Paper Bindings

Simply put, paper bindings have paper used as a covering material over hard boards. The paper could be colored, marbled, paste paper or have a printed decorated paper.

For several decades after 1800 Danish binders used paper to mimic leather “mirror bindings” often with gold tooling around the mirror.

The bindings in these slides come from that time period.

In the 1900s, and later, binders did full paper bindings as an economical alternative to leather, or cloth bindings.  It is important to note that these books were still produced at a high quality, but with much less expensive materials than that used in leather bindings. And with labor necessary since leather preparation, or paring, was not necessary.

The bindings shown below range from the 1920s to around 1960.