PRINTING AND ITS ALLIED ARTS
If there ever was a boy who did not want a printing press I have yet to
meet him. Ever since the day when Gutenburg[65] invented movable types,
and that was some 500 years ago, every boy--and not a few men--have
wanted to set a few stickfuls of type and run off some impressions on a
press, and many thousands of them have gratified that highly civilized
ambition.
[65] Johanne Gutenburg was a German printer. He invented movable
types about the year of 1450.
But you fellows of to-day have all the best of it, for you can buy
a printing outfit complete for $1.50 on up to anything you want to
pay for it. After all is said and done though, you can get more real
enjoyment out of a small self-inking press than you can out of a larger
one. Not only is there a lot of fun in printing cards, etc., for
yourself but there is money in it too, if you go about it the right
way, but that is another story.[66]
[66] To make money out of job-printing on a small scale read _Money
Making for Boys_ by the present author and published by Dodd, Mead
and Co., New York City.
=Kinds of Printing Presses.=--There are two kinds of printing presses
made and these are (1) _hand inked_ presses, and (2) _self-inking_
presses.
You can make a printing press out of wood but to do a good job you must
have a press built of iron and properly _machined_, that is finished
up, for to do good printing a good outfit is needed to begin with.
Small hand inked and self-inking presses are sold in the toy
departments of nearly all stores at prices ranging from $1.50 to $5.00
and this will include a font of type. Many of these little presses are
made which use type about half the length of regular type and if you
get a press of this kind you will never know the real joy of printing.
=The Parts of a Self-Inking Press.=--The _Excelsior_ is the name of a
small self-inking printing press that has been on the market for 50
years and it is a good one. The description of it which follows will
fit any other model self-inking press just as well, for they are all
built on the same principle.
There are seven chief parts to this press and these are (1) the body;
(2) the type bed; (3) the platen; (4) the ink-roller carriage; (5) the
ink table; (6) the chase, and (7) the handle, all of which are shown in
Fig. 63.
The body of the press serves to support all the other parts. The bed,
as you will see, is really a part of the body casting and the feet of
the type rest against it. For this reason it must be perfectly smooth
and even, and it is planed off, that is machined, to make it so.
The platen is pivoted to the middle of the body and it swings up to
and parallel with the bed and away from and out at an angle to it. The
card, or sheet of paper to be printed is laid on the platen and is
brought up and into contact with the type which rests on the bed. A
pair of grippers are hinged to the platen to hold the paper in place
while it is being printed but releases it when the platen moves back.
[Illustration: FIG. 63. A MODEL SELF-INKING PRINTING PRESS]
The ink-roller carriage is connected by levers to the platen and when
the latter moves to and fro the rollers run over the type to ink it;
the rollers get their ink from the ink table and this is a disk which
revolves and on which the ink is spread; the ink table is made to
revolve a little at a time so that the rollers will pass over every
part of it in every direction and so distribute the ink evenly.
The type when set is _locked_ in an iron frame called a _chase_ and
this fits on the bed; and finally all the movable parts are coupled to
the handle and when this is moved up and down it makes them perform
their various functions.
=How the Press Works.=--Let’s suppose now, that you have the type set
in the chase and the chase is fixed in the press; that you have put
some ink on the ink-table and a card or a sheet of paper on the platen.
Now when you press down on the handle it moves the platen up, the
grippers hold the card, or sheet of paper to it, the arms pivoted to
the platen pull the ink rollers up and over the type and on to the ink
table which turns through a small _arc_, that is, part of a circle, by
a ratchet so that it keeps a fresh surface exposed to the ink rollers
all the time.
When the card, or paper makes contact with the type you pull the handle
up; this swings the platen back; the grippers relax their pressure;
the ink-rollers move down over the face of the type; you take out the
printed card or sheet with your left hand and put in a blank one with
your right hand, when you are ready to make another impression.
It may surprise you to know that any one can print from 500 to 600
cards an hour and if you are expert you can run off from 1,000 to 2,000
cards per hour.
=Sizes and Prices of Presses.=--The Excelsior press comes in three
sizes and the price depends on the size of the chase. (1) A press
having a chase 3 × 5 inches costs $5.00 and this is large enough to
print cards, labels, envelopes, etc.; (2) a 5 × 8 press costs $18.00
and this one will do nice jobs up to postal card size; and (3) a 6
× 10 press costs $25.00 and is large enough to print bill-heads,
letter-heads and circulars, or you can print a little newspaper on it.
