On the 80 miles of shelf space in the University Library, about one out of every six books has been bound by the Harvard Bindery. But while the expansion of many other College departments has been widely publicized, the work of the Bindery has gone unhonored and unsung.

A glance at the basic statistics of the Bindery will give an indication of the phenomenal amount of work it accomplishes. Serving 75 out of the 77 libraries in the University, it rejuvenates about 3500 volumes of all types in a single month. At the present time it has an annual gross sales of $50,000. Furthermore, the 2000 running feet of books bound in one year would stretch from Sever Hall to Eliot House.

When you pick up a book from Widener, therefore, the chances are fairly good that you will find on its back the Bindery's trademark, an emblem with the words "Harvard University Library" printed in g ld. The gold is practically ten carat quality, but is so thin that it is worth almost nothing. Although the Bindery at the present time has $400 worth of gold leaf in its possession, would-be purloiners will have a hard time getting at it.

Worth Their Weight in Gold

Bindery officials are perfectly willing to admit, moreover, that some of the Treasure Room books they repair are worth more than all the gold in the building, which is located on Memorial Drive beyond both Dunster House and the Maintenance Department, In some cases the insured value of individual volumes has approximated that of the entire Bindery.

Procurement of bookbinding supplies recently has been a particularly knotty problem, for the war has affected the whole industry. With the United States almost completely dependent on foreign imports for the best grades of leather bindings, shipments of such goods as calf, pigskin, Levant, and morocco have practically ceased; already one ship with some of its cargo destined for the Harvard Bindery has been sunk.

Because of the foresight of its management, the bindery obtained before the war $10,500 worth of supplies, which is now in stock in the Memorial Drive building. Because of this extensive backlog, the Bindery will be practically self-sufficient for the next two years.

12 Tons of Binding Board

The list of the Bindery's supplies is an impressive one. Stored away at the present time are 24,000 pounds of binders board, seven miles of bookbinding cloth, and 4,000 pounds of paper. Glycerin, a vital component of book-binding glue, is also used in explosives; for this reason the Bindery obtained three years' supply of glue--one and a half tons--so that its demands would not conflict with those of the OPM and national defense.

The 2900 square feet of leather in storage represents the hides of more than 400 animals. One need not fear, however, that all these animals died for the sake of the Harvard Bindery. Morocco leather, for example, is obtained from goats which are a staple food of northern Africa, and all of them would probably be slaughtered in any event.

The Modus Operandi of Binding

The process of binding individual volumes forms one of the most interesting chapters in the Bindery's story. On arriving at the building for repairs, a book is stripped of its cover and prepared for sewing. The loose "signatures," or sets of pages, are assembled in their proper order, and five or six grooves are sawed across the back of the collected pages. The book is then transferred to a seamstress, who places cords in the grooves and sews the book and cords together. Although this process has been mechanized in many binding factories the Harvard Bindery uses sewing-frames which are very similar to those used in Gutenberg's time.

After a thin coating of glue on the back of the book has dried, the book is "rounded" by beating with a hammer. It is then placed in a machine which presses the pages together in such a manner that the covers of the finished book will lie flush with the binding of the "spine", or back of the volume.

If you examine the covers of several rebound books, you will discover that some have three small ridges close to the "spines". Instead of being a defect, these ridges indicate that the book's binding is particularly strong. In such instances, the cords left by the scamstresses are actually woven into the board of the cover, but otherwise the cords are merely frayed out, flattened, and glued down.

Lettering Made by Heated Stamps