Uncut Pages

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Uncut Pages

1karenmarie
set. 12, 2009, 4:30 pm

At the Friends of the Library sale today I bought Volumes I to III of The Prose Works of Jonathan Swift, D.D..

Two of the volumes have uncut pages - some of them are uncut at the top only, some are uncut at the top and side.

Does this make them more or less valuable?

2Osbaldistone
Editat: set. 12, 2009, 6:33 pm

I suspect you mean un-opened. That is, the folds of the sheet that makes up a quire (gathering) have not been cut so the pages can be opened. The reason for the distinction is that you could 'open' the pages by cutting them, but you would still have a ragged edge. Most books have the unopened or the ragged edges 'cut' during the final binding process to provide smooth edges. Often (if not always), the uncut book (sometimes unopened as well) was issued in a temporary binding (paper covered boards or 'publishers cloth'), to be cut by the binder once the owner decided on the leather binding for his book. So, there is a good chance that the binding on your unopened book is what was intended to be a temporary binding.

Anyway, some collectors do indeed pay more for unopened books, and some pay extra for uncut books as well.

However, if you want to read the book, you'll need to open it. The Care of Fine Books by Jane Greenfield has instructions on opening the unopened pages of a book. She says "To open edges, cut with a dull knife held parallel to the plane of the paper. Cut out, away from the book." That's all she says, but there is an illustration that helps to picture what she is describing.

Os.

3Marensr
set. 12, 2009, 11:37 pm

Interesting question Karen. I have such a volume as well and have been torn (no pun intended) about cutting the pages but it is A.E. Housman poetry I have wanted to read.

4LyzzyBee
set. 13, 2009, 12:02 pm

Thank you Os! I saw the title of the thread and thought "unopened, I bet they're unopened not just uncut" and then opened the thread to find I wasn't the only one!

5benjclark
set. 13, 2009, 10:41 pm

I read once that the best way to open these pages is not with a dull knife, but with a brand new playing card. Never tried it, but I like the idea...

6karenmarie
set. 14, 2009, 7:50 am

Yes, I must mean unopened because the pages are folded so that you have to peek to see the inside pages.

Thank you for your answer, Osbaldistone.

I don't have any immediate plans on reading the book, so will leave the pages unopened for now.

I don't have the book in front of me so can't say whether it's temporary or not - but the title is printed on the spine - would they do that if it was a temporary binding?

7Osbaldistone
set. 14, 2009, 11:24 pm

>6 karenmarie:
The temporary bindings I have are on a paper label glued to the spine. However, that doesn't mean that printing on the spine was not done. The transition from "publisher's cloth" to "edition binding" (meaning from temporary to permanent binding by the publisher) was actually evolutionary. Temporary cloth binding began around 1820, but by the 1830s, some publishers recognized that some customers might like to keep the "publisher's cloth" rather than pay for leather binding. By the early 1900s, "publisher's cloth" and "edition binding" had become nearly synonymous (I'm guessing at these dates, but I think they're close enough for this discussion).

So, I imagine some publishers would have considered something better (or at least more permanent) in the way of spine labels fairly early on. On the other hand, I have a limited edition set of the works of Jules Verne in publisher's cloth with paper labels from 1919, pretty clearly intended for re-binding. The cloth is in pretty good shape, but the labels are pretty trashed.

As far as the customer keeping the publisher's cloth is concerned, I wonder what they expected the customer to do about 'opening' the pages, since one pretty much has to remove the textd block from the binding and then re-bind if one wants smooth edges after opening. At that point, re-binding in the publisher's cloth instead of selecting some custom binding would seem less likely. The text block can be considerably smaller once the edges are cut.

Os.

8karenmarie
set. 15, 2009, 6:19 am

Thanks again for the info Os.

The book is in front of me. There is a gold stripe at the top of the spine and the bottom of the spine. The words are in gold and as follows (not correct font size)

JONATHAN
SWIFT
------
THE JOURNAL
TO STELLA

Just above the bottom gold stripe are a logo of a bell with some ribbons, in gold, and the words BOHN'S LIBRARIES.

There is also a piece of what I would call tissue paper, smaller than the pages, in front of a picture of Esther Johnson (Stella) facing the Title Page. Would that be there if the book was going to get re-bound?

Just curious.

I'm sure you could tell in a heartbeat what the binding is - it's not leather, but it's substantial and when you open the book the binding doesn't look unfinished.

9Osbaldistone
set. 15, 2009, 9:06 am

Doesn't sound like a temprorary binding to me.

Os.

10DaleAllenRaby
març 2, 2021, 8:01 am

I just acquired a Smithsonian Scientific Series 12-volume set apparently printed as a "quarto", with deckle edges, & unopened leaves. It seems to have been delivered that way and has been sitting on the original owner's bookshelf since he got it in 1934.

I have no immediate plans to open them up as they are a beautiful illustration of this printing/binding methodology.

It just became the new "pride" of my library.

11rocketjk
març 9, 2021, 12:33 pm

>10 DaleAllenRaby: That's a great story. I would be sorely tempted to cut those pages and read through the set, but I do understand your choice. That set is 87 years old!

12Mechan1c
maig 23, 2022, 12:29 am

I've opened several un-cut books and learned some lessons doing it. Too sharp a knife can go off course and leave some ugly results. Too dull can tear and leave poor results as well. A long old-fashioned letter opener has good results if the paper is not too thick. Best tool so far for heavier quality paper is a Fiskars fish filet knife used with great care. I have a extra long Henkel slicer that works for bigger folio pages. I run the knives over the sharpening steel just in case there are any little nicks in the blade that can snag the paper...

13estragon73
maig 24, 2022, 12:02 am

>12 Mechan1c: Regarding methods of opening unopened pages, let me remark on my own experience: using a playing card or picture postcard, insert the card between the pages to be cut, close the book, pull the card gently along the crease with an outward motion. With the book closed there is no chance of things going astray. Avoid knives.

14kdweber
maig 24, 2022, 12:36 am

>13 estragon73: I concur, I’ve cut a lot of pages with playing cards.