BOOKBINDING. 



BOOKBINDING. 



270 



gild it. In sprinkling, the edges of several books are laid on a level 

 one with another, and a piece of sponge, dipped into liquid colour, is 

 passed lightly over the edges, so as to impart the tint to them regularly ; 

 this is called colouring. A more general method is that of sprinklln;/. 

 The books are in this case ranged side by side on a bench, and a brush 

 clipped in the liquid colour (which is formed of some such pigments as 

 Venetian red, umber, &c.) is held over the books, and lightly tapped 

 against a stick, whereby a shower of spots falls on the edges of the 

 books, producing an appearance depending on the colour employed, and 

 the manner in which the shower of spots is brought about. Murlilnl 

 edges are sometimes produced, by a peculiar admixture and manage- 

 ment of different colours sprinkled on the edge of the book. 



Gilt edges are more delicate in then- preparation. The gold so 

 applied is in the same state as for various ornamental purposes, namely, 

 an extremely thin leaf. Before the case or cover of the book is quite 

 finished, the volume is struck forcibly against the back, so as to make 

 the fore-edge flat instead of concave. It is then placed in a press, with 

 the exposed edge uppermost. The edge is scraped smooth with a piece 

 of steel, and is coated with a mixture of red chalk and water. The 

 gold is blown out from small books, and spread on a leather cushion, 

 where it is cut to the proper size by a smooth-edged knife. A camel- 

 hair pencil is dipped into white of egg mixed with water, and with this 

 the partially dry edge of the book is moistened ; the gold is then taken 

 up "!i u flat kind of brush, and applied to the moistened edge, to which 

 it instantly adheres. When all the three edges have been gilt in this 

 way, and allowed to remain a few minutes, the workman takes a bur- 

 nisher formed of a very smooth piece of hard stone, and setting the 

 end of the handle against his shoulder, rubs the gold forcibly not (as 

 might be supposed) endangering its permanence, but giving it a high 

 degree of polish, by rubbing down the minute asperities which may be 

 occasioned by the paper beneath. The gold employed has a greater or 

 less degree of solidity according to the costliness of the book. 



The covers have next to be noticed, beginning with those of leather. 

 The leather so employed is roan or sheep, calf, Morocco, and Russia ; 

 at least, these are the principal kinds, to which alone we need make 

 allusion here. These kinds of leather receive their colour at the 

 dye-houses in Bermondsey, where they are prepared in vast quantities, 

 not only for the London market, but for many other parts of 

 England ; but " roan-bound " books, such as school-books, are often 

 sprinkled with colour by the book-binders after the leather has been 

 attached to the boards. For this purpose, the books are opened, and 

 hung over two bars in such a manner that the leaves may hang 

 vertically downwards, while the boards lie horizontal. A brush is 

 dipped into the liquid colour, and dashed or sprinkled on the cover so 

 as to give a group of spots or wavy lines, at the taste of the workman. 

 Calf and Russia leathers do not often receive any modification of 

 surface from the bookbinder ; but Morocco is sometimes treated in 

 the following manner. The Morocco leather employed for chair-covers 

 H is made either of kid-skin or sheep-skin according to 

 its quality, and has a wrinkled appearance, arising from the surface 

 having been rubbed very hard with a minutely grooved piece of wood. 

 Xow for many purposes of bookbinding these wrinkles are changed to 

 a granulated appearance, by the following process : Two pieces of 

 r being well wetted, and laid face to face, the upper one is rubbed 

 in different directions with a flat piece of cork, by which the wrinkles 

 are removed, and a slightly granulated texture produced. 



The decorations produced on a leather-bound book by heated stamps 

 or dies are very diversified. The dies for producing any particular 

 device are fixed to handles, and when about to be used are warmed in 

 a gas-heated stove. Many such dies are often used for one book, and 

 tlie process of producing a sunken ornamental device by using these 

 tools by hand is called blind-tooling. But for many purposes it is 

 more convenient to fasten a great number of small dies as partia 

 devices to a metallic plate, by means of glue and cloth, and to stamp 

 the device from this fixed plate by means of a press ; this is callec 

 blocking. 



All the devices so produced on a book are called " blind," if no golc 

 be employed ; but much of the beauty of the workmanship depends on 

 the tasteful introduction of this metal in forming part or all of the 

 pattern. The leather, as laid on the book, is not in a fit state for 

 receiving the gold without gome modification of surface. It firs! 

 receives a coating of parchment-size ; then two or three coatings ol 

 white of egg, whereby a slight glossiness is produced ; and just before 

 the gold is to be laid on, the surface is slightly moistened with oil 

 The gold, cut up into small pieces, to suit the kind of ornament, is 

 laid on the book with a flat camel-hair brush ; and the stamp or die 

 previously heated in the fire, is impressed on the gold ; whereby two 

 effepts are produced at opce the production of the device, and th< 

 fixing of the gold to the leather. A piece of soft rag, lightly passec 

 over the book, removes the small superfluous fragments of gold, an< 

 leaves the gilt device clearly marked. 



But the decoration of volumes bound in cloth, although occupying 

 far lower level in respect of manual dexterity than the more costl; 

 ij'-r, has occupied much attention within the last few 

 years, and haft been one of the means for producing neat and even 

 elegant volumes at a marvellously low price. Cloth-binding, in fact 

 has been the germ of one great advance in the art the application o 

 machinery to much that had previously been effected by manual labour. 



