Leather Binding
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 HISTORY OF GREECE Leather Binding ANTIQUE Set of 6 RARE Books 1835 Thirlwall $299.99 Time Remaining: 29d 19h 2m Buy It Now for only: $299.99 |
 Works WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE Leather FINE Binding 1853 Drama COMEDIES Histories $49.99 Time Remaining: 1h 8m Buy It Now for only: $65.00 |
 PRACTICAL HUSBANDMAN AND PLANTER 1734 VOLUME 2 IN A GREAT LEATHER BINDING $169.99 Time Remaining: 1d 16h 12m Buy It Now for only: $189.99 |
 Family HOLY BIBLE Leather ANTIQUE 1881 RARE Victorian FINE BINDING Ephemera $139.99 Time Remaining: 2h 6m Buy It Now for only: $190.00 |
 1831 THE NEW COMIC ANNUALHUMOURFINE BINDINGANTIQUEFULL LEATHER $12.63 Time Remaining: 6d 10h 26m Buy It Now for only: $12.63 |
 Antique History of England 3 Volume Set Leather Binding 1824 $9.99 Time Remaining: 1d 14h 42m |
 1562 JOHANN ECK ENCHIRIDION LOCURUM COMMUNIUM LUTHER FINE LEATHER BINDING LATIN $395.10 Time Remaining: 14h 34m |
 1629 WILLIAM CAMDEN QUEEN ELIZABETH LIFE AND REIGN FINE LEATHER BINDING $790.27 Time Remaining: 14h 29m |
 Dalziels Illustrated Arabian Nights Entertainments Leather Binding PLATES $44.39 Time Remaining: 29d 6h 20m Buy It Now for only: $44.39 |
 1929 RARE LIMITED Edition HIGH SPOTS OF AMERICAN LITERATURE Leather Binding $9.99 Time Remaining: 15h 19m |
 RARE 1821 2 VOLUMES US HISTORY FINE LEATHER BINDINGS 1624 1820 REVOLUTION 1812 $41.80 (5 Bids) Time Remaining: 15h 15m |
 Great Speeches and Orations of Daniel Webster Whipple Fine binding in leather $75.00 Time Remaining: 29d 18h 9m Buy It Now for only: $75.00 |
 1746 Boerhaave MEDICINE PHYSIC Binding Project 1st English Edition No Reserve $137.50 (10 Bids) Time Remaining: 10h 31m |
 FINE FULL LEATHER BINDING GILT ODES AND EPODES OF HORACE FIVE RAISED BANDS VGC $15.79 (1 Bid) Time Remaining: 15h 17m |
 Bunyans Pilgrims Progress Antique Book Victorian Leather Binding c1864 $13.49 (2 Bids) Time Remaining: 1d 13h 21m |
 MANUAL OF THE BRITISH BUTTERFLIES STAINTON 1857 59 LEATHER BINDING 2 VOLS $169.99 Time Remaining: 6d 16h 40m Buy It Now for only: $169.99 |
 RARE 1879 FINE BINDING LEATHER ARABS TURKEY HASHISH MARIJUANA VISIONS GREAT GIFT $24.99 (1 Bid) Time Remaining: 2d 15h 12m |
 RARE 1891 FINE BINDING LEATHER LIGHT OF ASIA BUDDHISM EPIC POEM GIFT IDEA SCARCE $24.99 (1 Bid) Time Remaining: 1d 14h 20m |
 Harpers Monthly Magazine 1857 1858 Vol XVI Rare Book Fine Leather Binding $48.00 Time Remaining: 22d 12h 52m Buy It Now for only: $48.00 |
 MINIATURE BOOK TOOLED LEATHER BINDING THE NEW TESTAMENT 1839 UNREAD $9.47 (1 Bid) Time Remaining: 16h 4m |
 Bible German Luther 1667 Brass Leather binding Folio Basel Switzerland $201.00 (9 Bids) Time Remaining: 2d 21h 2m |
 JOSEPH HALL 1650 DEVOUT SOUL LEATHER BINDING PORTRAIT PLATE $316.06 Time Remaining: 14h 44m |
 COMMON PRAYER 1845 attractive leather gilt binding published Oxford $75.87 Time Remaining: 28d 5h 13m Buy It Now for only: $75.87 |
 FINE LEATHER BINDING GILT 2 VOLUMES LIFE OF NAPOLEON JOHN HOLLAND ROSE 1108PP $31.60 Time Remaining: 2d 11h 31m |
