Buckram
Material type
Cloth
Buckram is a stiff cotton (occasionally linenorhorse hair) cloth with a plain, usually loose, weave, produced in various weights similar to muslin and other plain weave fabrics.[1] For buckram, the fabric is soaked in a sizing agent such as wheat-starch paste, glue (such as PVA glue), or pyroxylin (gelatinized nitrocellulose, developed around 1910), then dried. When rewetted or warmed, it can be shaped to create durable firm fabric for book covers, hats, and elements of clothing.[2]
In the Middle Ages, "bokeram" (as the word was sometimes spelled in Middle English) designated a fine cotton cloth, not stiff. The etymology of the term remains uncertain; the Oxford English Dictionary considers the commonly mentioned[3] derivation from the name of the city of Bokhara unlikely.[4]
Inbookbinding, buckram has several attractive qualities. In addition to being highly durable, buckram does not allow the bookbinder's paste to seep through and cause discoloration or stains on the book's front and back covers.[5]
In bookbinding, pyroxylin-impregnated buckram is often favored due to its resistance to water, insects, fungi, and general wear. This is especially important for library binding, where many people will be repeatedly handling the same books.[6] However, pyroxylin fabrics are less chemically stable than starch-filled fabrics and can be affected by extreme temperatures.[7]
Millinery buckram is impregnated with a starch which allows it to be softened in water, pulled over a hat block, and left to dry into a hard shape.[8] Millinery buckram comes in many weights, including lightweight or baby buckram (often used for children's and dolls' hats),[9] single-ply buckram, and double buckram (also known as theatrical buckramorcrown buckram).[10]
Fine cotton cloth known as bokeram (derived from Bokhara; the cloth was originally imported from Asia) was used for garments, linings and banners.
Of the ultimate etymology nothing is really known. Some refer to Italian bucherare 'to pierce full of holes', supposing that the name was first given to a kind of muslin or net ... Reiske (in Constantin. Porphyrog. ed. Niebuhr II. 530) proposes Arabic abū qirām 'pannus cum intextis figuris', but he does not say where he found this compound; the simple qirām is of doubtful meaning, the Arab lexicographers quoted in the Qāmūs giving the various renderings 'red veil', 'striped and figured woollen cloth', 'thin veil' ... Others suggest derivation Bokhara, or Bulgaria, but this does not agree with the early French forms.(Subscription or participating institution membership required.)
Types
Figured
woven
Patterns
Fabric mills
Related