=The Outfit You Need.=--Your outfit will, of course, depend largely on
the size of press you have.
_Outfit for a 3 × 5 Press._--A couple of dollars will buy all the
_fixtures_ you need and these consist of (a) a _font of type_, (b) some
_leads_, (c) a _type case_, (d) an assortment of _furniture_, and (e) a
can of _black ink_.
A font of type means enough of a kind having the same _face_ and
_body_ and the right amount of each letter to set up an ordinary job.
You will find more about type under the next heading called _Type and
Typesetting_. Leads are thin strips of type metal less than type-high
which are used to separate the lines of type; and a type case is a
shallow wooden tray divided into little compartments called _boxes_ in
which the letters of a font of type are kept apart.
_Outfit for a 5 × 8 Press._--The fixtures of a press of this size
include all of those named above and (a) three fonts of type, (b) type
cases for them; (c) a set of _gage pins_, and (d) a pair of _tweezers_,
or a _bodkin_. The gage-pins are pinned into the paper backing on the
platen to keep the card or sheet from slipping and to hold it in its
proper place. The tweezers, or bodkin, which is a large needle, is used
for picking out type from a form when you are correcting it.
_Outfit for an 8 × 10 Press._--This outfit should have all the
fixtures of both of those described above and you will need not less
than four fonts of type, while a _composing stick_, which is a little
metal tray to hold the type in as you set it, is a necessity. These
fixtures are shown in Fig. 64.
[Illustration:
_PAPER GUAGE_
_=A=--WOOD FURNITURE_
_=B=--A LEAD_
_=D=--A BOUGHT GUAGE PIN_
_=E=--REGULAR PRINTER’S TWEEZERS WITH COARSE SERRATED FLAT POINTS_
_A BODKIN_
_=C=--A COMMON PIN BENT FOR A GUAGE PIN_
_A COMPOSING STICK_
FIG. 64. AN OUTFIT FOR A MODEL PRESS]
=About Type and Setting Type.=--_Relative Number of Type Letters._--In
looking over type catalogues you will see that the fonts are listed
as 4A, or 8A-10A, etc. Now this means that in the 4A font there are 4
capital A letters and that all of the other letters are in proportion
to the A’s that are likely to be used, thus:
[Illustration:
A 4A FONT
A B C D E F G H I J K L M
No. of letters to font 4 2 3 3 5 2 2 3 4 2 2 3 3
N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
No. of letters to font 4 4 3 2 4 4 4 2 2 2 2 2 2]
With an 8A-10a font there are of course twice as many of each capital
letter as in a 4A font while of the _lower case_ letters, which means
the small ones, there are 10 a’s and the number of the others are in
proportion to their use, thus:
[Illustration:
AN 8A-10a FONT
a b c d e f g h i j k l m
No. of letters to font 10 4 6 8 18 4 4 8 10 2 3 8 6
n o p q r s t u v w x y z
No. of letters to font 10 10 6 3 10 10 10 6 4 4 2 4 2]
_Styles of Type._--For card work you want a plain block letter font
like that shown at A, a script like B, or an old English like that
shown at C.
For envelopes, bill, letter head and other job work three fonts of
engraved plate style as shown at D, E and F will give good results.
[Illustration:
23A $1.00
A +THEODORE ROOSEVELT+ +1234567890+
8A 24a $4.50
B +Miss Alice Verlet+ +123456789+
11A 34a $2.50
C +Lieut. John Hodder Stuart+ +123456789+
22A $1.00
D +ENGRAVED CARD STYLE IS PREFERRED+ +52468+
16A $1.05
E +HANDSOME ENGRAVED EFFECTS+ +123+
A16 $1.25
F +ENGRAVED PLATE STYLE+ +140+]
For circulars you should have several fonts of different styles of type
as shown at G, H, I, J and K.
[Illustration:
18A 36a $2.90
G +CLEAR CUT Faces Popular+ +123+
15A $1.95
H +EXCELSIOR PRESSES+ +12345+
A $2.10
I +GRAINO+ +1+
10A 15a $5.35
J +GOOD for many places+ +3+
11a 20a $3.00
K +Good and Clear for poster and circular
printing. A fine addition to any
printing office.+ +12345678+]
And finally should you intend to print a cook-book, a town directory
or a newspaper you will need a half, or a full font of _12 point plain
pica Roman_, as it is called, and which is shown at L.
