History
Cedric Chivers patented hand oversewing in 1904. He emphasized its efficiency and pointed out that technicians could do the work previously entrusted only to trained binders. Chivers opened operations in Bath, England and New York City, and by 1908 his American operation had served up to five hundred libraries in the United States. He was a skilled salesman, but historians suggest Chivers was overly focused on financial gain to the disregard of standards and specifications like the Committee on Leather for Bookbinding.
In 1920, W. Elmo Reavis, a bookbinder from Los Angeles, invented an oversewing machine, and began selling it to American libraries. The mechanization of the process Chivers patented led to oversewing - now mass-produced, assembly line work - becoming even more popular. By the 1930s, oversewing was part of standard library binding specifications.
Read more about this topic: Oversewn Binding
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