History of the Book

Browse this page for resources related to bookbinding and bookmaking located in the Maryland Room in Hornbake Library.  You may also search the online catalog for books on this topic using the suggested subject headings below.   

Additional books on this topic can be found in McKeldin Library and the Art Library at the University of Maryland.  These resources are searchable using the online catalog.  The location of each book is noted in the catalog record. 

The books listed on this page are organized into three categories:

• Bindings

• Bookmaking

• Paper and Papermaking

Use the subject terms below to search the University of Maryland Library online catalog for additional titles. Simply select "Subject beginning with..." on the drop-down menu. Then enter one of the terms below.

• Bookbinding

• Bookbinding -- Facsimiles

• Bookbinding -- Handbooks, manuals, etc.

• Bookbinding -- History

• Bookbinding, Victorian

• Marbling (Bookbinding)

• Papermaking

• Papermaking -- History

• Watermarks

For more information on nineteenth century bindings, you may also consult the The Well-Dressed Book: Cloth Book Binding in the United States, 1830-1920 exhibit from University of Maryland Libraries Special Collections.

Images: Examples of various nineteenth-century cloth bindings.  Top, left: Ranson's Folly.  By: Richard Harding Davis. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1902.

Middle, right: Hospital Sketches. By: Louisa May Alcott. Boston: Roberts Brothers, 1885.

Bottom, left: American Female Poets. By: Caroline May. Philadelphia: Lindsey & Blakiston, 1849.