Entering--Books in Sheets--Folding--Collating--Pulling to
Pieces--Refolding--Knocking out Joints
ENTERING
On receiving a book for binding, its title should be entered in a book
kept for that purpose, with the date of entry, and customer's name
and address, and any instructions he may have given, written out in
full underneath, leaving room below to enter the time taken on the
various operations and cost of the materials used. It is well to
number the entry, and to give a corresponding number to the book. It
should be at once collated, and any special features noted, such as
pages that need washing or mending. If the book should prove to be
imperfect, or to have any serious defect, the owner should be
communicated with, before it is pulled to pieces. This is very
important, as imperfect books that have been "pulled" are not
returnable to the bookseller. Should defects only be discovered after
the book has been taken to pieces, the bookbinder is liable to be
blamed for the loss of any missing leaves.
BOOKS IN SHEETS
The sheets of a newly printed book are arranged in piles in the
printer's warehouse, each pile being made up of repetitions of the
same sheet or "signature." Plates or maps are in piles by themselves
To make a complete book one sheet is gathered from each pile,
beginning at the last sheet and working backwards to signature A. When
a book is ordered from a publisher in sheets, it is such a "gathered"
copy that the binder receives. Some books are printed "double," that
is, the type is set up twice, two copies are printed at once at
different ends of a sheet of paper, and the sheets have to be divided
down the middle before the copies can be separated. Sometimes the
title and introduction, or perhaps only the last sheet, will be
printed in this way. Publishers usually decline to supply in sheets
fewer than two copies of such double-printed books.
If a book is received unfolded, it is generally advisable at once to
fold up the sheets and put them in their proper order, with
half-title, title, introduction, &c., and, if there are plates, to
compare them with the printed list.
Should there be in a recently published book defects of any kind, such
as soiled sheets, the publisher will usually replace them on
application, although they sometimes take a long time to do so. Such
sheets are called "imperfections," and the printers usually keep a
number of "overs" in order to make good such imperfections as may
occur.
FOLDING
Books received in sheets must be folded. Folding requires care, or the
margins of different leaves will be unequal, and the lines of printing
not at right angles to the back.
Books of various sizes are known as "folio," "quarto," "octavo,"
"duodecimo," &c. These names signify the number of folds, and
consequently the number of leaves the paper has been folded into.
Thus, a folio is made up of sheets of paper folded once down the
centre, forming two leaves and four pages. The sheets of a quarto have
a second fold, making four leaves and eight pages, and in an octavo
the sheet has a third fold, forming eight leaves and sixteen pages
(see fig. 2), and so on. Each sheet of paper when folded constitutes a
section, except in the case of folios, where it is usual to make up
the sections by inserting two or more sheets, one within the other.
Paper is made in several named sizes, such as "imperial," "royal,"
"demy," "crown," "foolscap," &c. (see p. 283), so that the terms
"imperial folio" or "crown octavo" imply that a sheet of a definite
size has been folded a definite number of times.
[Illustration: FIG. 2.]
Besides the traditional sizes, paper is now made of almost any length
and width, resulting in books of odd shape, and the names folio,
quarto, &c., are rather losing their true meaning, and are often used
loosely to signify pages of certain sizes, irrespective of the number
that go to a sheet.
On receipt, for instance, of an octavo book for folding, the pile of
sheets is laid flat on the table, and collated by the letter or
signature of each sheet. The first sheet of the book proper will
probably be signature B, as signature A usually consists of the
half-title, title, introduction, &c., and often has to be folded up
rather differently.
The "outer" sides, known by the signature letters B, C, D, &c., should
be downwards, and the inner sides facing upwards with the second
signatures, if there are any, B2, C2, D2, &c., at the right-hand
bottom corner.
The pages of an octave book, commencing at page 1, are shown at fig.
3. A folder is taken in the right hand, and held at the bottom of the
sheet at about the centre, and the sheet taken by the left hand at the
top right-hand corner and bent over until pages 3 and 6 come exactly
over pages 2 and 7; and when it is seen that the headlines and figures
exactly match, the paper, while being held in that position, is
creased down the centre with the folder, and the fold cut up a little
more than half-way. Pages 4, 13, 5, 12 will now be uppermost; pages 12
and 5 are now folded over to exactly match pages 13 and 4, and the
fold creased and cut up a little more than half-way, as before. Pages
8 and 9 will now be uppermost, and will merely require folding
together to make the pages of the section follow in their proper
order. If the folding has been done carefully, and the "register" of
the printing is good, the headlines should be exactly even throughout.
[Illustration: FIG. 3.]
The object of cutting past the centre at each fold is to avoid the
unsightly creasing that results from folding two or more thicknesses
of paper when joined at the top edge.
A "duodecimo" sheet has the pages arranged as at fig. 4.
