Type 6 Balloon Cloth Binding
Balloon cloth is a type of strong tightly woven cotton fabric. It was used to make Modern Library bindings in the period 1932 -1937 for giant editions (binding types G2 and G3) and 1929 - 1939 for regular editions (binding types 5, 6, and 7). The bindings came in four colors: red, blue, green, and brown (mauve).
The ML introduced balloon cloth bindings in January 1929. All regular titles published from January 1929 through spring 1939 were in balloon cloth.
It's interesting to note that a number of this format's titles continued to be listed in the Fall 1940 catalog even though they didn't make it into the newer (Fall 1939) Blumenthal binding.
For detailed illustrated discussions of binding types, see the Toledano guide (reviewed elsewhere on ModernLib). For a more limited treatment, see Quick Guide to Regular Binding Styles.
