How to Tell Sewn from Glued Bindings
So far in How to Maintain a Library we've talked about building a theological library for around $200 and how to sort it. Now we move from the library at large to individual books: what they're made of, how long they'll last, and whether they'll fall apart immediately. Today: Smyth-sewn versus glued bindings, and the different ways books are bound.
A ribbon doesn't mean it's sewn
Most people see a ribbon marker and think, "Yep, that's a Smyth-sewn book." But Hendrickson's Treasury of David has a ribbon and is glued. (It's one of the rare glued bindings that opens all the way.) And the reverse is true too: a book without a ribbon may still be sewn.
How to actually tell
Stephen Charnock's The Existence and Attributes of God is a great example.
- Look at the top or bottom of the spine. On a sewn book you'll see little folds, almost like peacock feathers. These are called signatures: groups of pages folded over and sewn together to make the binding. On a glued book you just see the pages glued one to another.
- Find the middle of a signature. Flip through until you reach the center of a signature, and you'll see the actual thread binding the book together.
- See if it stays open. A glued book wants to close. It won't stand open anywhere. A sewn book like the Charnock will happily lie open almost anywhere. (I don't recommend standing your books open like that, though; it isn't great for the binding either.)
What it's bound with
Typically, a normal plasticky hardcover will be glued, and a clothbound book will more often be sewn and last longer. But not always. Henry Ainsworth's Pilgrim Psalter is clothbound (you can hear and feel it), but it's glued: no signatures, and it won't stay open.
Most paperbacks are glued, like Disciplines of a Godly Man, because they're cheap. But strangely, some paperbacks are sewn. I have a student guide to English literature (I'm not endorsing it!) that's Smyth-sewn, with signatures and thread you can see. That's rare. I don't know why you'd pay to sew a book and then bind it in paper, but it happens.
Why it matters
My paperback of Augustine's Confessions is glued, and it's falling apart, holding on for dear life. Eventually the pages will fall out one by one. The same will happen to Disciplines of a Godly Man in 20 or 30 years, and even to the clothbound Pilgrim Psalter, because the glue will give out.
The books that will still be around when you give them to your children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren are books like these from Banner of Truth. (I've done a video on the quality of Banner of Truth books.) With cloth binding and Smyth sewing, well maintained, they'll last a lifetime and more, even several hundred years.
So when you're deciding whether a book is worth buying, see if the same book is available in a better edition or binding. Most of the time it is, for just a few dollars more. To me, that's an investment worth making.
Soli Deo Gloria!
