Popular Science Monthly 



291 



After a few sections have been sewn 

 to the cords the ends of the sewing 

 thread will be reached and a new length 

 must be added. Tie a sliding knot in the 

 end of the new thread (Fig. 5), slip the 

 loop over the projecting end of the 

 old thread, draw the old thread down 

 through the loop and draw the loops 

 snuggly together to form the knot. 

 After the needle has passed out at the 

 last catch stitch mark A or E as the 

 case may be, the thread should be se- 

 curely connected to the preceding catch 

 stitch thread, so that it will not become 

 untied. 



The cords may now be untied from 

 the sewing frame and the book removed 

 from it. The cords should be cut about 

 1^2 irich from the edge of the book and 

 their ends frayed out flat by scraping 

 them with a knife. 



Place the thumb and fingers of the 

 left hand upon the back of the book and 

 with the fingers of the right hand, press 

 inward along the frone edge to form 

 the usual rounded shape (Fig. 7). 

 Adjust the press boards so that they 

 will be parallel with the back of the 

 book and at a distance from it slightly 

 greater than the thickness of the mill 

 board to be used for the cover. Lower 

 the book into the press and screw the 

 jaws together just sufficiently to keep 

 the book from slipping through the 

 press. Give the book a final adjustment 

 and screw the jaws of the press 

 tightly together. Now take a ham- 

 mer and hammer up and down along 

 the edges of the back of the book with 

 diagonal or outwardly inclined strokes, 

 until the ends of the sections spread out- 

 ward over the press boards as shown in 

 Fig. 6. Hammer along the center of 

 the back also, to keep it in well rounded 

 shape. 



l.oosen the jaws of the press slightly 

 and brush hot glue over the back, al- 

 lowing it to penetrate for a short dis- 

 tance between the sections. Tighten 

 the press again, but not so tight as when 

 rounding the back, and having cut a 

 piece of fairly strong cloth to a size 

 about two inches shorter and two inches 

 wider than the back of the book, lay it 

 in place upon the back and press it down 

 firmly upon the fresh glue. 



When the glue is fairly dry but still 

 flexible, trim the end papers to size and 

 take the book at once to the printer who 

 will rap the book straight from its 

 rounded form, clamp the book in his 

 power cutter and trim its edges. 



After cutting the edges of the book 

 they may be ornamented by placing the 

 book between the boards in the crafts- 

 man's press and spattering the edges 

 with red or brown ink. 



Figs. 4 and 5 

 The method of sewing 



Fig 6 



Dip a tooth brush in a small saucer 

 of ink, rap off the surplus ink and draw 

 the brush across the coarse teeth of a 

 comb. Practice first on a sheet of waste 

 paper. 



The book is now ready for the cover. 

 Obtain some mill board of the desired 

 thickness, lay it upon another piece of 

 mill or straw board and using a sharp 

 knife guided by a straight edge, cut the 

 mill board to the proper size. For a 

 book of magazine size, there should be 

 a space of about ^4-in. or more between 

 edge of the cover and the back edge of 



Fig. 7 

 Shaping the book 



Fig. 8 

 Forming the covers 



the book. This space should be greater 

 when using heavy cloth like buckram, 

 than for cloth of light weight. Fold 

 a strip of paper around the back of the 

 book and place the trimmed mill board 

 in position on the book. Fig. 7. Make 

 pencil marks upon this strip of paper 

 close to the edge of the mill board cov- 

 ers. 



Lay the mill boards upon the table 

 with a space between them equal to that 



