=Binding: The Process Described=
Books are now printed in large sheets from 4 to 64 pages at a time. In
many cases paper is drawn from a roll (as it is in the printing of a
newspaper), printed on both sides in large sections of 64 pages, and
cut and folded as it leaves the press. These sheets, of several pages
each, after being printed, are gathered into a complete book, sometimes
by a machine, and are then sewn together by a machine. This machine
for sewing is a comparatively recent invention. In most cases sewing
done on a machine is not as strong as the old-fashioned hand sewing.
The sections, or signatures, or folds of the book, as the several sets
of several pages each are called, are caught together only by thread;
strings or tapes are not used. This sewing is then reinforced by a
piece of cloth, usually thin, cheap muslin, or poor super, which is
pasted over the back and allowed to extend a little way down each side.
But sewing on a machine can be done with strings added and made very
strong.
[Illustration: Sewing
A Section of Fifteenth Century sewing on double bands
with head and tail bands.
B Section of modern "flexible" sewing round single bands.
C Section of ordinary sewing with sunk bands.
D Section of tape sewing advocated for cheap work in
place of C.
From report of the Committee on Leather for Bookbinding. Edited for
Society of Arts. London: Bell & Sons, 1905.]
Covers for books are now made by machines into which are fed pieces
of cardboard and a roll of cloth. The machine cuts the cloth into the
proper size, pastes it and folds it over the boards into a cover,
leaving a loose place between the two boards to be filled by the body
of the book. This cover is then printed in a machine much like a
printing press; the gold of the title on the back or sides or both,
and the colors or blank impressions, for ornament, all being impressed
on it with great rapidity. The completed cover, called a case, is then
pasted to the sides of the book. A book thus bound has nothing to hold
cover and inside together save a strip of thin muslin, with a strip
of paper which goes over it, passing from the back of the book to the
inside of the board covers. This strip grows weak after a little use
and frequently breaks, or pulls away from the cover, or from the back,
or from both. Books printed on cheap paper and folded and sewed and
bound by machinery in the manner thus very briefly outlined can be
produced and sold at present for 10 cents each, or even less.
Books printed with more care, on better paper, with a better quality of
cloth on the cover, and a more elaborate title in real gold instead of
some cheaper imitation of it, books, that is, like the novels issued by
the better class of publishers, can be produced in quantities of from
one to three thousand, for from 15 to 30 cents each. Few of the novels
put on the market today cost the publishers, for their making alone,
as much as the latter price. To this must be added a royalty to the
author, generally 10% of the retail price, the cost of the management
of the business and the advertising. In the case of small editions,
one or two thousand, this brings the original cost of the average work
up to 50 or 75 cents. Suppose this book to be offered at retail at
$1.25. There must then be deducted from this retail price the discount
to the jobber, 25 to 40 +10%, and the royalty, and the advertising,
and the cost of production, etc., leaving a profit to the publisher of
from 5 to 20 cents on each volume. A well-made and widely advertised
novel which does not sell more than a thousand copies is not a very
profitable product for a publisher to put out.
The school text-books issued by the more reputable publishing houses
are generally very well made. They are printed on good paper, usually
rather highly calendered, with good ink, are bound with extra care, and
have good material in their covers. The competition between school book
publishers makes it necessary for them in self-defense to produce books
which will wear well in the hands of the average pupil.
Up to a few years ago all books were sewn by hand, the covers were made
by hand, and hand work was employed in putting book and cover together.
The process of sewing by hand may be briefly described as follows: Two
or more strings or tapes are stretched between the edge of a board and
a stick held horizontally above it by two uprights. The book folded
and ready for sewing, after having been either pressed or beaten with
a hammer to make it lie smooth, is held in a vise and two saw cuts
are made in the back at about the same distance from each other and
from the ends. Two smaller saw cuts are also made in the back of the
book, one between each of the larger ones and the opposite ends of the
back. The first signature--the fold or section made of a large sheet
folded--of the book is laid on the board so that the larger saw cuts
are opposite the two strings. A thread is passed through the small
cut at one end, into the middle of the fold, then out again by the
first string, around the string, and in again to the middle of the
fold, then along the inside of the fold to the next string, around
that string, along inside the fold, then out again at the other small
cut. The second signature is then laid on top of the first. The thread
is passed into the small cut, along and around the two strings, as
with the first signature, and out at the other end, where it is tied
to the end of the thread which has been left sticking out of the
first saw cut for this purpose. This process is continued until the
book is all fastened together and to the strings. As the sewing goes
on, the several signatures are caught together at the smaller holes
at each end by passing the thread, as it comes out of the hole, down
and under the loop made by the passing of the thread between the two
signatures previously sewn. In the case of a book containing a large
number of signatures the thread does not extend the whole length of
each fold, but passes from one to another as it goes the length of
the book, gathering on two signatures at once. Sometimes, by using
four strings instead of two, the string is made to pass through and
to sew on three signatures at a time. Examples of this two-on and
three-on method can be seen in almost any large book bound prior to 15
or 20 years ago. In very careful binding by hand in the early days of
book-making, the strings were not set into saw cuts, but were simply
laid across the back of the book. The thread came out of the signature
and passed around the strings, and went in again. The strings, with
the thread thus wrapped around them, made a welt across the back of
the book. These welts, when covered by the leather of the binding,
showed as raised bands. These raised bands are imitated by pasting bits
of leather on the back in much so-called fine binding today. In some
cases the old process is employed and the bands have a real reason
for existence. Books are sometimes sewn on tapes or strips of vellum.
