Last Lines

I know first lines of several books, but not so many last lines. So I enjoyed the posters in Valerie Perreault‘s shop. For instance, this one from Jane Austen’s Sense and Sensibility really sums up the complexities of friendship.

Between Barton and Delaford, there was that constant communication which strong family affection would naturally dictate;–and among the merits and the happiness of Elinor and Marianne, let it not be ranked as the least considerable, that though sisters, and living almost within sight of each other, they could live without disagreement between themselves, or producing coolness between their husbands.

And, there seems to be a website for everything. Because when I asked google for the last line of Sense and Sensibility, I found this: First Line, Last Line: The Bookends to Your Favorite Books (Spoiler Alert)

last lines from Jane Austen's SENSE AND SENSIBILITY
last lines from Jane Austen’s SENSE AND SENSIBILITY

Another Patron Saint of Bookbinders

There was a lot of interest in St Bartholomew Day earlier this week. There’s another patron saint of bookbinders (as well as poets): St. Columba. His feast day is June 9 (hopefully I can remember that for next year!) and the story is that he wrote 300 book in his lifetime and went to great lengths to obtain or make copies of valuable manuscripts (he lived 521-597). And this blog tells this rather modern story:

In 540 his first master procured a copy of St. Jerome’s Vulgate. Columba got permission to view it and made a copy of it for his own use. His master, Finnian, on being told of this, laid claim not only to the original but also to the copy. Columba withheld this copy, made by his own hand, and the question of ownership was put before the King of Ireland. Columba lost, the trial ending with King’s decree: “To every cow her calf, and to every book its son-book” (an interesting early case of copyright infringement).

st. columba

Corner-matic

I stumbled on this little “tool” made from book board that would make trimming bookcloth corners much easier. It’s from a blog called The Design Loft (the page I found is here). The blog says:

this is what was fondly called the corner-matic in the conservation lab. It is used to cut the corners of book cloth when making up the cover. I think the Banister book has instructions for something similar, but I much prefer this design. This pictures shows the corner-matic face up so you can see how it is put together. To use it, place it face down over the corner you want to trim and you will get a nice 45 degree cut the right distance from the board corner.

(UPDATE: see other posts about a corner mitering tool here)

Corner-matic