Terminology: wrappers, limp bindings

...
Limp bindings can be leather, vellum, cloth, paper, plastic, etc.  The
thinness of the cover boards or the lack of them entirely make a limp
binding.  Limp sounds damp or overcooked, like pale green to yellow
broccoli after you've steamed it too long.  Yuck!  Don Etherington's
dictionary is a good place to start for defining bookbinding
terminology.

limp  adj
1      deficient in firmness of texture, substance, or structure
a plants going limp from lack of water
   syn    flabby, flaccid, flimsy, floppy, sleazy

   rel    lax, loose, relaxed, slack; limber, supple
   con    inflexible, rigid, stark, stiff, tense, wooden; firm, hard,
solid; brittle, crisp
2  syn    LANGUID, die-away, enervated, lackadaisical, languishing,
languorous, listless, spiritless

Now, wouldn't it be lovely to call something a languid binding rather
than a limp one.  Languorous also is catchy, a touch a glamour to an
otherwise flaccid subject.  But, spiritless, this is a good word for the
critics of bindings.  "A limp binding executed in a languorous and
spiritless manner."

Wrappers can be a number of things.  At least I think this is so.
Wrapper could mean dust wrapper, similar if not the same as dust jacket.
It could simply mean some type of covering over the book or item, like a
simple portfolio or box (of light weight board), or even, simply,
wrapping paper.  The wrapper is not attached, usually, to the binding.
Therefore, the meaning of wrapper.

wrapper \'rap-er\ n
(15)
1: that in which something is wrapped: as
a: a tobacco leaf used for the outside covering esp. of cigars
b (1): JACKET 3(1)
 (2): the paper cover of a book not bound in boards
c: a paper wrapped around a newspaper or magazine in the mail
2: one that wraps
3: an article of clothing worn wrapped around the body

The above definition, b(2), puts an additional slant on the subject but
things become too complicated, as you are finding out. Simplicity is the
best approach.  Complexity can be referred to in a footnote for the
reader to figure out.  After all, we shouldn't take too many shortcuts
too learn about something firsthand.  I'd rather comb the stacks looking
for examples of particular things than looking it up in my Funk&Wagnalls
(sp) Dictionary of Bookbinding Levity.

Limp bindings and wrappers are definitely two horses of different
colors, or at least two horses of the same color with different glasses
on, neither if which is the mane event.  And in this corner....

Robert Milevski

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                  Conservation DistList Instance 5:51
                  Distributed: Friday, April 17, 1992
                        Message Id: cdl-5-51-006
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