 THE NORSE MYTHS 1st Folio Society ed leather binding 1991 Viking Odin Thor etc $18.29 (12 Bids) Time Remaining: 13h 5m |
 PICTURESQUE AMERICA 1874 FULL LEATHER BINDING FINE VOL 2 GREAT PLATES $99.99 Time Remaining: 6d 16h 39m Buy It Now for only: $99.99 |
 FINE LEATHER HATCHARD BINDING A KEMPIS IMITATION OF CHRIST 1873 PHOTOGRAPHS $39.44 Time Remaining: 3d 14h 14m |
 BIBLE MINIATURE NEW TESTAMENT 1818 FINE LEATHER BINDING VERY NICE $39.50 (1 Bid) Time Remaining: 2d 16h 7m |
 BOOK of COMMON PRAYER MINIATURE 1820 FINE LEATHER BINDING VERY NICE $39.50 Time Remaining: 2d 16h 12m |
 Report of Cases Supreme Court of Ohio Volume 14 from 1846 Leather Binding $15.00 Time Remaining: 14d 21h 8m Buy It Now for only: $15.00 |
 RARE 1884 UK JOHN LOCKE PHILOSOPHER LIFE LETTERS FINE LEATHER BINDING GIFT IDEA $24.99 (3 Bids) Time Remaining: 2d 14h 21m |
 ALL THE WORKES OF JOHN TAYLOR RARE 1st Ed 1630 FINE LEATHER BINDING LISTED 10K $125.00 (11 Bids) Time Remaining: 5d 21h 20m |
 RARE 1787 FINE BINDING LEATHER LORD CHESTERFIELDS LETTERS GIFT SET UK EDITION $31.00 (3 Bids) Time Remaining: 14h 37m |
 The Honorable Schoolboy Fine Binding First Edition Soci $39.90 Time Remaining: 15d 15h 15m Buy It Now for only: $39.90 |
 Poems of Matthew Arnold 1926 Full Calf Signed Oxford Binding $9.99 Time Remaining: 2d 20h 17m |
 ANTIQUE LEATHER LIBRARY SET Book Collection RARE LOT Home Decor FINE BINDING ICL $721.00 (37 Bids) Time Remaining: 5d 20h 17m |
 Essays By Michel de Montaigne Franklin Press Fine Full Leather Binding $19.99 Time Remaining: 10d 18h 48m Buy It Now for only: $19.99 |
 CHAUCER CANTERBURY TALES LEATHER BINDING ILLUSTRATED C 1870 $39.44 Time Remaining: 3d 14h 9m |
 HOLY BIBLE 1698 Fine BINDING English ANTIQUE Leather RARE Pocket LEATHER C Bill $360.00 Time Remaining: 2d 23h 52m Buy It Now for only: $419.99 |
 SHAKESPEARE THE COMPLETE WORKS FULL LEATHER BINDING 1935 $6.24 Time Remaining: 3d 14h 11m |
 Lot of 3 Everymans Library Classics Sir Walter Scott Leather Bindings 1908 1909 $20.00 Time Remaining: 15d 12h 31m Buy It Now for only: $20.00 |
 SOWERBYS ENGLISH BOTANY CRYPTOGAMIA 1886 3RD EDITION NICE BINDING FERNS $139.99 Time Remaining: 1d 16h 9m Buy It Now for only: $159.99 |
 5 Antique Victorian Art nouveau Decorative Gilt Leather Binding Books book lot $44.99 (1 Bid) Time Remaining: 19h 1m |
 Beautiful Red Leather RUDYARD KIPLINGS VERSE On India PaperBayntun Binding $49.99 Time Remaining: 25d 12h 56m Buy It Now for only: $49.99 |
 HISTORIA DE LAS GUERRAS CIVILES DE GRANADA RARE 1st Ed 1660 FINE LEATHER BINDING $12.50 (4 Bids) Time Remaining: 6d 21h 20m |
 RARE 1912 FINE BINDING LEATHER GERMAN DEUTSCH RUBAIYAT OMAR KHAYYAM GIFT IDEA $24.99 Time Remaining: 15h 13m |
 1892 Thirteen Satires Juvenal Leather Fine Binding $89.99 Time Remaining: 1d 8h 42m Buy It Now for only: $98.99 |
 THE BINDING OF BOOKS Bookbinding HORNE Leather 1894 13 ILLUSTRATED PLATES Rare $499.99 Time Remaining: 1d 8h 36m Buy It Now for only: $499.99 |
 1903 The White Rose Anthology Poetry Arts Crafts Leather Binding $19.99 Time Remaining: 4d 15h 37m |
 Antique old leather bindThe Pearl Reference Bible 1870 $5.00 (1 Bid) Time Remaining: 4d 21h 30m |
