'18th Century' French marble paper

We offer a wide choice of cloths, papers and leathers.

Many of our materials are exclusive to the company.  For example, we stock our own range of historical marbled endpapers, hand-stencilled  papers from Japan and a beautiful selection of French silks and book-cloths.

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Some examples from our range of Japanese papers

Quarter Binding in Japanese Cloth and Chiyogami Paper

Bookbinding cloth was first introduced as a binding material in the early 19th century as an economical alternative to leather.

The choice of cloths range from the strong and water resistant buckrams to the less durable but finer cotton based cloths.  We also import a range of very attractive bookcloths from Japan and silk cloths from France.

Cloth is often used for making photograph albums and is very attractive when combined with a decorative paper. (see left)

Prices for cloth bindings start at around £45.  For more information on choices of materials and prices, email  Alison Strachan.

Leather is the finest bookbinding material. Nothing really compares to the feel and appearance of a good quality leather book. 

We use goatskins and calf for the majority of our work.  Calf is the traditional choice for older English and European books.  Goatskin ( sometimes referred to as 'Morocco') is used for our modern work and is the most durable of all leathers.  We only use pure vegetable tanned skins and we stock up to thirty colours.

Vegetable tanned goatskins in a wide variety of colours

A selection of finely-bound books produced in the S&S bindery

Binding styles  have changed over the centuries but a hand-bound leather book's basic structure has hardly changed.  There are three main styles:

• Quarter Bindings
• Half Bindings
• Full Bindings

Follow these links for an explanation of these styles and a price guide.

Derek Reid - Finishing Department S&S Bindery 2006

Leather books are usually titled and decorated in gold leaf.

We have a vast collection of decorative brass tools and blocks.

Lettering is applied to the bindings using heated brass tools.  We have brass alphabets in various type sizes but  when a special typeface or particular logo is required,  we will make a special block (see below).

For more explanation of the gold finishing process see our section on Tradition and Craftsmanship.

 Gold blocking using a zinc plate

The impression above is a sample from our extensive collection of old brass blocks. 

We can make a block from any design using black and white artwork.  The finest blocks are traditionally
made from brass, but for economy the majority of our blocks are etched in zinc (see left).

For more information on having blocks made or any of our bookbinding services, please contact Alison Strachan.