The "inset" pages, 10, 15, 14, 11, must be cut off, and the rest of
the section folded as for an octavo sheet. The inset is folded
separately and inserted into the centre of the octavo portion.
Other sizes are folded in much the same way, and the principle of
folding one sheet having been mastered, no difficulty will be found in
folding any other.
Plates often require trimming, and this must be done with judgment.
The plates should be trimmed to correspond as far as possible with the
printing on the opposite page, but if this cannot be done, it is
desirable that something approaching the proportion of margin shown at
fig. 2 (folio) should be aimed at. That is to say, the back margin
should be the smallest, the head margin the next, the fore-edge a
little wider, and the tail widest of all. When a plate consists of a
small portrait or diagram in the centre of the page, it looks better
if it is put a little higher and a little nearer the back than the
actual centre.
[Illustration: FIG. 4.]
Plates that have no numbers on them must be put in order by the list
of printed plates, or "instructions to the binder." The half-title,
title, dedication, &c., will often be found to be printed on odd
sheets that have to be made up into section A. This preliminary matter
is usually placed in the following order: Half-title, title,
dedication, preface, contents, list of illustrations or other lists.
If there is an index, it should be put at the end of the book.
All plates should be "guarded," and any "quarter sections," that is,
sections consisting of two leaves, should have their backs
strengthened by a "guard," or they may very easily be torn in the
sewing. Odd, single leaves may be guarded round sections in the same
way as plates.
When a book has been folded, it should be pressed (see p. 87).
There will sometimes be pages marked by the printer with a star. These
have some error in them, and are intended to be cut out. The printer
should supply corrected pages to replace them.
COLLATING
In addition to the pagination each sheet or section of a printed book
is lettered or numbered. Each letter or number is called the "sheet's
signature." Printers usually leave out J W and V in lettering sheets.
If there are more sections than there are letters in the alphabet, the
printer doubles the letters, signing the sections A A, B B, and so on,
after the single letters are exhausted. Some printers use an Arabic
numeral before the section number to denote the second alphabet, as
2A, 2B, &c., and others change the character of the letters, perhaps
using capitals for the first alphabet and italics for the second. If
the sheets are numbered, the numbers will of course follow
consecutively. In books of more than one volume, the number of the
volume is sometimes added in Roman numerals before the signature, as
II A, II B.
The main pagination of the book usually commences with Chapter I., and
all before that is independently paged in Roman numerals. It is
unusual to have actual numbers on the title or half-title, but if the
pages are counted back from where the first numeral occurs, they
should come right.
There will sometimes be one or more blank leaves completing sections
at the beginning or end. Such blank leaves must be retained, as
without them the volume would be "imperfect."
To collate a modern book the paging must be examined to see that the
leaves are in order, and that nothing is defective or missing.
The method of doing this is to insert the first finger of the right
hand at the bottom of about the fiftieth page, crook the finger, and
turn up the corners of the pages with it. When this is done the thumb
is placed on page 1, and the hand twisted, so as to fan out the top of
the pages. They can then be readily turned over by the thumb and first
finger of the left hand (see fig. 5). This is repeated throughout the
book, taking about fifty pages at a time. It will of course only be
necessary to check the odd numbers, as if they are right, the even
ones on the other side of the leaf must be so. If the pages are
numbered at the foot, the leaves must be fanned out from the head.
[Illustration: FIG. 5.]
Plates or maps that are not paged can only be checked from the printed
list. When checked it will save time if the number of the page which
each faces is marked on the back in small pencil figures.
In the case of early printed books or manuscripts, which are often not
paged, special knowledge is needed for their collation. It may roughly
be said, that if the sections are all complete, that is, if there are
the same number of leaves at each side of the sewing in all the
sections, the book may be taken to be perfect, unless of course whole
sections are missing. All unpaged books should be paged through in
pencil before they are taken apart; this is best done with a very fine
pencil, at the bottom left-hand corner; it will only be necessary to
number the front of each leaf.
PULLING TO PIECES
After the volume has been collated it must be "pulled," that is to
say, the sections must be separated, and all plates or maps detached.
If in a bound book there are slips laced in the front cover, they must
be cut and the back torn off. It will sometimes happen that in tearing
off the leather nearly all the glue will come too, leaving the backs
of the pages detached except for the sewing. More usually the back
will be left covered with a mass of glue and linen, or paper, which it
is very difficult to remove without injury to the backs of the
sections. By drawing a sharp knife along the bands, the sewing may be
cut and the bands removed, leaving the sections only connected by the
glue. Then the sections of the book can usually be separated with a
fine folder, after the thread from the centre of each has been
removed; the point of division being ascertained by finding the first
signature of each section. In cases where the glue and leather form
too hard a back to yield to this method, it is advisable to soak the
glue with paste, and when soft to scrape it off with a folder. As this
method is apt to injure the backs of the sections, it should not be
resorted to unless necessary; and when it is, care must be taken not
to let the damp penetrate into the book, or it will cause very ugly
stains. The book must be pulled while damp, or else the glue will dry
up harder than before. The separated sections must be piled up
carefully to prevent pages being soiled by the damp glue.
