COVERING.
Books are covered according to the fancy of the binder or customer. The
materials used at the present day, are—leather of all sorts, parchment
or vellum, bookbinder’s cloth, velvet, needle-work, and imitation
leather, of which various kinds are manufactured, such as leatherette
and feltine.
Each kind requires a different manner of working or manipulation. For
instance, a calf book must not be covered in the same manner as a
velvet one: I will take each in the above order and explain how they
are managed.
Under the class of leather, we have moroccos of all kinds; russia;
calf, coloured, smooth, and imitation; roan, sheep, and imitation
morocco.
[Illustration: French Paring Knife.]
[Illustration: Method of Holding French Knife.]
[Illustration: German Paring Knife.]
The _morocco_ cover, indeed any leather cover, is to be cut out by
laying the skin out on a flat board, and having chosen the part or
piece of the skin to be used, the book is laid on it and the skin is
cut with a sharp knife round the book, leaving a space of about 3/4
of an inch for an 8vo, and more or less according to the size of the
book and thickness of board for turning in. The morocco |91| cover
should now have marked upon it with a pencil the exact size of the book
itself, by laying the book on the cover, and running the point of a
black lead pencil all round it. The leather must then be “pared,” or
shaved round the edges, using the pencil marks as a guide. This paring
process is _not_ so difficult, especially if a French knife is used,
such as may now be purchased at most material dealers. The chief point
being that a very sharp edge is to be kept on the knife, and that the
_burr_ is on the cutting edge. The knife is to be held in the right
hand, placing two fingers on the top with the thumb underneath. The
leather must be placed on a piece of marble, lithographic stone, or
thick glass, and held tightly strained between finger and thumb of the
left hand. Then by a series of pushes from the right hand, the knife
takes off more or less according to the angle given. The burr causes
the knife to enter the leather; if the burr is turned up the knife
will not cut but run off. If the knife is held too much at an angle
it will go right through the leather, a rather unpleasant experience,
and one to be carefully avoided. The leather should from time to time
be examined, by turning it over, to see if any unevenness appears, for
every cut will show. Especial attention should be given to where the
edges of the board go. The turning in at the head and tail should be
pared off as thin as possible, as there will be twice as much thickness
of leather on the back where turned in, the object of this care being,
that it must not be seen. The _morocco_ |92| cover should now be
wetted well, and grained up by using either the hand or a flat piece
of cork. This is to be done by gently curling it up in all directions;
and when the grain has been brought up properly and sufficiently, the
leather should be pasted on the flesh side with thin paste, and hung up
to dry. Should the leather be “straight grain,” it must only be creased
in the one direction of the grain, or if it is required to imitate any
old book that has no grain, the leather should be wetted as much as
possible, and the whole of the grain rubbed out by using a rolling pin
with even pressure.
[Illustration: Method of Holding Ordinary Knife.]
The Morocco leather first brought from _that_ country, had a peculiar
grain, and was dyed with very bright colours. It is now largely
manufactured in London and Paris; the French manufacture is the finest.
Russia and calf require no setting up of the grain, but russia should
be well rolled out with the rolling pin.
When the cover (morocco) is dry, it is to be well pasted, the squares
of the book set, so that each side has its proper portion of board
projecting. The book is then laid down evenly on the cover, which
must be gently drawn on; the back is drawn tight by placing the book
on its foredge and drawing the skin well down over it. The sides are
next drawn tight, and the bands pinched well up with a pair of _band
nippers_. The four corners of the leather |93| are cut off with a
sharp knife in a slanting direction, a little paste put on the cut
edge, and the operation of turning in may be commenced. The book must
be held on its edge, either head or tail, with a small piece of paper
put close to the head-band to prevent any paste soiling the edge or
head-band, and with the boards extended, the hollow is pulled a little
away from the back and the leather neatly tucked in. The leather is
next to be tightly brought over the boards and well rubbed down, both
on the edge and inside, with a folding stick, but on no account must
the outside be rubbed, or the grain will be taken away. The foredge is
to be treated in like manner, by tucking the corners in for strength.
The head-band is now to be set, by tying a piece of thread round the
book between the back and the boards in the slots cut out from the
corners of the boards; this thread must be tied in a knot. The book
being held in the left hand, resting on its end, the leather is drawn
with a pointed folding-stick, as it were, towards the foredge, and
flattened on the top of the head-band. When this is done properly it
should be exactly even with the boards, and yet _cover_ the head-band,
leaving that part of the head-band at right angles with the edge
exposed. With a little practice the novice may be able to ascertain
what amount of leather is to be left out from the turning-in, so that
the head-band can be neatly covered. The perfection in covering a book
depends upon the leather being worked sharp round the boards, but with
the grain almost untouched.
[Illustration: Band Nippers.]