 EDGAR ALLAN POE Poetical Works SIGNED LEATHER BINDING $499.99 Time Remaining: 3d 18h 34m Buy It Now for only: $499.99 |
 1877 ARCTIC EXPEDITIONS STUNNING LEATHER GILT BINDINGHuge $97.65 Time Remaining: 4d 23h 39m |
 A Son of the Circus John Irving Signed 1st Ed Society Franklin Leather Binding $65.00 (1 Bid) Time Remaining: 1d 9h 5m |
 EMERSONS WORKS VOL 6 LETTERS AND SOCIAL AIMS 1898 FINE BINDING LEATHER LIMITED $19.95 Time Remaining: 20h 46m |
 The Poems of John Keats Easton Press Leather Fine Binding Ed by Aileen Ward $19.99 Time Remaining: 1d 17h 12m Buy It Now for only: $19.99 |
 1848 FOX HUNTING Life of a FOX HOUND Fine LEATHER BINDING Horses HORSE Riding $150.17 Time Remaining: 3d 7h 10m |
 1843 THE ESSAYS OF ELIA CHARLES LAMB IN TWO VOLUMES FINE LEATHER BINDING $150.00 Time Remaining: 2d 17h 33m |
 HANDS ACROSS THE TABLE 1945 EDITION BEAUTUFUL LEATHER BINDING $25.00 Time Remaining: 20h 16m |
 History of the Sisters Immaculate Heart Monroe Michigan Fine Leather Binding $55.00 Time Remaining: 26d 10h 44m Buy It Now for only: $55.00 |
 RARE 1850S CHIVALRY ILLUSTRATED FINE BINDING LEATHER GIFT IDEA KING ARTHUR STYLE $24.99 Time Remaining: 14h 47m |
 DECISIVE BATTLES War History CIVIL WAR Napolean LINCOLN leather SIGNED BINDING $5.50 (6 Bids) Time Remaining: 5d 21h 31m |
 SHAKESPEARES WORKS 40 Volumes LEATHER BINDING Antique $429.99 Time Remaining: 8d 15h 9m Buy It Now for only: $429.99 |
 A Widow For One Year John Irving Signed 1st LtdEdition Special Leather Binding $65.00 Time Remaining: 1d 9h 7m |
 1790 RARE Antique Bible King James KJV Fine Leather Binding Very Good Condition $10.00 (1 Bid) Time Remaining: 5d 20h 24m |
 RARE 1903 Illustrated A TREASURY FOR THE YOUNG OF ALL AGES Leather Binding $9.99 (1 Bid) Time Remaining: 6d 12h 44m |
 The Oxford India Paper Dickens Complete Edition in 17 Volumes Leather Binding $200.00 Time Remaining: 15d 12h 31m Buy It Now for only: $200.00 |
 FINE LEATHER BINDING GILT WORKS OF OLIVER GOLDSMITH IN 2 VOLS PLAYS POETRY NOVEL $31.60 Time Remaining: 5d 15h 31m |
 1869 Antique Bible King James KJV RARE Fine Leather Binding w Clasp Great Cond $10.00 Time Remaining: 5d 20h 17m |
 1881 VOLUPTE by Sainte Beuve leather binding $35.00 Time Remaining: 11d 16h 13m Buy It Now for only: $35.00 |
 Arthur CClarke CHILDHOODS END 1995 Easton Press full leather dec binding $29.99 Time Remaining: 2d 12h 22m |
 1762 COMMON Prayer HOLY BIBLE Rare LEATHER Baskett PSALMS Fine Binding ENGRAVED $85.00 Time Remaining: 1d 23h 53m Buy It Now for only: $109.99 |
 1853 QUINTI HORATII FLACCI OPERA OMNIA HORACE POETRY FINE LEATHER BINDING 1ST $125.00 Time Remaining: 2d 17h 33m |
 Chambers Encyclopedia 9 Vol Set 1879 Fine Leather Bindings $295.00 Time Remaining: 14d 9h 54m Buy It Now for only: $295.00 |
 DECORATIVE Binding VICTORIAN Fine Binding ORNATE c1920s Swedish LEATHER Antique $45.00 Time Remaining: 1d 22h 17m Buy It Now for only: $60.00 |
 Antique 1879 Laws of Business Parsons Fine Leather Binding $12.00 Time Remaining: 18h 47m |
 DRAWINGS RAPHAEL 1871 Prize Binding RARE LITHOGRAPHS $199.99 Time Remaining: 1d 18h 48m Buy It Now for only: $199.99 |