[Illustration:
L +12 Point No. 1, 25 lbs. $12.00. (Half font, 12¹⁄₂ lbs., $6.50)
PLAIN Pica Roman, a FACE for many uses. Books, circulars and
jobbing. Very clear and easy to read. Cast from nickel metal and
most durable known.+ +£ $ L z 1234567890+]
_The Parts of a Type._--Before explaining how to set type, make ready
and print, there are a few little things about letters and about type
which are good to know.
First let’s take, by way of illustration, the letter +H+ =H=.
Now you will observe that the first +H+ is plain and the second
one is embellished by fine lines at the top and bottom and these
embellishments are called _ser′-ifs_.
As simple a bit of metal as a type has more parts to it than you can
shake a stick at, but you ought to learn them by heart. Named, these
parts are (a) the _body_ of the type; (b) the _front_; (c) the _back_;
(d) the _face_ or _letter_; (e) the _nicks_; (f) the _feet_; (g) the
_groove_; (h) the _shoulder_; (i) the _bevel_, and (k) the _pin marks_,
and all of these are pointed out in Fig. 65.
[Illustration: FIG. 65. THE PARTS OF A TYPE]
It very often happens in _italics_ and script type that a part of a
letter will stand out beyond the body and this little extension is
called the _kern_. The nick in the type is to help the type-setter,
or _compositor_ as he is called, to set the type the right way in the
stick, that is you always set the type with the nicks down and toward
you.
The pin-mark is made by a sharp instrument which removes it from the
mold. Finally a c e m n o r s u v w x z are called short letters; j
is a long letter in that it takes up the full breadth of the face;
b d f h i l t are _upstroke_, or ascending letters, while g p q are
_downstroke_ or descending letters.
_The Sizes of Type._--Type is made in standard sizes and not so very
long ago each size was known by a name. Then a change was made and the
_point system_,[67] as it is called, came into general use. The sizes
under the old and the new systems are given in the following table and
it will enable you to know type sizes both by name and by point.
[67] This is the standard system of sizes for type bodies. It is so
called because it is measured in decimal points or fractions of an
inch; that is, 1 point is .0138 inch, so that _nonpareil_, as it used
to be called, is now 6 point and bourgeois is 9 point, etc.
[Illustration:
TABLE OF TYPE SIZES
OLD NAMES OF SIZES NEW POINT SIZES
Pearl 5 point
Agate 5¹⁄₂ “
Nonpareil 6 “
Minion 7 “
Brevier 8 “
Bourgeois 9 “
Long Primer 10 “
Small Pica 11 “
Pica 12 “
English 14 “
Great Primer 18 “]
_Your Type Cases._--There are two kinds of _type cases_ and these are
made to hold (1) the capital, or _upper case_ letters, and (2) the
small or _lower case_ letters.
The reason the capitals are called _upper case_ letters is because
the case that holds them is set higher on the _composing stand_ than
the case which holds the small letters; this brings the small letters
nearer to the hand of the compositor and as they are used more than
the _caps_ he can set the type faster. The arrangement of the cases is
shown at A in Fig. 66.
[Illustration: FIG. 66A. HOW THE TYPE CASES ARE ARRANGED]
There are several schemes of type-cases but I shall only describe three
of them. The first is a small type case 12¹⁄₂ inches square with 48
boxes in it and you can buy one for 35 cents. It is good enough for any
one who doesn’t want to go to the bother of learning the regular case.
A plan view of the _lay_ of a regular upper and a lower case is shown
at B and C. You will see that the =e= box in the lower case is larger
than any other and this is because there are more =e=’s used in setting
up a job than any other one letter. And you will also observe that the
letters are distributed and the boxes spaced in a very uneven way, but
this arrangement brings the letters that are used the most into the
easiest places to reach.
[Illustration: FIG. 66B. THE UPPER CASE]
[Illustration: FIG. 66C. THE LOWER CASE]
_Setting the Type._--Where you have more than one line to set you
should by all means use a _composing stick_ and a small one will cost
you a dollar. It should be held in the left hand as shown in Fig. 67,
that is, with the open side from you and the slide to the left.
Now read a few lines of your _copy_, pick the first letter from its box
and set it in the _left hand_ corner of the stick with the nick in the
type toward your thumb. Take the next letter from its box and let it
slide into the composing stick against the first letter and so on from
_left_ to _right_ until you have the first word set up.
