THE CRAFTS 
WOOD CARVING AND PYROGRAPHY. LEATHER AND METAL. BASKETRY, ETC. 
Under the Dianagcvient of Miss Emily Peacock, 6 Brcvoort Place, Brooklyn, N. Y. All inquiries in regard to the various 
Crafts are to be sent to the above address, but will be ansivered in the viagazine binder this head. 
tail and put in press for twenty-four hours. While waiting 
for the pressing the blank end papers are cut from strong, 
hand made paper folded with proper hinges and tipped with 
waste paper which will keep the leaves clean while the book is 
being botmd. The conventional number of bands on the back 
of a book is five. The book is taken from the press and placed 
with its back up in a small finishing press and these five bands 
marked on it at equal distances, the tail being left a little 
longer than the other spaces, and the kettle stitches sawed half 
an inch from either end. 
The sewing bench is set up with five cords spaced to cor- 
respond with the markings on the book and at last the book is 
ready to be sewed. Each section is sewed with silk around each 
of the five cords and fastened at the end with the "kettle 
stitch." A book sewed in this way cannot come apart so 
long as silk and paper last and the cords against which it is 
sewed become a part of the decoration of the book in the bands 
Bound br Helen a. Haskell. 
HAND BOOK BINDING 
Helen G. Haskell 
BOOK-binding is a craft which cannot be well learned from 
a book. It necessitates object teaching, and that over 
and over again: line upon line; precept upon precept. The 
more than forty processes follow each other in such logical 
sequence that the interest and fascination in the work is kept 
up from beginning to end. Yet it is difficult to remember just 
when one does each process and uses the different tools, and 
laughable and sometimes tragic blvmders are made. But an 
experienced teacher usually has some way out of the difficulty 
and the pupil goes on with added cheer, finding that each 
finished book means steady progress. 
People often think that sewing is the first thing to do in 
binding a book. But first they learn the rather long and often 
tedious process of taking the book apart, cleaning off the glue, 
mending the leaves, re-folding, registering and cutting the 
head bj^ hand l^efore the book is "knocked up " at the head and 
LY/fi/G PRESS /lAlD PLOl^ 
across the back over which the leather is stretched in coveriiig. 
When the book is taken out of the sewing bench it should be 
collated so as to be sure that each leaf is sewed into its proper 
place. 
The book is now beaten to make it solid, the cords cut 
about three inches long and frayed out very fine: and it is 
ready for backing. This is perhaps the most important pro- 
cess of the work, for, on the evenness of the turned joints and 
the rounding hang the whole style of the book. It is put into 
a small press and the back covered with a thin glue to keep 
the hammer from tearing the leaves when rounding. This 
glue is well rubbed in and left to dry, the backing boards are 
placed on each side, the depth of the joint below the back and 
the back rounded from the centre and polished. Much pract- 
ice and skill is necessary to make the back firm and round. 
The English use a flatter back than the French do, but the 
process is the same. 
The covers receive attention next. They are cut from 
millboard a little larger than the book and three pieces of paper 
pasted on them, the side having two pieces going next to the 
