Library Binding--Binding very Thin Books--Scrap-Books--Binding on
Vellum--Books covered with Embroidery
LIBRARY BINDING
_Specifications III and IV_
To produce cheaper bindings, as must be done in the case of large
libraries, some alteration of design is necessary. Appearance must to
some extent be sacrificed to strength and durability, and not, as is
too often the case, strength and durability sacrificed to appearance.
The essentials of any good binding are, that the sections should be
sound in themselves, and that there should be no plates or odd sheets
"pasted on," or anything that would prevent any leaf from opening
right to the back; the sewing must be thoroughly sound; the sewing
materials of good quality; the slips firmly attached to the boards;
and the leather fairly thick and of a durable kind, although for the
sake of cheapness it may be necessary to use skins with flaws on the
surface. Such flawed skins cost half, or less than half, the price of
perfect skins, and surface flaws do not injure the strength of the
leather. By sewing on tape, great flexibility of the back is obtained,
and much time, and consequent expense, in covering is saved. By using
a French joint much thicker leather than usual can be used, with
corresponding gain in strength.
To bind an octavo or smaller book according to the specification given
(III, page 307); first make all sections sound, and guard all plates
or maps. Make end papers with zigzags. After the sections have been
thoroughly pressed, the book will be ready for marking up and sewing.
In marking up for sewing on tapes, two marks will be necessary for
each tape. When there are several books of the same size to be sewn,
they may be placed one above the other in the sewing press, and sewn
on to the same tapes. It will be found that the volumes when sewn can
easily be slid along the tapes, which must be long enough to provide
sufficient for the slips of each. The split boards may be "made" of a
thin black mill-board with a thicker straw-board. To "make" a pair of
split boards the pieces of straw-and mill-board large enough to make
the two are got out, and the straw-board well glued, except in the
centre, which should previously be covered with a strip of thin
mill-board or tin about four inches wide. The strip is then removed,
and the thin black board laid on the glued straw-board and nipped in
the press. When dry, the made board is cut down the centre, which will
leave two boards glued together all over except for two inches on one
side of each. The boards then are squared to the book in a mill-board
machine. The back of the book is glued up, and in the ordinary way
rounded and backed. The edges may be cut with a guillotine. The ends
of the tapes are glued on the waste end paper, which should be cut off
about an inch and a half from the back. The split boards are then
opened and glued, and the waste end papers with slips attached are
placed in them (see fig. 72), and the book nipped in the press. To
form a "French joint" the boards should be kept about an eighth of an
inch from the back of the book. The book is then ready for covering.
The leather must not be pared too thin, as the French joint will give
plenty of play and allow the use of much thicker leather than usual.
If time and money can be spared, headbands can be worked, but they are
not absolutely necessary, and a piece of string may be inserted into
the turning of the leather at head and tail in the place of them. When
the book is covered, a piece of string should be tied round the
joints, and the whole given a nip in the press. The corners of the
boards should be protected by small tips of vellum or parchment. The
sides may be covered with good paper, which will wear quite as well as
cloth, look better, and cost less.
[Illustration: FIG. 72.]
The lettering of library books is very important (see Chapter XV).
BINDING VERY THIN BOOKS
Books consisting of only one section may be bound as follows:--A sheet
of paper to match the book, and two coloured sheets for end papers,
are folded round the section, and a "waste" paper put over all. A
strip of linen is pasted to the back of the waste, and the whole sewn
together by stitching through the fold. The waste may be cut off and
inserted with the linen in a split board, as for library bindings. The
back edges of the board should be filed thin, and should not be placed
quite up to the back, to allow for a little play in the joints.
The leather is put on in the ordinary way, except that the linen at
the head and tail must be slit a little to allow for the turn in. If
waterproof sheets are first inserted, the ends may be pasted, the
boards shut, and the book nipped in the press. By substituting a piece
of thin leather for the outside coloured paper, a leather joint can be
made.
SCRAP-BOOKS
Scrap-books, into which autograph letters, sketches, or other papers
can be pasted, may be made as follows:--Enough paper of good quality
is folded up to the size desired, and pieces of the same paper, of the
same height, and about two inches wide, are folded down the centre and
inserted between the backs of the larger sheets, as shown at fig. 73.
It is best not to insert these smaller pieces in the centre of the
section, as they would be troublesome in sewing. If, after sewing, the
book is filled up with waste paper laid between the leaves, it will
make it manageable while being forwarded.
It is best to use a rather darkly-toned or coloured paper, as, if a
quite white paper is used, any letters or papers that have become
soiled, will look unduly dirty.
[Illustration: FIG. 73.]
Autograph letters may be mounted in the following ways:--If the letter
is written upon both sides of a single leaf, it may be either
"inlaid," or guarded, as shown at fig. 74, A. A letter on a folded
sheet of notepaper should have the folds strengthened with a guard of
strong thin paper, and be attached by a guard made, as shown at fig.
74, B; or if on very heavy paper, by a double guard, as shown at fig.
74, C. Torn edges of letters may be strengthened with thin Japanese
paper.
[Illustration: FIG. 74.]
Thin paper, written or printed only on one side, may be mounted on a
page of the book. It is better to attach these by their extreme edges
only, as if pasted down all over they may cause the leaves to curl up.
Letters or any writing or drawing in lead pencil should be fixed with
size before being inserted.
