A plethora of leathers: vellum, calf, morocco, shagreen, sheepskin... Various styles: Jansenist, grotesque... Covering the entirety, or a part of a book: full, half bindings or with corners...

here are some terms describing a binding.

Different types of binding:

- Full binding: binding made from a single material (leather, cloth, etc.)

- Half binding: binding with spine and outer corners made of leather while the rest of the sides are covered with paper, usually marbled.

- 3/4 binding: a type of half binding, with very wide outer corners made of leather (or same material as the spine).

- “à bandes” binding (or in panels): another type of half binding, but this time with a strip of the same material as the spine connecting the corners; only the central part of the covers is covered with paper.

Different types of leather:

- Morocco leather:  goatskin, originally imported from Morocco, has been used since the 16th century for prestigious bindings. Made by a skilled bookbinder, full morocco leather is still the most luxurious material for a precious book.

- Roan: very fine and fragile sheepskin suitable for ordinary bookbinding as it lends itself to many finishes and dyes.

- Box: this is chrome-tanned calfskin, the only type of leather that is waterproof. Its smooth, shiny appearance makes it ideal for bookbinding.

- Shagreen: skin originally taken from the rump of a donkey, mule or hemione; today it is a goat skin with a small, round grain.

- Russia leather: leather impregnated in a prolonged bath of birch bark oil, which makes it resistant to insects and mold.

- Galuchat: fish skin (shark or ray) widely used in the 18th century for almanac bindings and reappeared in bookbinding in the 1920s.

- Parchment: untanned goat or sheep skin. Expensive at the time, it was often scraped and reused; bindings still bearing manuscript inscriptions are sometimes found, known as “reused bindings.”

- Pigskin: mainly used in Germany between the 16th and 17th centuries for monastic bindings. This skin is recognizable by its three small characteristic pores and is particularly suitable for embossing.

- Calfskin: widely used in bookbinding, it comes in different qualities.

- Vellum: calfskin treated and stretched to give an even flat surface, either used for writing, printing on, or binding. Originally made from the skin of a stillborn animal in the 13th and 14th centuries.

Conversely, a book “in wrappers” is as it appeared when it was published; it has not been bound by its owner after leaving the publisher's premises, and its covers are flexible.

A French skill that is unique in the world: books are dressed in their finest attire thanks to a few master craftsmen who have set great works of literature in leather and gilt decorations. In the 19th century, the greatest French bookbinders were the Bozerian brothers, de Simier, Thouvenin, Niédrée, Capé, Marius-Michel, among others.

Notable names in the 20th century include Paul Bonet, Georges Cretté, Creuzevault, Marot-Rodde, Monique Mathieu, Pierre Lucien-Martin, Alix, Miguet, among others.

Conversely, a book “in wrappers” is as it appeared when it was published; it has not been bound by its owner after leaving the publisher's premises, and its covers are flexible.