[Illustration: FIG. 67. HOW TO HOLD A COMPOSING STICK]
Now put in a medium sized _space_, which is made just like a type but
only shoulder high and without any letter on it, and begin to set the
next word. If when you get to the end of the line there is a space left
but not enough to start another word, put a thin space between the
words to lengthen out the line, or _justify_ it as it is called.
When you have set the line put a lead, that is a thin strip of
typemetal which comes to the shoulder of the type, against it and start
a new line and so on until you have the stick half full of type.
The type must now be taken out of the stick and placed on a smooth
surface, such as a piece of slate or a stone called an _imposing
stone_, and to do this without dropping some or all of the type and
making _pi_ of it, takes practice. To do it like a journeyman, put a
lead at the top and bottom of the type, set the stick on the stone,
grip the top and bottom with your fore fingers and thumbs and the sides
with your other fingers, hold it tight and you can then easily lift it
out and into the chase as shown in Fig. 68.
[Illustration: FIG. 68. PUTTING A STICK OF TYPE IN THE CHASE]
A good way for you to do it at first is to wet the type after you have
it set in the composing stick when it will hold together without much
trouble. When you can manage half-a-stick full of type you can then
try a stick full.
=Making Ready.=--After you have the type, which is to make up the
_form_, set in the _chase_ on the imposing stone, or table, fill in the
top and bottom spaces with long pieces of wood furniture and the ends
with hollow metal furniture and then _lock up the form_, that is screw
or otherwise fix it in the chase.
Now there are two kinds of chases used with small presses and these
are (1) _screw_ chases and (2) _plain_ chases. A screw chase has a
couple of screws fitted into the top of it so that after the type and
furniture are in the chase you only need to tighten up the screws to
hold the form in place.
[Illustration: FIG. 69. TOOLS FOR LOCKING UP A CHASE]
When a plain chase is used, _quoins_, that is wedges made of wood, as
shown in Fig. 69--you can get a dozen hickory ones for a nickel--must
be set in between the furniture and the chase and these are forced
together with a mallet and a _shooting stick_, so that the type is held
firmly in place.
The next thing to do is to _plane_ the form, that is, you take a block
of wood one side of which is covered with a piece of felt. Lay this on
the type and tap it gently with the mallet to get all of the type even
on top. You can make a _planer_ or buy one for a quarter ready made.
This done, fit the chase in the press and put three or four sheets of
paper on the platen by means of the pivoted bands on the edge of the
latter. Ink the type and run off a few impressions; but be careful that
the grippers are set so that they will just catch the _edges_ of the
sheet but will not strike the type form.
If part of the impression does not come out plain, paste a piece of
paper on the paper backing on the platen and, oppositely, if a part of
the impression is too heavy a bit of the under sheet of paper backing
must be cut away.
When the impression is even on the platen sheet paste a piece of
cardboard below and another to the left hand side of it so that the
card or the sheet of paper will lay on the platen in exactly the right
place every time you feed it in.
Instead of cardboard you can use three bent pins to gage the sheet, or,
still better, use regular steel gage pins (see Fig. 64), for these can
be adjusted to a nicety.
=Printing the Job.=--All that remains for you to do now is to put about
as much ink as you can get on the point of the blade of a penknife on
the ink table and then roll it out thin and even with a small hand
roller.
Lay your stock on the table to the right of the press and feed in a
card or a sheet at a time with your right hand and see to it that you
get it in squarely against the gage pins; take away your hand and press
the handle down with your left hand; raise it up, take the printed
sheet out with your left hand, feed in another one and so on until the
job is done.
=How to Clean Type.=--As soon as you have printed a job take the chase
from the press and before you unlock the form rub the face of the type
with a rag dipped in benzine, or turpentine and when all the ink and
smut is gone wipe it with a clean rag.
If the type gets clogged up with ink wash it out with a tooth-brush
dipped in benzine and when the ink on the table and the rollers gets
dirty or does not work well wash it off with benzine also. To do good
printing everything must be immaculately clean.
=About Distributing Type.=--After you have cleaned the type, unlock
the form and then take a line o’ type at a time on a lead in your left
hand; pick off two or three letters at once and drop each one into its
respective box.
=The Ink and Rollers.=--_The Ink._--While of course you will buy your
ink all ready to use you may like to know how it is made. Here’s a
recipe for a printing ink that is as old as the hills and as good as
gold: _Balsam of capivi_ 4¹⁄₂ ounces; _lampblack_ 1¹⁄₂ ounces; _indigo_
⁵⁄₈ ounce; _India red_ ³⁄₈ ounce, and _turpentine dry soap_ 1¹⁄₂
ounces; mix these ingredients well in a _mortar_ with a _pestle_; then
mix the mass with _boiled linseed oil_ to the right thickness.
