Activity 1: People or Places?

Can you sort this list into 20 real author and illustrator names from the Portico’s collection and 20 real British place names? Need a clue? Click here.

Activity 2: Anatomy of a Portico Library book

Do you know your yapped edges from your dirty proofs? When is a book said to be slightly foxed or off its feet? How big is an elephant folio? Test your knowledge in our A-Z anatomy of a Portico Library book!

The definitions listed below have been quoted from Encyclopedia of the Book by Geoffrey Ashall Glaister, a copy of which can be found in our collection. 

A-F

Against the grain: across the direction in which the fibres of paper lie. 

Bleed: a margin which has been overcut is said to bleed.

Cockled: said of paper which has its surface marred by wavy or puckered areas, due to incorrect drying or poor storage.

Dirty proof: proofs with many printing errors.

Elephant folio: a former book size, 14 inches by 23 inches.

Foxed: said of book pages discoloured by damp which has affected impurities in the paper.

G-K

Grangerised: any book in which blank leaves are left for the addition by the purchaser of illustrations to [their] taste.

Holograph: a work written wholly in the author’s handwriting.

Illuminated: said of books or manuscripts having letters, initial words, or borders painted in gold or silver as well as colours. 

Jaconet: a cotton fabric, glazed on one side, used as a lining for the spines of books. 

Kiss impression: one in which the ink is deposited on the paper by the lightest possible surface contact and is not impressed onto it.

L-O

Limp flush: gluing a cloth cover solidly to the first and last pages of a book and over the spine.

Marbling: decorating book edges or sheets of paper by the transfer to them of colours floating on the surface of a gum solution.

Nibbed: a term used where folded maps and the like are trimmed to provide a wide tongue which is tipped to the text of a book. This permits free opening of the map. The tongue is termed a nib.

Off its feet: feet refer to the base on which a type stands, being formed by a separating groove cut in it by the dresser. Type not standing squarely is said to be ‘off its feet’.

P-S

Pocket edition: a small octavo edition, usually not larger than a foolscap octavo: 6 3/4 inches by 4 1/4 inches.

Quirewise: the manner of gathering the leaves of a booklet by folding them and placing them one in another. They are then stitched.

Remboîté: a term descriptive of a book which, after the original case or binding has been removed, is rebound in the covers taken from another book.

Squabble: a printing fault which occurs when one or more letters in a line are pushed into an adjacent line.

T-W

Tummy band: a detachable strip of paper folded round a book and intended by its bright colour and arresting lettering to attract publishers’ attention at points of sale.

Uncut: a book is said to be uncut if the edges of the paper have not been cut with a guillotine.

Versals: ornamental capital letters written marginally or partly in the text to mark the beginnings of paragraphs, verses or important passages in a manuscript.

Watermark: a distinguishing mark, letting or design made in paper during manufacture and visible when the sheet is held up to light.

X-Z

Xerography: literally ‘dry writing’, and the name given to the electrostatic process for reproducing or copying an original without the use of ink, pressure or rollers. 

Yapped edges: a style of limp-leather binding with overlapping flaps or edges on three sides.

Zig-zag guard: a method used when sewing sections of vellum or other material which would be damaged by the glue or paste used for binding instead of the book itself, which remains untouched by mucilage.

How high do you wear your hair? Or perhaps you’re a hat person! Either way, have a go at designing your own extravagant up-do in our free activity sheets below. Click on the images to download and enjoy them at home.

You can find many more drawing activities in our Portico Library Activity Book, created by illustrator Camille Smithwick for our 2019 Fancy Pants exhibition, featuring colour wheels, ‘exquisite corpse’ games and historic garments from Ancient Egypt to Medieval England. All of the illustrations in this book originate from the Portico Library’s unique collection and 100% of the profits go to the artist and our charitable programme. Pick up your copy in our online shop!

The year 1772 introduced a new style for gentlemen, imported by a number of young men of fashion who had travelled to Italy, and formed an association called ‘The Macaroni Club’, in contradiction to ‘The Beef-steak Club’ of London. Macaronies wore enormous toupees with very large curls at the sides, upon which an exceedingly small hat was worn which was sometimes lifted from the head with the cane, generally very long & decorated with extremely large tassels.

“The ladies decorated their heads much like the gentleman, with a most enormous heap of hair, which was frequently surmounted by plumes of large feathers and bunches of flowers, until the head seemed to over balance the body.”

The mystery blob!

This peculiar form is a sample of the Halymenia ligulata species from the Portico Library’s 1860 edition of William Grosart Johnstone and Alexander Croall’s Nature-printed British sea-weeds, printed and published by Henry Bradbury.

Selections from this stunning four-volume work, reproduced from the originals at the Portico Library, are available to buy as exclusive A3 or A4 prints in our online shop!

Social distancing tips for returning to public spaces

With the UK government’s announcement on easing lockdown restrictions and reopening many sites, we've searched the Portico Library's historic collection for some handy social distancing dos-and-don'ts for staying safe in public spaces!