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Book edges and their decoration--Embroidered books--Cloth bindings--Account books--End papers--Small metal-bound books--Books bound in tortoiseshell--Chained books--Horn books.
The projecting bosses and corners which occur in mediæval bindings were to protect them against the friction of other books which lay upon them, a thin piece of wood dividing them. The books were piled upon each other, so that if one of the lower ones was wanted it was necessary to remove the upper ones. This caused much trouble, so that in due time it was found better to stand the books up on end on shelves.
The prone position is, however, the better one for the book, and the respective levels of the edges of the book and the edges of the boards are designed for this position. When the books were set up on end, the discrepancy between the levels of the book edges and the board edges was never rectified, and the result is that a large amount of damage has been done. When a large book is set up on end, the weight of it rests entirely upon the lower edges of the boards, and the lower edges of the book itself are up in the air above the shelf by so much as the projection of the edges of the boards beyond them. The result is that the whole of the weight of the vellum or paper of the book pulls upon the bands of the back in their weakest direction, from within and more particularly from the top, thereby pulling the back inwards. The mass of the book falls forward slantingly, until the lower edge of the front of it rests upon the shelf.