These, laid across the back, sometimes make ridges which are treated as
bands in the completed book.
In old bindings, to give the book a better appearance at top and
bottom, what is called a headband was put on with thread, the thread
passing through the signatures and from one signature to another
in such a way as still more securely to hold these together. Today
the headband is still used; but usually it is simply pasted in and
is little more than an ornament. Sometimes the book's back is still
further reinforced by pasting or gluing to it a piece of vellum,
leather or heavy cloth before the process of putting on the cover
begins.
Set rules for sewing books should not be laid down. Each book is
treated by the skillful binder, or should be, in accordance with the
character of its paper, the number of inserts, the thickness of the
paper, the size of the signatures, the size of the leaves, the use it
is to receive, and other facts. The good binder binds each book well
according to its kind.
[Illustration: Showing a Method of Sewing on Tapes
The catching up of the alternate groups of threads as they cross the
bands renders the sewing firmer. There are other methods of achieving
this end.
From report of the Committee on Leather for Bookbinding. Edited for
Society of Arts. London: Bell & Sons, 1905.]
After the book is properly sewn, the strings on which it is gathered
are cut off a short distance from the sides. Pieces of cardboard are
cut of the proper size for a cover. The ends of the strings are laced
into them or fastened down upon them with paste or glue. The leather
for the cover is then pasted or glued to the back and the outside of
the boards. The ends are turned over the boards and at the top and
bottom of the book are turned down and pasted to themselves, thus
forming a roll or crown which lies up close to the headband. The sides
are then covered, if the book is not to be bound in full leather, with
cloth or paper or other material. The outside sheets of the books,
called end-sheets, are then pasted to the inside of the cover and the
book is practically complete.
The back of the book is always covered with glue after the sewing and
before the leather or cloth is put on. This glue is thin and hot, and
is put on to hold together the backs of the signatures. In rounding,
the binder manipulates the book with the hands, and taps it with a
hammer until the proper shape is secured. This is done after the coat
of glue has been applied. In edition work this is done on a machine.
In backing the book is held between two metal, or metal-edged, plates
close up to the back, the back having been stiffened previously with a
coat of glue which has not set very firmly; and with a hammer the backs
of the signatures are pounded down and out, making a slight ledge or
groove along the outer edges against which set later the boards of the
covers.
If the book is to be tight back the cloth or leather is glued direct
to the backs of the signatures thus rounded, though often a thin piece
of cloth, super, is first glued on, extending over onto the sides. If
it is to be loose back a double fold of paper is attached to the back,
one sheet to the back and one to the cover material. The leather or
cloth then stands out from the book, when it is open, being attached
to it only at the joints. It is in loose back binding, as said above,
that cloth or leather is sometimes glued fast and with great care to
the back before the cover goes on, thus taking the place of the leather
of the cover in the tight back book. In the best binding this backing
extends over through or past the joint and onto the sides or covers;
and is also firmly attached, at the joint, to the leather of the back.
In the Newark library we use for this a thin soft muslin of the best
quality.
[Illustration: Showing Method of Attaching Tape Slips or Ends of Bands
to a Split Board Leaving a "French Joint"
From report of the Committee on Leather for Bookbinding. Edited for
Society of Arts. London: Bell & Sons, 1905.]
This description of the process of binding is a suggestive outline
only. Enough has been said, however, to show that the books sewn by
hand and fastened carefully to the cover as described will, if properly
made, wear much longer than a book bound by machinery, if bound as
above described. But, just as a machine properly handled can produce
paper of greater uniformity of thickness and of a quality superior in
many respects to the best hand-made paper, so the machines used in
binding can, if properly handled, bind books even more strongly than
can any save the most careful workman. The possible differences between
machine-made books can easily be noted in the cheap novels of the day,
which are poorly bound, and well-made law books and encyclopædias.
These latter are often faithfully put together and will stand almost as
much wear as any books ever produced.