The Study and the Sofa:: a Chapter in the History of Reading: Part 2

Abstract

By the time of the Restoration it had begun to dawn on men's minds that well‐bound books, standing upright on shelves with their spines outward, provided not merely the handiest arrangement for the reader, but a decorative feature of considerable beauty for the room. The new fashion had its birth, as I have said, in France. The first great library to be shelved with the spines outwards was that of the historian Jacques de Thou (d. 1617). In 1627, when Gabriel Naudé published his Avis pour dresser une Bibliothèque it was the general custom there; he notes that “they do not now place their Books upon Desks as the ancients did; but upon shelves that hide all the Walls”. Evelyn published his translation of Naudé in 1661, and by then the new fashion was becoming general in England. The change can be traced by current fashions in binding. Volumes intended for storage flat had their sides decorated with elaborate panels, or with cameos and bosses. Those intended for upright storage had designs and lettering or labels on fore‐edge or spine. Fore‐edge decoration gave way gradually to spine decoration in the middle of the 17th century, reaching its full development with Samuel Mearne, Charles II's binder. Storage with fore‐edge outwards was common in English libraries up to the Restoration; it was not discontinued at Cambridge University Library till 1706. It is sometimes said that it was a relic of the earlier custom of chaining books. Normally the chain was attached to the lower fore‐edge of the cover (or the top fore‐edge if the book was kept on a lectern), and this means that the fore‐edge must face outwards. Very occasionally the chain was attached to the joint of the cover and spine, so that the book stood with the spine outwards, but this was rare. However, fore‐edge arrangement was so general in pre‐Restoration private libraries in England (in which chains would rarely if ever have been used) that I find it difficult to regard it merely as a relic of the chained book. In a small collection, I doubt if people bothered which way the book stood. Fore‐edge arrangement may have some slight practical convenience, for it saves turning the book round when you take it down from the shelf. The deciding factor is probably the title label. If this is on the fore‐edge, the book is placed with the fore‐edge showing; if it is on the spine, it is placed with spine to the front. Aesthetically the title fits better on the spine, and is more legible and convenient thus. The fashion thus became universal.

Citation

IRWIN, R. (1963), "The Study and the Sofa:: a Chapter in the History of Reading: Part 2", Library Review, Vol. 19 No. 4, pp. 259-263. https://doi.org/10.1108/eb012394