or a good, smooth cloth of cotton or linen such as is now much used
by good binders. Most of the expensive leather, and all cheap leather,
rots in a short time; good cloth does not. Very few libraries can
afford luxurious binding. Good material, strong sewing, and a moderate
degree of skill and taste in finishing are all they can pay for. Learn
to tell a substantial piece of work when you see it, and insist that
you get such from your binder. The beginners' first business is to
inform himself carefully as to character, value, cost and strength of
all common binding materials.

From binders, or from dealers in binding material, you can get samples
of cloth, leather, tapes, string, thread, etc., which will help you to
learn what to ask for from your local binder.

The following notes are from a lecture by John H.H. McNamee before
the Massachussets library club in 1896, on the Essentials of good
binding:

"Had I the ordering of bindings for any public or circulating library
where books are given out to all classes of people, and subjected
to the handling which such books must receive, I should, from my
experience as a binder, recommend the following rules:

For the smaller volumes of juveniles, novels, and perishable books (by
which I mean books which are popular for a short time, and then may
lie on the shelves almost as so much lumber), have each book pulled to
pieces and sewed with Hayes' linen thread on narrow linen tapes, with
edges carefully trimmed.

Have the books rounded and backed, but not laced in. Have the boards