19th Century Dust Jackets

Have an interest in dust jackets from the 1800s? You're not alone.

From the blog by Mark Godburn...

From the record of surviving examples in the Unites States, Great Britain and Europe, it is clear that publishers' jackets were widely issued on new books by the 1870s and probably by the 1860s or fifties. They may have been common before 1850, at least on certain types of books, but there are not enough surviving examples before mid century to say so for sure. What is certain is that these fragile and rarely saved covers had an earlier and wider use than generally understood, and they were often more colorful and carried more artwork and advertising than previously thought. They appeared in two distinct forms in the nineteenth century, each with its own variants, and they played an important role not only in book protection but in bookselling.

Before the 1820s, there was little occasion for publishers to issue dust jackets for bound books. For centuries, books were sold as unbound sheets to buyers who ordered and paid for their own bindings. Other books were sold in temporary bindings of paper or cloth which were replaced with leather or vellum after purchase. Temporary bindings did not need the protection of dust jackets, and few book owners wished to cover their permanent bindings with jackets. Bookbinding was an art form and the bindings were meant to be seen.

Pictured above: Pastoral Poems, the earliest known illustrated jacket (from 1859).