BOOKBINDING. 



BOOKBINDING. 



lime, lmo. 18mo. S4mo, ttmo, *c. In fi>Uo there are only 2 page* 

 on each aide of a sheet; the other* hare 4. 8 Ac. Some of the sheet* 

 eaiytoteo' re larger than oUicr : thus myl OCUTO, though folded 

 into tie MOM number uf page* aa post octavo, is larger in sue, b 



- 



The folding of the printed cheete to one of the Brat operations in 

 preparing for the binder. Each sheet has a letter at the tiottom, such 

 u A, B, io., for identification; and there are aa many of theee letter*, 

 called signature*, a* there are iheeta to form the volume. When the 

 alphabet is in this way exhausted, another in smaller type, or duplicate 

 lem, or lutteii combined with numeral*, are employed. There U a 

 heap of signature A, another heap of signature B, and so on. The 

 folder atts before* bench, on which each sheet is spread out in mcea- 

 aion ; and the folding U aided by the use of a bone or ivory folding- 

 knife : U to done with great rapidity, and with an accuracy which can 

 only result from constant practice. In some establishments a folding- 

 introduced. The folded sheet* are gathered into 



r groups, fitted to make up into books ; that to, each new group U 



ie to contain one eopy of the sheet bearing signature A, another 

 of signature B, and so on. The groups are next collated, that U, 

 examined throughout to see that no mistake in the order of arrange- 

 ment occurs. 



If the sheet* thus folded, gathered, and collated, are to be put into 

 boards, they are sewn in the next process; but if they are to be 

 bound, and therefore finished in a more careful manner, they are 

 beaten or pressed before being sewn, a* a means of bringing them to a 

 more compact and smooth state. Until a recent period this process 

 used to be effected by means of the hammer the volume being 

 divided into parcels of a few sheets ; and these parcels, held flat on a 

 smooth atone, being beaten with a heavy hammer. But the rolling- 

 pro* has greatly improved the mode of proceeding. This press con- 

 state of two smooth steel rollers, rotating nearly in contact ; the parcels 

 of a volume are placed between tin plates and then passed between t lie 

 roller*, the action of which gives them a more effective and expeditious 

 jiressure than the hammer. Sometimes, however, the ink becomes 

 ' transferred' to the opposite page by thin procnw, when not properly 

 conducted to the great disfigurement of the 1 



In sewing together the sheets for a volume, they are not actually 

 fastened one to another, but all ore in common attached to a range of 

 parallel string* or bands placed across the back of the volume. 

 times marks are cut with a saw across the back edges of the sheets, to 

 receive the strings ; but in other cases these saw-cuts are dispensed 

 with. The process of sewing is carried on by the aid of a sewing- 

 ureas, which consists of a fiat bed or board, two upright bars rising 

 from the ends of this, and a cross-bar at the top. The strings are 

 fastened to the cross-bar and are stretched vertically downward.! to the 

 bed of the press, where they are firmly secured. The number of these 

 strings depend* principally on the size of the book, and varies from 

 two to eight or ten. The sewer (a female) site in front of the press, 

 lay* a folded sheet down on it, with the back edge in contact with the 

 strings, open* the sheet in the middle, and sews it to the strings, 

 passing a needle and thread to and fro. The needle puns through the 

 hack edge of the sheet twice as many times as there are strings ; the 

 object being to twist the thread round every string, and thus connect 

 them and the sheet together. The first sheet having been thus 

 treated, a second is laid on the first, and sewn in a smilor manner ; 

 and ao on with a third, a fourth, and as many as there are to form the 

 volume all the threads bring fastened to all the strings, and, indirectly, 

 to each other; for the thread passm from one sheet to another by a 

 peculiar kind of stitch called a 'ketch ' stitch. 



mdi*ff. The sheets are by the sewing-process brought together 

 into a book-like form, and are then ready to pass through the opera- 

 tion* connected with the boards and coven. The lock -edge* of the 

 beet* are glued together, to increase the strength of the volume : this 

 is done by simply holding the book in the left hand, and brushing on 

 it a little warm melted glue. The gluo being dried, the end 

 string (which are allowed to hang loose for an inch or HO beyond the 

 volume) are scraped thin, for the sake either of being rendered invisible 

 when the book comes to be bound, or else to aid in fastening on the 

 boards. The volume U next rounded in a singular manner ; that is, 

 iudied convex on the back and conoave or hollow on the fore-edge. 

 The workman Uys the volume down flat, and beat* it with a hammer 

 held in hi* right hand, while the left draws the sheet* in such a way 

 M to produce the rounding of the edge* : the manipulation is a curious 

 one; and M the glue to not yet quite dry, the sheet* are enabled to 

 Md Uttl. to the action of the hand and hammer. 



A groove to now made to receive the board* or stiff covers. These 

 hnonto would project beyond the width of the back edge, and would 

 h both unsightly and inconvenient, if some means were not adopted 

 t or oompresamg or confining them. A thin bevel-edged board is placed 

 <m etch side of the volume far enough from the back edge to allow 

 fa kind of ledge to be formed ; the*, baoking-board*, a. they are 

 called, are placed parallel with the hack edge ; and the volume, with 

 UMM board* on either aide, to lowered Into a press, with the back edge 

 uppenno*. lly hammering this edge In a particular way, it to made 

 to expand or spread out, and thus to form twn ledge* against which 

 the cover* of the book are to be placed. Although fat common Inn- 

 the c<ivehi of book to be the (tiff (idea which keep 



it firm and compact, yet the terms applied by a )>ookbinder are rather 

 different With him, thin stiff envelope to called the board, the leather 

 or cloth applied outside the board to the row, and the two together 

 form the nue ; and it will be convenient to retain the tame term* 



her,-. 



