Bookbinding, and the Care of Books

1934

Storage ZCE C

London: Sir Isaac Pitman

Cockerell did not excel at school and could not read until he was twelve. At fifteen he travelled to Canada where he flourished and before returning to England in 1891 he had been the manager of a bank in Manitoba. Cockerell began teaching bookbinding in 1897 and first published his treatise Bookbinding and the Care of Books in 1901, which he hoped would ‘supplement’ not ‘supplant’ any bookbinder’s practical training and experience. The leaf tool (pictured in Fig. 101) features in many Cockerell bindings including the one on display. In 1904 Cockerell began working with W. H. Smith and Son to help them improve the durability of their trade bindings and as his career developed he became increasingly interested in the conservation of early written and printed materials. In 1935 Cockerell rebound the British Library’s Codex Sinaiticus, a 4th century manuscript copy of the Greek Bible.