Agents of the book 1) Papermaker, 2) Printer, 3) Former owner/Reader/Bookseller, 4) Bookbinder
Alum-tawed Treated skin rendered yellow-white in colour
Bevelled Usually edges, cut or sanded to a gentle slope
Biting of bows Elided letters
Blind-tooled Decoration impressed onto binding material without the use of colour or leaf
Boss Metalwork, usually cornerpieces, used to strengthen or decorate bookbindings: usually found with wooden boards and on items destined to lie not stand
Broadside Sheet of paper printed on one side, e.g.: ballad, poster, proclamation, advertisement
Cadel Extending above/below the line, and usually calligraphic in style
Cancel/cancelland Replacement or substitution of leaves
Catchword The word which appears at the bottom of the page following the final line of text. It heralds the first word which appears on the following page
Cockling Wrinkling or puckering in a sheet of paper or board
Colophon Information detailing the production/printing of an item, usually appearing at the very end of an item
Device A mark appearing on title-page/colophon created by/for printers to protect against forgery and piracy
Diaper A repeated diamond pattern
Drawer handle Motif shaped liked a drawer handle, usually employed in groups
Editio princeps First printed edition of a work
Endleaves/endpapers Leaves, usually blank, located inside front and rear covers before/after the textblock
Extra-illustrated Also known as grangerization; the inclusion of material by binder/owner such as blank leaves, illustrations etc., not part of the original publication
Fillet A plain line impressed onto binding material using an engraved wheel tool
Finger tab A finding aid, a piece of material glued to the foredge of a leaf, used to bookmark a significant section
Fleuron Leaf/flower motif
Foliated Leaf/ flower motif
Foredge The front edge of textblock/binding, directly opposite its spine
Gathering Sheets printed and then folded for binding, e.g.: an octavo gathering is one printed sheet folded three times, giving rise to 8 leaves or 16 pages
Gauffered Indented pattern impressed using heated tools
Gold-tooled Decoration with gold leaf impressed or painted onto binding material
Hatching Parallel lines
Historiated Figures or scene relating to the text
Incunable An early printed book, especially one printed before 1501
Inhabited Containing human or animal figures
Limp binding Material used without supporting inner boards
Lozenge Diamond-shaped
Manicule A finding aid, usually a pointing hand, used to signal a significant section
Manuscript Written by hand
Marbled Colours in a veined, combed or swirled pattern
Morocco Goatskin
Pamphlet A type of publication usually consisting of 5-48 unbound pages, inherently fragile in nature
Panel stamp binding Decoration impressed onto binding material using a large engraved stamp
Pastedown Leaves, usually blank, pasted inside to front and rear covers
Quatrefoil Four leaves
Rampant A creature standing on two legs with paws raised
Rebacking Reattachment of original spine or fragments onto new leather which extends under covers
Roll A repeated pattern impressed onto binding material using an engraved wheel tool
Rubrication Text in red
Saltire In the shape of the letter X
Sammelband distinct works, originally published separately, subsequently bound together in one volume, e.g.: at the request of a new owner
Semis/semé A scattering or a background, e.g.: stars, flowers
Signature The letter, number or symbol which appears at the bottom of a leaf, intended as a guide for the bookbinder to the running order of leaves
Tête-bêche One inverted in relation to the other
Uncut A printed sheet, folded for gathering and binding, bearing untrimmed edges
Unicum Unique specimen, example, copy
Watermark Motif/emblem/device sewn onto papermaking mesh; paper is therefore thinner at this point and the mark is easy to see
Woodcut An image carved/gouged into wood (also on metal), which is then inked for printing or applied blind