If the book to to be boarded, to use a familiar term, the edges of the 

 leave* are not often cut ; but if it is to be bound, this cur 

 edges to an essential process, and is dune before the boards on 

 to the volume. The cutting is thus effected : The volume, placed 

 between two boards, to screwed in a pros* ; one of the ends of a volume 

 being left projecting a little above the press. A cutting instrument. 

 called a plough, (wtAking in some degree of the action of a car- 

 penter's plane, to passed over the end of the volume so aa to shave off 

 the ragged edge* of the sheets, and leave them perfectly in. 

 volume to reversed in position, and the same thin;,' done with the other 

 end. It to then taken out of the press, and struck forcibly aj/ 

 bench, so aa to bring the convexity of the back and the concavity of 

 the front edge alike to a plane level, which admit* of the front edges of 

 the leaves being cut in the same manner as the top and b. tt..m edge* 

 had been. The book springs back again immediately on being released 

 from the press : and then present* the neat appearance which a con- 

 cave front edge, convex bock, and jil.me tup and bottom* edges, are 

 calculated to give. 



Matters are now ready for applying the stilt' l>ards. These are 

 made of millboard, a smooth brown or drab-coloured pasteboard made 

 of several layers of paper glued together and strongly pressed. The 

 sizes and thicknesses vary according to the size of the volume ami 

 the kind of binding for which they are to be used. The boards ore 

 cut very quickly from the large sheets by a cutting edge applied nearly 

 in the same way as in tobacco-shredding or in chaff-cutting. In 

 attaching these boards to the book, the strength of the fa-' 

 dr|..-nds on the kind of binding. If the book is to be hound 

 ore made through the boards, opposite to the strings ; and the loose 

 ends of the strings, being passed through these holes, are glued down 

 finnly to the inner surface of the boards, thereby forming a MTV linn 

 fastening. If, on the other hand, the volm 

 boards," the strings ore not generally passed through and glut-d 

 in this way, but the bun. to the boo'; chiefly l>y 



pasted to the blank leaves or end-papers placed at the beginning 

 .ind end of the book. These boards, in this hitter case, are In. 

 somewhat to a finished state before being attached to the volume; for 

 the cloth is cut to the required size, and handed over to a workman 

 who pastes it upon the two boards, placed sufficiently wide apart, to 

 allow for the thickness of the book. Some books, especially in the 

 present day, are made hollow in the bock ; which in thus produced : 

 A double layer of paper or of cloth is placed between the hath. T of 

 the cover and the back of the sheets ; the leather is glued to tin 

 layer, and the back edge of the sheets to tin- inner layer : and 

 two layers are connected at their edges, but detached or loose from 

 each other at their surfaces, they give a kind of liollowneM to the back 

 of the book. 



Mart well-bound books have a little appendage at the top of the 

 back-edge, called the head-band. This gives a neat finish 

 book, and at the same time strengthens the leather covering of the back- 

 edge at that part. For common books the head l> n. ; a cord 

 inserted in silk or cotton; but for better work it consists of a little 

 strip of vellum or pasteboard, around which coloured silken threads arc 

 twisted by the some process OB that which fastens it to the volume. 



When the volume is done in cloth of one uniform colour, the 

 cloth cover is applied to the board* before the latter ore attached to 

 the volume; but when it is whole-bound, having leather all over t he- 

 outer surface, or half-txiund, having partly leather and partly paper 

 or cloth at the surface, these coverings are put on after the boards are 

 attached to the book. The leather is cut to a size rather larger than 

 the book, to allow for paring and turning in. and i laid face downv, . id . 

 on a smooth board. The bock of the leather is well pasted, and the 

 book p|ared down upon it, the hands of the workman drawing, and 

 adjusting, and pressing the leather, until it adheres closely to the book 

 in every part. If half-binding be the style of work, then the leather 

 to so out I* to cover the back and a small portion of each board or side ; 

 while four small pieces are applied to the eonieix. The pap. r or cloth 

 is subsequently so pasted on as to hide the ragged edge* of all these 

 five piece* of leather. 



1'iiiiMng. By the processes above described, the book ho* received 

 all which is really necessary for service ; the sheets have been arranged 

 in pro|>er order, sewed to strings, fastened to boards, and covered with 

 Hoth. leather, or ]m|n>r. Hutu large portion of the talent, the ingenuity, 

 and the capital applied to this branch of manufacture is called forth by 

 the subsequent processes to which the book to subjected. These must 

 be rapidly glanced at. 



First, with respect to the edget. Most persons who purchase books 

 ore aware that, if in lioards, or cloth-boards, the top edges 

 sheets, although placed level. while the tore ami b. 



edges are ragged, uneven, and uncut. In some cased, to make a i 

 approach toward* neatnem, the fore-edge only is cut; in oce. 

 instances, too, the whole of the edges arc cut, but left wi 



iv bonk would noon bee. nue discoloured and unsightly; 

 and it i" far more usual either to sprinkle the edge with < 



