Evidence of Victorian Recycling in Archaeologia Cantiana

Cautious examination of the inside of the spine of the early volumes of Archaeologia Cantiana reveals that Victorian bookbinders were re-using scrap paper, a practice that is not unusual in nineteenth century publications. Inside the false spine of my copy of volume one is part of what appears to be a hand-written legal note. Without invasive archaeology which would destroy the binding, it is possible to read only parts of each end of the sentences, the beginnings and ends of which are obscured by the folded-back blue cloth from the spine, or lost in trimming. However it seems worth recording what is legible, in case other members can find other pages of the same document in their volumes. The following, in a neat but not easily legible hand, is visible:

to appeal from.............by the Court ....

Bertha in................we are info..

this later gentleman...........presents in York...

we shall therefore.................taking (illeg..d...

Some of my later volumes have been rebound or repaired, but the spine of volume five contains part of a printed page, as does that of volume seven, which was cut on the skew and employs the "long s". I quote the latter in full (without the "long s") in case someone can recognise it, or supplement the parts I cannot read:

to the immense numbers who will arrive from...........

thus submitting for their free inspection ..................... a large and generous Public...

embodying all the elements of high quality.............. of manufactures: productions with, w..

are yet confined within the limits of a judicious.......... a studied regard to purity of defi...

In anticipation of the requirements of.........and doubtless will receive large and gratifying rel...

Messrs Mechi and Bazin have not been...................specially prepared very large, va.....

of novelties, of an useful and appreciable character.......souvenirs to relatives and friends.

being themselves precluded sharing in 'London's glorious...opportunity afforded them of...

This could be some form of promotional literature, and more might be revealed if Messrs Mechi and Bazin could be identified. Finally, inside the spine of volume eight (published in 1872) is part of a printed sheet with the date 1871 and, in bold capitals, CHAMBERS’ ENGLISH DICTIONARY, and the names Christy, Manson and Woods. Were these gentlemen the editors of that edition of Chambers?

Volumes one to eight of Archaeologia Cantiana were printed by Messrs Taylor of Little Queen Street, Lincoln’s Inn Fields, London, but especially the binder is not identified. It is possible, of course, that Taylor bound books as well as printing them, in which case it would make good sense to use their own waste paper from proofs, or from trials runs, for those parts of the binding which were not usually visible. However, the back cover of volume one contains a small insert which shows that it was bound by Edmonds & Remnants of London, a bookbinding company that dominated early Victorian London, with a degree of mechanisation which resulted in a formidable through put. Was it normal practice to acquire job lots of legal waste from the nearby legal chambers in Lincoln’s Inn or Gray’s Inn?

Michael Leach