Trade Bookbinding in the British Isles 1660-1800

This is the first illustrated guide to this controversial subject. In 1930, in The Evolution of Publishers' Binding Styles, Michael Sadleir declared that "the bookseller-publisher of the decades from 1730 to 1770 issued his books either in loose quires, or stitched, or at most in a plain paper wrapper." This is still generally accepted. Bennett, however, presents new documentary and visual evidence that books were mostly sold ready-bound in sheep, calf and goat as well as boards and wrappers. Over 200 colour illustrations show what these bindings looked like, and how their styles evolved.