The cloth with which books are covered is generally cotton of a par- 

 icular kind, woven for the purpose. When the system of cloth-binding 

 ame up, about thirty years ago, the cloth was used in the unaltered 

 tate, with the warp and weft threads visibly crossing each other at 

 right angles. But now the cloth is more generally so altered by an 

 rtificial embossment of surface, as to leave the threads barely visible, 

 nd to give to it a close resemblance to leather. The cloth covers for 

 nauy books have now imparted to them, by embossing, a remarkably 

 lose resemblance to the appearance of leather ; a resemblance which, 

 hough now becoming very common, would have deceived many an eye 

 i few years ago. This embossing is produced by drawing the cloth, 

 vhile yet uncut for the purposes of binding, between two steel rollers, 

 if which the surfaces are engraved with the required device, and which 

 ave a row of gas-jets through their hollow centre, to keep up a 

 ,oustaut temperature. There must be as many pairs of rollers as there 



different devices for embossing cloth ; so that the number in large 

 actories is very considerable. Some of the rollers are intended for 

 .he production of a uniform device over the whole surface of the cloth; 

 vhile others have particular devices for each particular book, and arc 

 consequently planned with especial reference to the size of the volume. 

 The rapidity with which books can be now bound in this way, is one 

 ^reat cause of the surprising cheapness at which they are often sold. 

 ;*aper-wrappers for stitched but unbound books can of course be applied 

 much more quickly. One of the most notable examples of this kind 

 ever known, was afforded by the Great Exhibition of 1851. At ten 

 o'clock in the evening of the 30th of April, the first complete printed 

 copy of the Official Catalogue left the printer's hands ; in the following 

 'ortnoon ten thousand such copies were ready at the Exhibition build- 

 ng in Hyde Park, including two superbly bound, for Her Majesty 

 and Prince Albert. 



Other kinds of cloth covers, especially those which are much deco- 

 rated with gold, are stamped with the device after being pasted on the 

 covers, instead of before ; they are, in fact, rases, each one quite ready 

 a affix to the book in a speedy manner after being stamped. Great 

 pressure is required in this process, for the mill-board is required to 

 pield to the force, as well as the cloth itself. The case is placed down 

 lat on an iron bed heated with gas from beneath ; above is a press, 

 M the lower end of which is attached the stamping-die or device, 

 face downwards. Great mechanical power is then brought to bear 

 on it, and the press descends with force sufficient to impart the pattern 

 to the cover, gilt or not, according to the circumstances of the case. 



India-rubber Binding. The last few years have witnessed the intro- 

 duction of a singular mode of binding, arising out of the use of a 

 cement or glue of caoutchouc, instead jof sewing, for fastening the 

 sheets of books together. In this process, the sheets are not allowed 

 to retain the folded form customary in other kinds of binding ; but 

 the edges are cut on all four sides on the back as well as the front, 

 top, ami bottom ; the consequence of which is, that all the leaves are 

 separated one from another. The group of leaves to form one volume 

 is placed in a kind of gauge, by which convexity is given to the back- 

 edge and concavity to the front ; and a cement of caoutchouc is carefully 

 applied to the back-edge, whereby all the leaves become cemented 

 together. The subsequent operations are much the same as in other 

 binding. There is a certain kind of flexibility resulting from this 

 method, advantageous when the volume is thick. This method was 

 introduced by Mr. Hancock, and in reference to it the late Dr. Ure 

 remarked : " For engravings, atlases, and ledgers, this binding is 

 admirably adapted, because it allows the pages to be displayed most 

 freely, without the risk of dislocating the volume ; but for security, 

 three or four stitches should be made. The leaves of music-books 

 bound with caoutchouc, when turned over lie flat in their whole extent 

 as if in loose sheets, and do not torment the musician like the leaves 

 of the ordinary books, which are so ready to spring back again. 

 Manuscripts and collections of letters which happen to have little or 

 no margin left at the back for stitching them by, may be bound by 

 Mr. Hancock's plan without the least encroachment upon the writing. 

 The thickest ledgers thus bound open as easily as paper in quire, and 

 may be written up to the innermost margin of the book without the 

 least inconvenience." 



A method was patented, some years after the introduction of india- 

 rubber binding, under the name of " Cement-binding." This consists 

 in cementing the leaves or sheets together at the back, with a com- 

 position of isinglass, oil, sugar, and other ingredients ; and in covering 

 the cemented edges with a strip of calico similarly cemented. What 

 advantages (if any) this possesses over the caoutchouc binding, does 

 not appear : its principle is evidently the same. 



Palmer's patent binding consists in applying small brass bars, linked 

 together, to the back of the book, in such a manner that they make 

 the different sections of the book, when open, parallel with each other, 

 and thus admit of writing readily on the ruled lines near the back. It 

 seems to be another mode of attaining some such result as that which 

 is aimed at in india-rubber binding. 



Williams's patent binding consists in the employment of a back, 

 curved in form, turned a little at the edges, and made of metal, ivory, 

 or wood. This back is adjusted to the book before it is bound, in such 

 a manner that it may just cover but not press upon the edges, and is 

 fastened on by enclosing it in vellum or ferret wrappers, which are 

 pasted down upon the boards, or drawn through them, The object is 



