Spare Spine Labels
Do you like hidden treasure? Finding a little something extra that you didn’t know you had? I do so I was really tickled to discover spare spine labels. So far I’ve only discovered three but I never knew what to look for before. I can’t find anything written about this so at the moment its all a bit of a treasure hunt.
You need to be looking for cloth bound books from the early twentieth century. On their spine there will be a paper spine label, or evidence that there may have been one in the past. Now turn to the back few pages, tucked in at the spine you may just find a spare spine label, helpfully supplied by the publisher for when your label fell off. In some books the spine label apparently is part of the adverts that you often find in the back few ages. Not found one of those yet.
Below is an example of a pretty destroyed book but look at how lovey the book cloth is, also lovely publishers crest / bookplate featuring unicorns. And there hiding in the back is the spare book label.
Athletes of God, Shirley Hughson. Philip Allan. 1930
Two Rupert Brooke’s both published by Sidgwick and Jackson, 1922 & 1915
So, do you have any? I’d love to see them. Can you add the publisher and the year. One embedded in the adverts would be cool.
