Bookbinding.- Book-Finishers' Friendly Circular (The), Conducted by a Committee of the Finishers' Friendly Association, comprising No. 1-19 [all published] continuously paginated, preceded by title, 3pp. Index, 2pp. Illustrations of the Styles of Finishing & 14pp. Styles of Finishing, some illustrations, 8pp. "Rules, &c. of the Finishers' Friendly Association" dated 1845 in wrappers bound in at end, the odd light stain or surface soiling, some light browning, 19th century plum morocco, rebacked preserving original backstrip with raised bands, t.e.g., little rubbed, 8vo, Printed for the Association, 1845-51.

⁂ Rare periodical produced by the Finishers’ Friendly Association, a group representing bookbinding workers, combining trade news, union advocacy, and educational material about bookbinding. Printed against a background of worsening conditions for bookbinders, who were increasingly finding their trade taken over by machine-driven mass production, the periodical emphasises the need for reform, with articles including "Half a Loaf is better than no Bread", "Trade Society Reform, and cheap Bible Agitation" and "Protection to Time-Workers". This copy also includes a scarce pamphlet listing the rules of the the Association bound in at the end. Rare, we can trace only two other copies at auction since the turn of the millennium, in 2013 & 2019.