Unpopular opinion: Mull and super cloth are totally fine for most hardcover books

I kept seeing posts online saying you absolutely need to use expensive bookbinding cloth or you can't get good results. Then I picked up a copy of 'Hand Bookbinding' by Aldren Watson at a used book sale for 3 bucks. In that book from the 1960s, the guy straight up says mull and super cloth were the go-to for regular books for decades. I decided to test it on my last project, a 200 page journal. I used super cloth from a craft store, cost me like 8 dollars for a huge roll. The spine is just as strong as the expensive stuff, the hinges move fine, and it looks clean. Has anyone else actually compared cheap mull to the fancy stuff side by side and seen a real difference?

2 comments

2 Comments

parkermorgan3d ago

The old timers definitely knew what they were doing with mull and super cloth. I've used both side by side and honestly the difference is mostly just how it feels in your hands. For a normal book that gets read a few times and sits on a shelf, the cheap stuff holds up fine. People get too caught up in using the fanciest materials for everything. But I do think there's a place for the expensive stuff if you're making something that's gonna get handled a lot or passed around. For a personal journal or a book that stays on your shelf, save your money.

dylanh973d ago

Hinged lids on old 70s liners were peak engineering.