 THE GENESIS OF ORE DEPOSITS Mining Mines Geology Leather Binding VG 1902 $9.95 Time Remaining: 5d 20h 26m |
 RARE 1870 FINE BINDING UK LEATHER WHYTE MELVILLE QUEENS MARIES GIFT IDEA $19.99 Time Remaining: 14h 27m |
 LARGE OLD ANTIQUE VICTORIAN MATTHEW HENRY BIBLE LEATHER BINDING WEIGHS 8 KILOS $158.05 Time Remaining: 3d 5h 20m |
 The Roman Empire BC 20AD 476 H Stuart Jones Tree Calf Binding Plates $125.00 Time Remaining: 24d 8h 21m Buy It Now for only: $125.00 |
 DEMOGEOT History of French Literature FINE BINDING 1884 Bickers STUNNING Leather $7.89 Time Remaining: 6d 16h 1m |
 Grays Poetical Works Bickers Signed Full Calf Binding Illustrated $9.99 Time Remaining: 2d 20h 16m |
 Isaac Watts Psalms David 1830 MINIATURE prayer BOOK BIBLE LEATHER BINDING CASE $17.00 (6 Bids) Time Remaining: 5d 20h 55m |
 THE CONSPIRACY Beautiful ANTIQUE Book BINDING 1839 Rare QUEEN ELIZABETH 8th ED $59.99 Time Remaining: 4d 6h 18m Buy It Now for only: $59.99 |
 RARE 1824 1ST ED FINE LEATHER BINDING POETIC VIGILS by BERNARD BARTON $60.00 Time Remaining: 2d 20h 20m |
 Family HOLY BIBLE Leather Antique GUSTAVE DORE 1884 RARE Victorian FINE BINDING $120.00 Time Remaining: 3d 2h 12m Buy It Now for only: $199.99 |
 1923Last Essays EliaCharles LambIllustrated CE Brock SIGNED Leather Binding $99.99 Time Remaining: 15d 11h 6m Buy It Now for only: $99.99 |
 Leather Bindings Library Collection Full Sets + Individual Titles Home Decor $49.99 (1 Bid) Time Remaining: 5d 19h 56m |
 HOLY BIBLE Prayer BOOK Fine Binding METAL 1881 Dutch LEATHER Catechisms CHURCH $99.99 Time Remaining: 3d 16m Buy It Now for only: $120.00 |
 1800s THE BOOK OF POETRY Presbyterian Board of Publication FINE LEATHER BINDING $99.99 Time Remaining: 1d 21h 5m |
 Comparative Study Bible pub Zonderman full leather binding $49.99 Time Remaining: 11d 19h 58m Buy It Now for only: $49.99 |
 John Williamson FOLK SONGS 1867 Fine Leather Binding $75.00 Time Remaining: 1d 13h 44m |
 1822 INSECTS Entomology MOTHS Butterflies ANTS Spiders FINE LEATHER BINDINGS $197.59 Time Remaining: 3d 17h 16m |
 RALPH WALDO EMERSON Works LEATHER Set ANTIQUE BINDINGS $999.99 Time Remaining: 5d 5h 12m Buy It Now for only: $999.99 |
 FINE LEATHER BINDING GILT THE PLAYS OF JMBARRIE PETER PAN 844PP VPRETTY BOOK $15.79 Time Remaining: 5d 11h 47m |
 1830 Rare MINIATURE GERMAN BIBLE Full Leather Binding $47.42 Time Remaining: 2d 7h 44m |
 Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy Easton Press Full Leather Binding Gilt Pages Hubbed $35.00 Time Remaining: 1d 9h 23m |
 1894 6 v Set The Plays of Moliere Fine Leather Bindings Engravings $179.95 Time Remaining: 7d 18h 48m Buy It Now for only: $179.95 |
 Full Leather Binding The Great Sieges of History Military Battles William Robson $63.21 Time Remaining: 1d 5h 50m |
 1900 FLASHLIGHTS OF NATURE G ALLEN KENDAL PRIZE LEATHER BINDINGS $18.97 Time Remaining: 14h 23m |
Leather Binding
Book Binding By Hand
Simple bindings for your hand-crafted books are easy to do. They provide a more elegant and longer-lasting solution than staples or binder clips.
