gant book-binding is coming to be recognized as one of the foremost of the decorative arts.

The art of designing book-covers and patterns for g.d ing books has engaged the talents of many artists, among whom may be named Edwin A. Abbey, Howard Pyle, Stanford White, and Elihu Vedder. Nor have skilful designs been wanting among women, as witness Mrs. Whitman's elegant tea-leaf border for the cover of Dr. O, W. Holmes's "Over the Tea-cups," and Miss Alice Morse's arabesques and medallions for Lafeadio Hearn's "Two Years in the French West Indies." Miss May Morris designed many tasteful letters for the fine bindings executed by Mr. Col den-Sanderson of London, and Kate Greenaway's many exquisite little books for little people have become widely known for their quaint and curious cover designs. A new field thus opens for skilled cultivators of the beautiful wḥ, have an eye for the art of drawing.

Mr. William Matthews, the accomplished New York binder, in an address before the Grolier Club in 1895, s. 1: "I have been astonished that so few women-in Amer.ca. I know none--are encouragers of the art; they certainly could not bestow their taste on anything that would d them more credit, or as a study, give them more satisfac tion." It is but fair to add that since this judgment put forth, its implied reproach is no longer applicable: a number of American women have interested themselves in the study of bending as a fine art; and some few in practical work as binders of books,

There is no question that readers take a greater interest in books that are neatly and attractively bound, than in volumes dressed in a mean garb. No book owner or libraran with any knowledge of the incurable defects of cat. sheep, or roan leather, if he has any regard for the us ness or the economies of his library, will use them in bind

ing books that are to possess permanent value in personal r public use. True economy lies in employing the best script on of binding in the first instance.

When it is considered that the purposed object of bookEnding is to preserve in a shape at once attractive and permarent, the best and noblest thoughts of man, it rises to a

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gh rank among the arts. Side by side with printing, it strives after that perfection which shall ensure the perj-tuity of human thought. Thus a book, clothed in morocco, is not a mere piece of mechanism, but a vehicle in which the intellectual life of writers no longer on earth is transmitted from age to age. And it is the art of bookbining which renders libraries possible. What the author, the printer, and the bender create, the library takes

arge of and preserves. It is thus that the material and De prutical link themselves indissolubly with the ideal. And the ideal of every true librarian should be so to care for the embodiments of intelligence entrusted to his guardarship, that they may become in the highest degree useful to mankind. In this sense, the care bestowed upon the mind and enduring binding can hardly be overrated, since the life of the book depends upon it.

CHAPTER 4.

PREPARATION FOR THE SHELVES: BOOK PLATES, ETC.

When any lot of books is acquired, whether by purchase from book-dealers or from auction, or by presentation, the first step to be taken, after seeing that they agree with the bill, and have been collated, in accordance with methods elsewhere given, should be to stamp and label each volume, as the property of the library. These two processes are quite distinct, and may be performed by one or two persons, according to convenience, or to the library force employed. The stamp may be the ordinary rubber one, inke-i by striking on a pad, and ink of any color may be used, although black or blue ink has the neatest appearance. The stamp should bear the name of the library, in clear, legible, plain type, with year of acquisition of the book in the centre, followed by the month and day if desired. more permanent kind of stamp is the embossing stamp. which is a steel die, the letters cut in relief, but it is very expensive and slow, requiring the leaf to be inserted between the two parts of the stamp, though the impression, once made, is practically indelible.

The size of the stamp (which is preferably oval in shape) should not exceed 11 to 14 inches in diameter, as a large. coarse stamp never presents a neat appearance on a bo s Indeed, many books are too small to admit any but a stamp of very moderate dimensions. The books should be star ed on the verso (reverse) of the title page, or if preferred, on the widest unprinted portion of the title-page, prefemably on the right hand of the centre, or just below the cen tre on the right. This, because its impression is far more

le on the plain white surface than on any part of the printed title. In a circulating library, the stamps should te ir pressed on one or more pages in the body of the book, as well as on the last page, as a means of identification if the book is stolen or otherwise lost; as it is very easy to crise the impression of a rubber stamp from the title-page, and thereby commit a fraud by appropriating or selling the k. In such a case, the duplicate or triplicate impres

n of the stamp on some subsequent page (say page 5 or 16, many books having but few pages) as fixed upon by the rarian, is quite likely to escape notice of the thief, while it remains a safe-guard, enabling the librarian to reclaim tre book, wherever found. The law will enforce this right of free reclamation in favor of a public library, in the case of stolen book-, no matter in what hands found, and even though the last bolder may be an innocent purchaser. All Praries are victimized at some time by unscrupulous or d. honest readers, who will appropriate books, thinking themselves safe from detection, and sometimes easing their cntiscetices, (if they have any) by the plea that the book is in a measure public property.

In these cases, there is no absolute safe-guard, as it is easy to carry off a book under one's coat, and the librarian «! his few aids are far too busy to act as detectives in watching readers. Still, a vigilant 1 brarian will almost

wave find out, by some suspicious circumstance – such as the hiding of books away, or a certain furtive action observed in a reader who are the persons that should be watched, and when it is advisable to call in the policeman.

The British Museum Lbrary, which has no e reulation er book lending, enforces a rule that no one making his ext can have a book with him, unless checked as his own property, all overcoats and other wraps being of course cheked at the door.

It is a melancholy fact, duly recorded in a Massachusetts paper, that no less than two hundred and fifty volumes, duly labeled and stamped as public library books, were stolen from a single library in a single year, and sold to second-hand book-ellers.

The impression of the stamp in the middle of a certain page, known to the librarian, renders it less liable to detection by others, while if stamped on the lower unprinted margin, it might be cut out by a designing person.

Next to the stamping, comes the labeling of the books to be added to the library. This is a mechanical process, and yet one of much importance. Upon its being done neatly and properly, depends the good or bad appearance of the library books, as labels with rough or ragged edges, or put on askew, or trimmed irregularly at their margins, present an ugly and unfinished aspect, offensive to the eye of good taste, and reflecting discredit on the management. A librarian should take pride in seeing all details of his work carefully and neatly carried out. If he cannot have perfection, from want of time, he should always aim at it, at least, and then only will he come near to achieving it.

The label, or book-plate (for they are one and the same thing) should be of convenient size to go into books both small and large; and a good size is approximately 24 inches wide by 14 inches high when trimmed. As comparatively few libraries care to go to the expense, which is about ten times that of printing, of an engraved label (although such work adds to the attractiveness of the books containing it) it should be printed in clear, not ornamental type, with the name of the library, that of the city or town in which it is located (unless forming a part of the title) and the abbreviation No. for number, with such other spaces fr section marks or divisions, shelf-marks, etc., as the classification adopted may require. The whole should be en