All plates or single leaves "pasted on" must be removed. These can
usually be detached by carefully tearing apart, but if too securely
pasted they must be soaked off in water, unless of course the plates
have been painted with water-colour. If the plates must be soaked off,
the leaf and attached plate should be put into a pan of slightly warm
water and left to soak until they float apart, then with a soft brush
any remaining glue or paste can be easily removed while in the water.
Care must be taken not to soak modern books printed on what is called
"Art Paper," as this paper will hardly stand ordinary handling, and is
absolutely ruined if wetted. The growing use of this paper in
important books is one of the greatest troubles the bookbinder has to
face. The highly loaded and glazed surface of some of the heavy plate
papers easily flakes off, so that any guard pasted on these plates is
apt to come away, taking with it the surface of the paper. Moreover,
should the plates chance to be fingered or in any way soiled, nothing
can remove the marks; and should a corner get turned down, the paper
breaks and the corner will fall off. It is the opinion of experts that
this heavily loaded Art Paper will not last a reasonable time, and,
apart from other considerations, this should be ample reason for not
using it in books that are expected to have a permanent value.
Printers like this paper, because it enables them to obtain brilliant
impressions from blocks produced by cheap processes.
In "cased" books, sewn by machinery, the head and tail of the sheets
will often be found to be split up as far as the "kettle" stitches. If
such a book is to be expensively bound, it will require mending
throughout in these places, or the glue may soak into the torn ends,
and make the book open stiffly.
Some books are put together with staples of tinned iron wire, which
rapidly rust and disfigure the book by circular brown marks. Such
marks will usually have to be cut out and the places carefully mended.
This process is lengthy, and consequently so costly, that it is
generally cheaper, when possible, to obtain an unbound copy of the
book from the publishers, than to waste time repairing the damage done
by the cloth binder.
Generally speaking, the sections of a book cased in cloth by modern
methods are so injured as to make it unfit for more permanent binding
unless an unreasonable amount of time is spent on it. It is a great
pity that publishers do not, in the case of books expected to have a
permanent literary value, issue a certain number of copies printed on
good paper, and unbound, for the use of those who require permanent
bindings; and in such copies it would be a great help if sufficient
margin were left at the back of the plates for the binder to turn it
up to form a guard. If the plates were very numerous, guards made of
the substance of the plates themselves would make the book too thick;
but in the case of books with not more than a dozen plates, printed on
comparatively thin paper, it would be a great advantage.
Some books in which there are a large number of plates are cut into
single leaves, which are held together at the back by a coating of an
indiarubber solution. For a short time such a volume is pleasant
enough to handle, and opens freely, but before long the indiarubber
perishes, and the leaves and plates fall apart. When a book of this
kind comes to have a permanent binding, all the leaves and plates have
to be pared at the back and made up into sections with guards--a
troublesome and expensive business. The custom with binders is to
overcast the backs of the leaves in sections, and to sew through the
overcasting thread, but this, though an easy and quick process, makes
a hopelessly stiff back, and no book so treated can open freely.
REFOLDING
[Illustration: FIG. 6.--Dividers]
When the sheets of books that have to be rebound have been carelessly
folded, a certain amount of readjustment is often advisable,
especially in cases where the book has not been previously cut. The
title-page and the half-title, when found to be out of square, should
nearly always be put straight. The folding of the whole book may be
corrected by taking each pair of leaves and holding them up to the
light and adjusting the fold so that the print on one leaf comes
exactly over the print on the other, and creasing the fold to make
them stay in that position. With a pair of dividers (fig. 6) set to
the height of the shortest top margin, points the same distance above
the headline of the other leaves can be made. Then against a
carpenter's square, adjusted to the back of the fold, the head of one
pair of leaves at a time can be cut square (see fig. 7). If the book
has been previously cut this process is apt to throw the leaves so far
out of their original position as to make them unduly uneven.
[Illustration: FIG. 7.]
Accurate folding is impossible if the "register" of the printing is
bad, that is to say, if the print on the back of a leaf does not lie
exactly over that on the front.
Crooked plates should usually be made straight by judicious trimming
of the margins. It is better to leave a plate short at tail or
fore-edge than to leave it out of square.
KNOCKING OUT JOINTS
The old "joints" must be knocked out of the sections of books that
have been previously backed. To do this, one or two sections at a time
are held firmly in the left hand, and well hammered on the
knocking-down iron fixed into the lying press. It is important that
the hammer face should fall exactly squarely upon the paper, or it may
cut pieces out. The knocking-down iron should be covered with a piece
of paper, and the hammer face must be perfectly clean, or the sheets
may be soiled.