Silver prints of photographs are best mounted with some very
quick-drying paste, such as that sold for the purpose by the
photographic dealers. If the leaf on which they are mounted is
slightly damped before the photograph is pasted down, it will be less
likely to cockle. If this is done, waterproof sheets should be put on
each side of the leaf while it dries. If photographs are attached by
the edges only, they will not be so liable to draw the paper on which
they are mounted; but sometimes they will not lie flat themselves.
In cases where very thick letters or papers have to be pasted in, a
few more leaves of the book should be cut out, to make a corresponding
thickness at the back.
VELLUM BINDINGS
Vellum covers may be limp without boards, and merely held in place by
the slips being laced through them, or they may be pasted down on
boards in much the same way as leather.
If the edges of a book for limp vellum binding are to be trimmed or
gilt, that should be done before sewing. For the ends a folded piece
of thin vellum may replace the paste-down paper. The sewing should be
on strips of vellum. The back is left square after glueing, and
headbands are worked as for leather binding, or may be worked on
strips of leather, with ends left long enough to lace into the vellum
(see p. 151). The back and headbands are lined with leather, and the
book is ready for the cover.
A piece of vellum should be cut out large enough to cover the book,
and to leave a margin of an inch and a half all round. This is marked
with a folder on the under side, as shown at fig. 75, A. Spaces 1 and
2 are the size of the sides of the book with surrounding squares;
space 3 is the width of the back, and space 4 the width for the
overlaps on the fore-edge. The corners are cut, as shown at 5, and the
edges are folded over, as at B. The overlap 4 is then turned over, and
the back folded, as at C. The slips are now laced through slits made
in the vellum.
[Illustration: FIG. 75.]
A piece of loose, toned paper may be put inside the cover to prevent
any marks on the book from showing through; and pieces of silk ribbon
of good quality are laced in as shown, going through both cover and
vellum ends, if there are any, and are left with ends long enough to
tie (see fig. 76).
[Illustration: FIG. 76.]
If paper ends are used, the silk tape need only be laced through the
cover, and the end paper pasted over it on the inside.
Another simple way of keeping a vellum book shut is shown at fig. 77.
A bead is attached to a piece of gut laced into the vellum, and a loop
of catgut is laced in the other side, and looped over the bead as
shown.
If the book is to have stiff boards, and the vellum is to be pasted
to them, it is best to sew the sections on tapes or vellum slips, to
back the book as for leather, and to insert the ends of the slips in a
split board, leaving a French joint, as described for library
bindings. Vellum is very stiff, and, if it is pasted directly to the
back, the book would be hard to open. It is best in this case to use
what is known as a hollow back.
[Illustration: FIG. 77.]
To make a hollow back, a piece of stout paper is taken which measures
once the length of the back and three times the width. This is folded
in three. The centre portion is glued to the back and well rubbed
down, and the overlapping edges turned back and glued one to the other
(fig. 78). This will leave a flat, hollow casing, formed by the single
paper glued to the back of the book and the double paper to which the
vellum may be attached. Or it is better to line up the back with
leather, and to place a piece of thick paper the size of the back on
to the pasted vellum where the back will be when the book is covered.
When the book is ready for covering, the vellum should be cut out and
lined with paper. In lining vellum the paste must be free from lumps,
and great care must be taken not to leave brush marks. To avoid this,
when the lining paper has been pasted it can be laid, paste downwards,
on a piece of waste paper and quickly pulled up again; this should
remove surplus paste and get rid of any marks left by the brush. When
the vellum has been lined with paper, it should be given a light nip
in the press between blotting-paper, and while still damp it is
pasted, the book covered, and the corners mitred. A piece of thin
string is tied round the head-caps and pressed into the French joint.
[Illustration: FIG. 78.]
Waterproof sheets are placed inside the covers, and the book then
nipped in the press and left to dry under a light weight. If the
vellum is very stiff and difficult to turn in, it may be moistened
with a little warm water to soften it.
Books with raised bands have sometimes been covered with vellum, but
the back becomes so stiff and hard, that this method, though it looks
well enough, cannot be recommended. Vellum is a durable material, and
can be had of good quality, but it is so easily influenced by changes
of temperature, that it is rather an unsuitable material for most
bindings.
BOOKS COVERED WITH EMBROIDERY AND WOVEN MATERIAL
To cover a book with embroidered material bind it with split boards, a
French joint, and a hollow back, as described for vellum (see fig.
78). Glue the back of the book with thin glue well worked up, and
turning in the head and tail of the embroidery, put the book down on
it so that the back will come exactly in the right place. Press down
the embroidery with the hand to make sure that it sticks. When it is
firmly attached to the back, first one board and then the other should
be glued, and the embroidery laid down on it. Lastly, the edges are
glued and stuck down on the inside of the board, and the corners
mitred. Velvet or any other thick material can be put down in the same
way. For very thin material that the glue would penetrate and soil,
the cover should be left loose, and only attached where it turns in. A
loose lining of good paper may be put between the book and the cover.
The inside corners where the cover has been cut should be neatly sewn
up. The edges of the boards and head-caps may be protected all round
with some edging worked in metal thread. It is well in embroidering
book covers to arrange for some portion of the pattern to be of raised
metal stitches, forming bosses that will protect the surface from
wear.
Should any glue chance to get on the surface, the cover should be held
in the steam of a kettle and the glue wiped off, and the cover again
steamed.