1854 Oxford Press Church Services | English Gauffered Edges

Church Services, printed by the Oxford University Press, Oxford, England. Sold by E. Gardner and Son at the Oxford Bible Warehouse, Paternoster Row, London. Published 1854.

This book is bound in brown Morocco leather with blind-tooled line work on the front and back covers, five raised bands on the spine, brass rims around the cover board edges, a brass metal clasp closure with vines and linework details; all page edges are gold-gilt and feature an intricate motif comprised of linework and flourishes; the back endpaper is marbled. 

The metal rims and clasp serve a functional purpose in addition to a decorative one. Victorian houses were heated by coal and wood, which created fluctuations in humidity that often caused thick vellum or paper pages to warp and swell. The heavy clasp kept this book tightly compressed to protect it from moisture and dust. 

The page edges feature a geometric pattern called a gauffered edge. After the book block was tightly clamped and the page edges were gilded, a master binder used heated brass finishing tools to hand-stamp the delicate flourishes and linework into the gold. It was a premium feature reserved for luxury devotional or presentation books in the mid-19th century. 

103 mm W x 150 mm H, 65 mm thickness at spine

Condition: Some wear to the cover and spine; rims and clasp are tarnished; the front endpaper was replaced; a signature is missing from the front of the book block that contained flyleaf pages, the frontispiece, and the cover page; the book block is partially detached from the front cover because of the missing signature, but the mull remains intact, as does the back endpaper.

Some foxing throughout. When the clasp is closed, the binding is very solid. Good condition. 

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