When the sewing is completed, and before or after the boards are attached, the textblock edges are often trimmed.
Sometimes only the top edge is trimmed, but often the tail and fore-edges are trimmed as well. Trimming creates a
smooth surface that invites all kinds of decorative possibilities for binders.
Books have not always been shelved with their spines facing out. Titling or shelf-marking may occur on the trimmed head,
tail,
or fore edge of the textblock, and may be an indication of past shelving practices in some libraries.
Here is a sampling of different types of edge decoration, ranging from the quickest and least expensive to
the lavish and time-consuming.
Swiss, eighteenth century
Uncut.
| Author: | Butini, Jean-François, 1747-1800 |
| Title: | Traité du luxe. |
| Published: | Geneva: Bardin, 1774. |
| Location: | Rare Books (Extran) |
| Call number: | HB841.M29 |
| Spine height: | 18 cm |
Dutch, sixteenth century
Titled on fore-edge.
| Author: | Mela, Pomponius |
| Title: | Pomponii Melae De sitv orbis libri tres. |
| Published: | Antwerp: Christophe Plantin, 1582. |
| Location: | Rare Books (Ex) |
| Call number: | 2886.1582 |
| Spine height: | 17 cm |
German, seventeenth century
Sprinkled.
| Author: | Moller, Daniel Wilhelm, 1642-1712 |
| Title: | Danielis Guil. Molleri ... Dissertationes academicae. |
| Published: | Nuremberg and Altdorf: Heirs of Johann Daniel Tauber, 1726. |
| Location: | Rare Books (Ex) |
| Call number: | R512.A1 B34 |
| Spine height: | 20 cm |
Italian, sixteenth century
Sprinkled.
| Author: | Petrarca, Francesco, 1304-1374 |
| Title: | Il Petrarca. |
| Published: | Venice: Vincenzo Valgrisi, 1560. |
| Location: | Rare Books (Ex) |
| Call number: | 3134.1560 |
| Spine height: | 21 cm |
British, eighteenth century
Dyed solid.
| Author: | Brooke, Henry, 1703?-1783 |
| Title: | A collection of the pieces formerly published by Henry Brooke, Esq. |
| Published: | London: Printed for the author, 1778. |
| Location: | Rare Books: (Extran) |
| Call number: | 3641.7.1778 |
| Spine height: | 22 cm |
Dutch, sixteenth century
Dyed solid, with shelf-mark 'L 12.'
| Author: | Valerius Maximus |
| Title: | Valerij Maximi Dictorum factorum'que memorabilium libri IX. |
| Published: | Antwerp:Christophe Plantin, 1567. |
| Location: | Rare Books (Ex) |
| Call number: | 2941.1567 |
| Spine height: | 17 cm |
British, nineteenth century
Marbled.
| Author: | Sterne, Laurence, 1713-1768 |
| Title: | The works of Laurence Sterne. |
| Published: | London: Printed for J. Johnson [et al.], 1803. |
| Location: | Rare Books (Extran) |
| Call number: | 3943.7.1803 |
| Spine height: | 25 cm |
French, eighteenth century
Marbled.
| Author: | France |
| Title: | Recueil d'édits, déclarations, arrêts du Conseil. |
| Published: | Paris: P.G. Le Mercier, 1762. |
| Location: | Rare Books (Extran) |
| Call number: | 99783.3575 |
| Spine height: | 17 cm |
British, nineteenth century
Marbled.
| Author: | Nimrod, 1779-1843 |
| Title: | Nimrod's Northern tour: descriptive of the principal hunts in Scotland and the North of England. |
| Published: | London: W. Spiers, 1838. |
| Location: | Rare Books: Laurance Roberts Carton Hunting Collection (ExCarton) |
| Call number: | SK285 .xA68 |
| Spine height: | 22 cm |
German, seventeenth century
Paste-painted.
| Author: | Wolff, Christian, Freiherr von, 1679-1754 |
| Title: | Vernünfftige Gedancken von dem gesellschafftlichen Leben der Menschen. |
| Edition: | 5th ed. |
| Published: | Frankfurt am Main and Leipzig: Rengerische Buchhandlung, 1740. |
| Location: | Rare Books (Extran) |
| Call number: | 6188.393 |
| Spine height: | 17 cm |
British, eighteenth century
Gilt.
| Author: | Walton, Izaak, 1593-1683 |
| Title: | The complete angler, or, Contemplative man's recreation. |
| Edition: | 3rd ed. |
| Published: | London: J., F., and C. Rivington, 1775. |
| Location: | Rare Books: Kenneth H. Rockey Angling Collection (ExRockey) |
| Call number: | 3975.5.326.775 |
| Spine height: | 18 cm |
French, sixteenth century
Gauffered edges are first gilded and then further decorated by impressing finishing tools into the textblock edge surface. The technique has been used for expensive bindings over many centuries.
| Author: | Virgil |
| Title: | Les quatre premiers liures de l'Eneïde de Virgile. |
| Published: | Lyons: Jean de Tournes, 1552. |
| Location: | Rare Books: Junius Morgan Collection (VRG) |
| Call number: | PA6809.A5 D47 1552 |
| Spine height: | 23 cm |
British, nineteenth century
Another binding with gauffered edges.
| Author: | Luther, Martin, 1483-1546 |
| Title: | Martin Luther on the bondage of the will. |
| Published: | London: Printed by T. Bensley for W. Simpkin and R. Marshall, 1823. |
| Location: | Rare Books (Ex) |
| Call number: | 6307.603.1823 |
| Spine height: | 23 cm |
German, sixteenth century
Another binding with gauffered edges.
| Author: | Boissard, Jean Jacques, 1528-1602 |
| Title: | Emblemata. |
| Published: | Frankfurt am Main?, 1593. |
| Location: | Rare Books (Ex) |
| Call number: | N7710 .B635 1593 |
| Spine height: | 20 cm |
British, nineteenth century
Gilt, gauffered, and painted.
| Author: | Rossetti, Dante Gabriel, 1828-1882 |
| Title: | The collected works of Dante Gabriel Rossetti. |
| Published: | London: Ellis and Elvey, 1887. |
| Location: | Rare Books (Ex) |
| Call number: | 3913.3 1887 |
| Spine height: | 20 cm |
British, eighteenth century
A certain fascination surrounds fore-edge painting, perhaps because it's a little like magic. With the textblock clamped into a fanned-out position, the painting is done on the very edges of the exposed plane of leaves. The book is then returned to its regular shape, and a layer of gold leaf is applied over the painted edges, effectively hiding the painting until the leaves are fanned out again. Several English binderies in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries specialized in this technique.
| Author: | Sophocles |
| Title: | Sophoclis quae exstant omnia cum veterum grammaticorum scholiis. |
| Published: | Stasbourg: J. G. Treuttel, 1786. |
| Location: | Rare Books (Ex) |
| Call number: | PA4413.A2 1786q |
| Spine height: | 30 cm |
The previous binding with its design hidden.