BOOKBINDING 



eight!), or. the twelfth, and so on down to tho forty-eighth, of each sheet, such 

 divisional pages being called respectively folio, quarto, octavo, duodecimo, &c., down 

 to 48mo. ; and it will be manifest that as the sheets themselves are larger or smaller 

 from the atlas down to tho pott as before stated, so their divisions will vary in 

 proportion, thus, an 8vo. volume may bo either a ' foolscap 8vo.,' a ' crown 8vo.,' or a 

 'demy 8vo.,' &c., and will be larger or smaller accordingly. 



Tho ' gathering ' of the sheets that form a volume that is, the collecting together, 

 in consecutive order into one or more ' gatherings," of a copy of each of the sheets 

 forming such volumes, is generally done by the printer before they are delivered to 

 the binder. In such cases the first operation at the bookbinder's is that of folding 

 (whether in folio, 4to., or 8vo., &c.. as before said). In this operation the margin of 

 the type, and not the margin of the paperi is the guide for the folder, who has to see 

 that the head and sides of tho printed matter of each page range or ' register ' 

 accurately with those of tho opposite page. The work of folding is done by -women 

 and girls, who use a bone or ivory folding stick to press tho folds of each sheet closely 

 together, and by continued practice the process is so rapidly performed by them, that 

 except in the case of newspapers and other publications where there are enormous 

 numbers of the same sheet requiring no readjustment of machinery, little, if anything, 

 is gained, either in speed, accuracy, or economy, by the use of folding machines, of 

 which various kinds worked by steam-power have been introduced. 



When the type of each leaf in a sheet is thus made to coincide it will be almost 

 universally found that the outer edges of some of the leaves project more or less 

 considerably beyond others, so that in order to give the book a neat and regular 

 appearance, even if the edges are not intended to be cut all round, the 'fore-edge and 

 tail have to be ' trimmed,' that is, the rougli and irregularly projecting edges are, 

 after tho book is sewn, pared with a knife. 



The folded sheets are then ' collated,' that is, examined and laid together in proper 

 consecutive order, in which arrangement the letter or ' signature,' as it is termed, at 

 the foot of the first page of each sheet, and not the general numerical paging of tho 

 book, is the collator's guide. If the volume about to bo bound has belonging to it 

 plates or maps, printed on distinct paper from that used for the letterpress, each such 

 plate or map is secured by paste to the back edge of its appropriate pago of letter- 

 press, or to a special strip of paper termed a ' guard.' Each volume being thus ' folded,' 

 'collated,' and (if needful) 'placed,' is subjected with others to hydraulic or other 

 pressure to make the leaves lie smoothly and compactly together. The volume is 

 then, if cords are to be used as the cross bands, slightly indented with saw cuts at 

 regular intervals across its back, six such cuts being used for folios, five for quartos, 

 and four or three for smaller sizes. If tape is to be used for the bands, pencil-marks 

 are substituted for the saw cuts. 



The book is now ready to bo fastened together. The simplest mode of doing this 

 is by stabbing through each volume three or four holes a short distance from its 

 hinder edge, and passing a needle and thread alternately in and out through tho 

 holes, securing the ends of the thread together by a knot. - A book so fastened 

 ('stitched,' not 'sewn') is of course prevented by the pressure of the thread from 

 opening freely to its back edge, and if the thread is cut or broken at any one part 



157 



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the whole falls to pieces. This rough and ready process is confined to pamphlets, 

 . periodical publications, or some of tho commoner school books. 



Tho process of ' sewing ' (as distinct from the before-named operation of stitch- 