Paste should be always used for morocco, calf, russia and vellum, in
fact for all kinds of leather; but in my humble opinion, all leather
with an artificial grain should be glued; the turning-in may be
with paste. The glue gives more |94| body to the leather, and thus
preserves the grain. _White_ morocco should be covered with paste
made _without any alum_, which causes it to turn _yellow_, and if the
leather is washed with lemon juice instead of vinegar when finishing,
the colour will be much improved.
_Russia_ is to be pared in the same way as morocco. It should be
damped, and rolled with a rolling-pin before covering, or stretched out
with a thick folding-stick.
_Calf_, either coloured or white, need be pared only round the
head-band. Calf should be covered with paste and the book washed when
covered with a clean damp sponge. In putting two books together, when
bound in calf of two different colours, a piece of paper should be
placed between, as most colours stain each other, especially green.
Care should be taken to handle calf as little as possible whilst wet,
and touching it with iron tools, such as knives and band nippers, will
cause a black stain. Morocco will bear as much handling as you like,
but the more tenderly calf is treated the better.
_Vellum or Parchment._—The boards should be covered with white paper,
to avoid any darkness of the board showing through. The vellum or
parchment should be pared head and tail, and the whole well pasted and
allowed to stand for a short time so that it be well soaked and soft.
The book should then be covered, but the vellum must not on any account
be stretched much, or it will, when dry, draw the boards up to a most
remarkable extent. It will perhaps be better if the book be pressed,
to make the vellum adhere better. The old binders took great pains in
covering their white vellum books. The vellum was lined carefully with
white paper and dried before covering: this in some degree prevented
the vellum from shrinking so much in drying, and enabled the workman to
give the boards a thin and even coat of glue, which was allowed to dry
before putting on the covering. |95|
_Roan_ should be covered with glue and turned in with paste. Head and
tail only need be pared round the head-band.
_Cloth_ is covered by gluing the cover all over and turning in at once:
gluing one cover at a time, and finishing the covering of each book
before touching the next.
Smooth cloth, cloth with no grain, may be covered with paste: great
care must be taken that no paste be on the fingers, or the cloth will
be marked very badly when dry.
_Velvet_ should be covered with clean glue not too thick; first glue
the _back_ of the book and let that set before the sides are put down.
The sides of the _book_ should next be glued, and the velvet laid down,
and turned in with glue. The corners should be very carefully cut or
they will not meet, or cover properly when dry. When the whole is dry
the pile may be raised, should it be finger marked, by holding the book
over steam, and if necessary by carefully using a brush.
_Silk and Satin_ should be lined first with a piece of thin paper
cut to the size of the book. The paper must be glued with thin clean
glue, rubbed down well on to the silk, and allowed to get dry, before
covering the book. When dry, cover it as with velvet.
* * * * *
Dr. Dibdin, whose knowledge of libraries and great book collectors must
stamp him as an authority, says that:—
“The general appearance of one’s library is by no means a matter
of mere foppery or indifference: it is a sort of cardinal point,
to which the tasteful collector does well to attend. You have a
right to consider books, as to their outsides, with the eye of a
painter; because this does not militate against the proper use of the
contents. . . . . Be sparing of red morocco or vellum, they have each so
|96| distinct, or what painters call spotty, an appearance, that they
should be introduced but circumspectly.”
I cannot agree entirely with the Doctor with regard to being sparing
with the red morocco. A library without colour is dark, dreary,
and repulsive. The library should be one of the most inviting and
cheery rooms in a house, and even if one cannot aspire to a room
entirely devoted to literature and study, let the bookcase, whatever
its position or however humble, be made as cheerful and inviting as
possible. What colour will do this so well as red? But it should be
judiciously dispersed with other colours.
If some standard colour were chosen for each subject, one might
recognize from some little distance the nature of the book by its
colour. For instance, all books relating to Military matters might be
in bright red; Naval affairs in blue; Botany in green; History in dark
red; Poetry in some fancy colour, such as orange, light blue, light
green, or olive, according to its subject; Divinity in dark brown;
Archæology in dull red, and Law in white as at present. This would give
a pleasing variety, and a light and cheerful appearance to a library.
An imitation russia leather is imported from America, of far greater
strength than the real. It is made from buffalo skins, and tanned in
the same way as the russia hides. This fact, combined with the price,
has doubtless caused this material to be received with favour in the
English market. It is to be had from nearly all leather sellers.
* * * * *
_Half-bound Work._—The title speaks for itself, the book has its back,
a part of the sides, and the corners covered with leather. The sides
are, after the leather is perfectly dry, covered either with cloth or
paper according to fancy, turned over the boards as with leather. The
book is then to be pasted down. Before the paper is put on the sides,
|97| all unevenness of the leather is to be pared away. This style has
gained its reputation very much on account of its economy; the amount
of leather required is less, and the work is as strong and serviceable
as in a whole-bound book. It will be better if the back be finished
before the corners are put on, as there is great likelihood that the
corners may get damaged to some extent during the process of finishing.
The outside paper may either match the colour of the leather, or be
the same as the edge or end papers. This, like many other rules in
bookbinding, is quite a matter of taste.