is larger, has with it an address label from the maker and also a miniature book from the maker.   A test of the fine skills of design, cutting and gluing, and the combination of colours for the effect. Outer covering is cloth.

 

And for those who wish to contribute to the discussion, email presidentatvbgdotnetdotau, with a reason and a picture of the example and I will add to the post.