You can use a variety of materials for the cover. The cover can be made from card stock, file folders, heavy-weight papers, fabric, vinyl, or leather. Match the binding materials to the content of your book to reinforce the theme and protect it. Be careful about using wood since it contains chemicals which will degrade the interior pages. Use it only for a short-term decorative item. You can make a soft cover by using your choice of material without applying stiff cardboard backing. Make a hard cover by applying the material over cardboard cut to size. Cut two matching pieces of cardboard to form the front and back cover. Make them 1/16 of an inch larger in both height and width than the text pages. There is no overhang in this binding.
Any type of cord or string can be used for the stitching including yarns, raffia, leather thongs, jute string, twine, gimp, soft wire, thin ribbons, and fine braids. These are some of the more unusual choices for thread. On a traditional project you might use linen, embroidery, or carpet thread, strong nylon thread, or waxed dental floss.
In your initial book layout, be sure to allow space on each page for the spine. Spine depths will vary with the number of pages and the thickness of the paper. As a general rule allow ½” to ¾” of blank space on the side of the page which will be attached to the spine in addition to the margin around the writing.
Equipment. You will need an awl or a small nail and hammer, cardboard for a hard cover, material for the cover, cording or thread (eight times as long as the book’s height), binder clips, a needle, pencil, ruler, phone book or scrap wood to protect your work surface.
How to do it. These instructions follow Japanese book binding techniques to create a binding that will last.
Step 1. Measure ½” from the spine of the front cover and use your ruler to draw a line from the top to the bottom. On the line you have just drawn, make a mark ½” down from the top and ½” up from the bottom. Divide the distance between those two marks into thirds and mark two middle points. You should have four marks.
Step 2. Even up the pages of the book and place them between the front and back covers. Clamp with binder clips. Place on your protected work surface. If needed, weight down the pages to keep them from moving. Punch holes through the marks using the awl or a small nail and hammer. Do this in batches of 20 pages or less; otherwise pages and holes slip out of alignment. Once all pages are punched, stack them with holes aligned on the left hand side.
Step 3. Thread the needle with the thread. Tie the ends together in a knot. You now have a continuous loop of thread, the needle at one end, the knot at the other. Anchor the thread by opening the book about 20 pages and pushing the needle through the lower middle hole. Pull the thread until the knot is snugly fitted against the pages. Wrap the thread around the spine and push the needle through the lower middle hole again. Pull taut.
Step 4. Take the thread across the top cover to the upper middle hole. Push the needle down through that hole, around the spine and back down through the same hole. Pull the thread tight after each hole.
Step 5. Take the thread across the bottom cover and come up through the top hole. Go around the spine and up through the top hole again.
Step 6. Take the thread across the top of the cover so it crosses the top edge of the book (as opposed to the spine). Wrap the thread around this top edge and bring the thread up through the top hole.
Step 7. Take the thread across the top cover and down through the upper middle hole.
Step 8. Take the thread across the back cover and up through the lower middle hole.
Step 9. Take the thread across the top cover and down through the bottom hole. Wrap the thread around the spine. Take the thread down through the bottom hole again.
Step 10. Take the thread across the bottom cover so it crosses the bottom edge of the book. Wrap the thread around this bottom edge and bring the thread down through the bottom hole.
Step 11. Take the thread across the back cover to the starting hole. Bring the needle up through the starting hole. Tie off the thread tightly by slipping the needle under the two top threads coming out of the starting hole and back through the loop.
Step 12. Run the needle down through the starting hole and cut off the thread flush with the back of the book.
You can vary this basic binding by using different spacing of the holes and patterns of sewing. As a decorative feature, you can sew a stick, ribbon, or beads into the binding. Add the decoration along the spine if it is thick enough or on the front cover. Do remember to consider function first though. If the decoration will interfere with reading the book, do not use it.
About the Author
Celia Webb, President of Pilinut Press, Inc., publishers of advanced readers for children and ESL students. Check out http://www.pilinutpress.com/index_files/BookBindingbyHand.html for diagrams depicting these steps.
How do you clean old leather-bound books?
They're from the beginning of the 1900's and have been in a basement for the last several decades getting really dusty.
How many of these books do you have? Are they popular titles today? Are they "first editions"? Are they in good condition or sort of crappy?
If you somehow know for a fact that no one will be interested in these books, then just use common sense: get a feather duster and gently clean the dust away and enjoy your books.
If you think you have enough of these books or any specific books that might be worth something, then DON'T try to clean them. Get an appraiser or a book dealer to look at them.
Shevach Black ,Artistic Leather bound books