When buying ink for job printing get one that is a _quick drier_ and
this costs from 50 cents to $1.50 a pound according to quality. You can
also buy colored inks in red, white, blue, yellow, green, brown and
purple in 4 ounce cans for 60 cents a can.
_The Rollers._--While it is cheaper and better to buy ink rollers ready
made, if you want to try your hand at making them yourself get 1 pound
_Peter Cooper’s best glue_; 1 quart _best sugar house syrup_, and 1
pint of _glycerine_.
Soak the glue in rain water until it is soft, drain off all the excess
water, put it in a glue pot and set it on a slow fire until it is
melted. Now put in the syrup, boil it for half an hour, stirring it the
while, and skim off the scum that comes to the top.
About 5 minutes before you take it from the fire add the other things
and then pour the mixture into the mold, which is simply a brass
cylinder of the diameter and length you want the roller. The _stock_,
as the spindle of the roller is called, is set exactly in the middle of
the mold and the composition is poured into it.
=Printing in Colors.=--Printing in two or more colors, or _color
printing_, is not only interesting work to do, but profitable, since
you can easily get orders for it. It is a little harder to do a good
job with colored inks than it is with black ink, but if you will use
plain type and good colored ink you will have small trouble in doing a
creditable job.
=Printing in Gold.=--When you want to print in gilt instead of in
black you can do it either by printing in black ink first and then
dusting bronze powder over it with a tuft of cotton, or print the job
with _gold size_ which makes the powder stick better. Dust the excess
powder off with a bit of cotton when the letters will stand out in gold
beautifully.
You can buy a 3 ounce can of gold size for a quarter and bronze powder
can be had in 1 ounce cans in gold, silver, cardinal red and copper.
All of the above materials can be bought of the Kelsey Press Company,
Meriden, Conn., and you ought to send for one of their catalogues.
=And Finally Your Stock Supply.=--You will need a supply of both
visiting and business cards; paper for labels, handbills and
newspapers--that is, if you intend to print one--and paper for
bill-heads, statements, letter-heads and envelopes to match them.
Cards come in all sizes and colors and in any quantity however small;
they are sold under the name of _thin white_, _thin colored_, _heavy
china_, _business bristol_, _fine bristol_, _extra fine bristol_,
_satin enameled_ and _linen finished bristol_. Then there are cards
with gold beveled and lace edges; fancy embossed, with round edges, and
for mourning.
Paper can be bought that is gummed on one side for labels; linen and
bond papers are used for correspondence; the cheapest kind of white and
colored paper is good enough for handbills but you should use a good
white stock for newspaper work. Before ordering stock of any kind the
best way to do is to send for a full set of samples and then you will
know just what you are buying.
The Art of Paper Making
Of course you know what paper looks like and how it feels, but it is
not so likely that you know what it is and how it is made; but paper
making is an art so old, so wonderful and so useful, that you ought to
make enough to know all about it.
=What Paper Is.=--Paper is made by chemical and mechanical processes
from rags, straw or wood into thin sheets. These materials are formed
of fibers made up of what chemists call _cellulose_[68] and this
substance is in turn composed of C₆H₁₀O₅, that is 6 atoms of carbon, 10
atoms of hydrogen and 5 atoms of oxygen.
[68] Cellulose forms the ground-work of all vegetable tissues whether
they are the tender shoots of a fern or the hard wood of trees.
=How to Make Paper.=--Whatever material you use to make the paper of it
must be converted into a _pulp_ first. Cotton or linen makes the best
paper--this is called rag paper--because these materials are nearly
pure cellulose to begin with.
_Making the Pulp._--To make a little paper take about a pound of white
cotton or linen rags and cut them up into little bits; boil them in a
solution of _caustic soda_ for a couple of hours, to get out all the
dirt and grease, and stir them often.
Next wash out the dirty water that has resulted from boiling them
and then the cotton or linen must be broken up and beaten until the
fibers are separated. You can do this by putting the fabrics into a
chopping bowl, wetting it down with clean water and then using a pair
of chopping knives on them until the fibers are cut fine, and you must
change the water often. In paper mills a _rag engine_, as it is called,
is used to wash and break up the rags.
