How to
"Photograph" Books with Words

Essentially, this book is what the title suggests - a descriptive bibliography of books with Victorian decorated bindings - but what makes it special, in my opinion, are the lessons it teaches in book description.

In author Edmund M.B. King's "Preface to the Bibliography" he explains the format of the bibliographical entries, all of which conclude (after the standard format) with a section of notes: "The Notes entry of each entry contains the details of the bookbinding and the description of the design blocked. Designs have been described as though the reader does not have an illustration of the design. This entails a degree of detailed description of the design elements, in order that accurate identification and comparison may be made with a copy elsewhere."

The intent, in other words, is to "photograph" each book with words. This level of description is rarely found anywhere in booksellers' listings, online or in catalogs - and, for that matter, rarely in auction catalogs. Mostly it isn't necessary. But what an effective learning device it is for the student of the trade! Whereas in the typical book description, the bookseller describes only what is necessary (if that) to distinguish binding state, edition state, etc., King describes virtually every detail of the binding, relevant or not. Likely you'll likely never have cause to write this kind of description yourself, but when the occasion demands that you describe one or two binding details, you'll know how to do it if you study his examples. And, as an aside, it's my observation that booksellers seem to have more difficult describing earlier, especially decorative bindings than anything else - in fact, they often betray their ignorance of bookselling terminology right and left. And here we arrive at that pesky trust issue again.

Anyway, here's an example from King's guide: