Buckram is generally used for large books, as it is stiff and troublesome to fold over in a small way. If a large book is properly sewn and has proper boards it may well be covered in buckram, provided it is not to be much used. The joints soon look unsightly, as the hinge movement causes the dressing, of which there is a large proportion, to powder out. Buckram is rarely ornamented; indeed, it may almost be said that a book bound in it is only intended to keep together until such time as it can be properly bound in some better material. Art canvas is sometimes used for bindings, and it is fairly satisfactory, but has the same delicacy at the joints as buckram, and soon looks shabby. There is now such a quantity of cheap literature that is not likely to last, or to be wanted to last, that there is a large and increasing demand for cheap binding materials other than leather. So there is an important future for specially prepared binding cloths and buckrams. The only libraries that are likely to suffer by the more general introduction of such materials are the few large ones that are obliged to keep all their books, old or new, in working order inside and outside. Account book bindings are peculiar and very strong. They have been used for a long time in banks and business houses, and are purely utilitarian and comparatively quite modern. Strong sound paper is an essential for account books. The sewing is done in the flexible style, but on broad flat bands of vellum or leather instead of raised bands of hemp. The ends of the bands are fixed between two boards, pairs of which form the boards of the book. The space between the edge of the back of the book where the bands leave it and their inset to the boards is not drawn close, but a narrow margin is left so that a perfectly flexible and strong leather joint is left. In small books this peculiarity is known as a French joint, and it obviates the common failing of sides falling away from otherwise sound bindings along the joint-line at the back. The back of account book bindings looks very strong, but it is really nothing of the sort. It is only a show back, to take the lettering and cover up the real joints, which are securely laid along the edges of the boards. When an account book is opened it “sets up” so that it can be easily read right down to the sewing at the back. This is of great value in many cases other than the keeping of accounts, and it is the only advantage of the common, but weak, bindings with “hollow” backs. But there is no doubt that a modified form of account book binding, with a French joint, is a style which might with advantage be studied by our modern art binders.