First edition. In this the first major study of American signed bookbindings, Willman Spawn and Thomas E. Kinsella describe and illustrate 315 bookbinder"s tickets, stamps, and engraved designations dating from the 1750s through 1876. The details of the study reveal a vibrant segment of the book trade, deeply enmeshed with the related trades of booksellers, stationers and publishers. Two hundred and thirty-three binders are represented, many with multiple designations. Locations of binders cluster up and down the east coast from Maine to Virginia, with tickets as far south as New Orleans and as far west as Little Rock. The study identifies binders from 19 states and 84 cities and towns. Brief descriptions of bindings are provided, along with explanatory notes for many binders, especially in the binding centers of Boston, New York and Philadelphia. The strength of the study is in its attention to nineteenth-century trade binders such as Benjamin Bradley and Peter Low of Boston, George W. Alexander and Colton & Jenkins of New York, and Benjamin Gaskill and Joseph T. Altemus of Philadelphia. The volume has two introductory essays and is well-indexed. Co-published with Bryn Mawr College Library.