- About Bookbinding -

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, inked 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. A 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 11 inches in diameter, as a large, coarse stamp never presents a neat
appearance on a book. Indeed, many books are too small to admit any but a
stamp of very moderate dimensions. The books should be stamped on the
verso (reverse) of the title page, or if preferred, on the widest unprinted portion
of the title-page, preferably on the right hand of the centre, or just below the
centre on the right. This, because its impression is far more legible on the plain
white surface than on any part of the printed title. In a circulating library, the
stamps should be impressed 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 erase the impression of a rubber stamp from
the title-page, and thereby commit a fraud by appropriating or selling the book.
In such a case, the duplicate or triplicate impression of the stamp on some
subsequent page (say page 5 or 16, many books having but few pages) as fixed
upon by the librarian, is quite likely to escape notice of the thief, while it remains
a safe-guard, enabling the librarian to reclaim the book, wherever found. The law
will enforce this right of free reclamation in favor of a public library, in the case of
stolen books, no matter in what hands found, and even though the last holder
may be an innocent purchaser. All libraries are victimized at some time by
unscrupulous or dishonest readers, who will appropriate books, thinking
themselves safe from detection, and sometimes easing their consciences, (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 and his few aids are far too busy to act as
detectives in watching readers. Still, a vigilant librarian will almost always 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 Library, which has no circulation or book lending, enforces a
rule that no one making his exit can have a book with him, unless checked as his
own property, all overcoats and other wraps being of course checked 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 booksellers.
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.

Back