Sandgren style bindings

August Sandgren returned to Copenhagen after the end of the first world war. Two years later he opened his own bindery where he became known for high quality work with good designs. That work was expensive for his clients so he did paper bindings as an economical alternative.

 

Concerned with the durability of paper bindings he started putting vellum at the head and tail of the spines and added vellum tips to the board corners. The vellum was almost invisible on the bindings.  Later binders began using leather instead of vellum, probably for design reasons and because leather is easier to work with than vellum.

 

These Sandgren Style bindings became very popular among Danish bookbinders. Where Sandgren covered all the board edges, others chose to expose the leather board edges several millimeters. Of course, choosing to use leather instead of vellum showed the esthetics was more important than durability.

 

The books below, except the last one, were made by August Sandgren.

 

More examples here.