ROUNDING.
The word “rounding” applies to the back of the book, and is preliminary
to backing. In rounding the back, the book is to be laid on the press
before the workman with the foredge towards him; the book is then to
be held with the left hand by placing the thumb on the foredge and
fingers on the top of the book pointing towards the back, so that by
drawing the fingers towards the thumb, or by pressing fingers and thumb
together, the back is drawn towards the workman at an angle. In this
position the back is struck with the face of the hammer, beginning
in the centre, still drawing the back over with the left hand. The
book is then to be turned over, and the other side treated in the
same way, and continually |47| changed or turned from one side to
the other until it has its proper form, which should be a part of a
circle. When sufficiently rounded, it should be examined to see if one
side be perfectly level with the other, by holding the book up and
glancing down its back, and gently tapping the places where uneven,
until it is perfectly true or uniform. The thicker the book the more
difficult it will be found to round it; and some papers will be found
more obstinate than others, so that great care must be exercised both
in rounding and backing, as the foredge when cut will have exactly the
same form as the back. Nothing can be more annoying than to see books
lop-sided, pig-backed, and with sundry other ailments, inherent to
cheap bookbinding. |48|
[Illustration: Rounding Machine.]
The back when properly rounded should be about a third of a circle,
according to the present mode, but in olden times they were made almost
flat. They were not rounded as now done, but the swelling caused by
the thread used made quite enough rounding when put in the press for
backing.
Flat back books have a certain charm about them, the more so if in
other respects they are properly forwarded. The theory is altogether
averse to practical binding. I have always been given to understand
that we round our books in order to counteract the tendency of a book
to sink in and assume a convex back. Any old well-used book bound with
a flat back will show at once this defect.
Messrs. Hopkinson and Cope, of Farringdon Road, London, manufacture a
rounding machine. They claim that this machine will round 600 books per
hour, and that any desired “round” may be given to the book with great
uniformity.