[Illustration: FIG. 70. A FRAME FOR PAPER MAKING]
_The Molds You Need._--Make half-a-dozen frames of wood ¹⁄₄ inch thick
and ¹⁄₂ an inch wide, and about 5 × 8 inches on the sides; and cover
these with brass wire netting having about 20 wires to the inch as
shown in Fig. 70. School slate frames are good for this purpose.
_Laying the Paper._--Now spread a thin layer of pulp on the wire
netting of each frame, or mold, and set them to one side to dry. When
you have all the molds filled and the pulp is dry turn each frame
upside down on a sheet of blotting paper and lay another sheet of
blotting paper over the paper you are making.
In this way pile up the blotting paper and the paper in the making
and then put them under pressure; this you can do by placing the pile
between two smooth 1 inch thick boards and screwing them together with
a couple of wood clamps.[69] After an hour or so you can take the
clamps from the pile and separate the sheets of paper from the blotting
paper.
[69] A description of these clamps will be found in Chapter I.
Next place the paper between sheets of _oil board_,[70] make a pile of
them and screw them up between the wood clamps again good and tight
and leave them there over night; then hang up each sheet of paper by a
corner with a clip and let it dry.
[70] This is a heavy oiled paper and you can buy it at a painter’s
supply store, or of C. B. Hewitt and Bros., 48 Beekman St., New York
City.
=Sizing and Finishing.=--When the sheets are dry take them down and lay
them carefully in a pile for _sizing_. Make the sizing by dissolving
_gelatine_ in hot water until it is about as thick as milk with the
cream in it.
Pour the sizing into a shallow dish or, better, a photographic tray;
lay each sheet, first one side and then the other, on the sizing and
be careful to wet it evenly all over. Put the sized paper between the
sheets of oil board again, make a pile of them, screw on the wood
clamps, let them stay under pressure for half a day and, finally when
you take them out let them dry slowly and you will have a _hand made
paper_ that you have made with your own hands.
How to Bind Books
If you will look at this book carefully you will conclude that it would
be next to impossible to bind one that would even faintly resemble it.
But while I do not want you to believe that you can do a job that would
anywhere nearly equal it, you can bind a book good enough so that you
will not feel ashamed to let any one see it.
[Illustration:
THE BOARDS
BOARDS GLUED TO CLOTH
WIDTH OF BOOK
FIG. 71. HOW TO CUT BOARDS AND CLOTH FOR BOOK BINDING]
_Making the Cover._--First mark out with a rule and then cut out two
pieces of pasteboard each of which is just as wide as the book you are
going to bind and ¹⁄₄ inch longer as shown at A in Fig. 71.
Lay these boards on a piece of muslin or calico, or you can buy regular
book-binder’s cloth for the purpose[71] and cut it 2 inches wider than
the length of the boards and three times as long as the width of one
of them as shown at B.
[71] For book binders’ materials of all kinds send to Thomas Garner
and Co., 181 William Street, New York. For book binders’ leather
materials address Du Pont Febrikoid Co., Equitable Bldg., New York.
Coat these boards on one side with a good glue laid on thin and glue
them to the cloth so that they will be separated from each other by a
space ¹⁄₂ an inch wider than the thickness of the book you are binding
as shown at B and C; this done glue the edges of the cloth over on to
the other sides of the boards as shown at D in Fig. 72.
[Illustration: FIG. 72. SEWING ON THE MUSLIN FLAP]
While the back is drying take a piece of good muslin and cut it 1¹⁄₂
inches shorter than the length of the book and within 2 inches as wide
as the width of the back of the book when it is flat open. For instance
suppose the book is 5 inches wide and 1 inch thick which is 11 inches
in all; then you would cut the muslin 9 inches long. The muslin on the
book is shown at E.
_Sewing the Book._--The next operation is to sew this piece to the
back of the book; for this work you will need a thin sharp awl, a
hammer, a large darning needle and some strong linen thread--waxed
thread is the best.
Before doing so, however, take a sheet of good white paper and make a
couple of fly-leaves for the front and back of the book; now punch a
line of holes ¹⁄₈ inch from the back, through the book as shown at F,
then put on the piece of muslin and sew it to the book good and tight,
and be sure the flaps are even.
[Illustration: FIG. 73. THE BOUND BOOK COMPLETE]
This done spread some glue on the pasteboard covers, place the back
of the book on the cloth binding between the covers, turn it over on
the front cover and rub the muslin down smooth on it; then do the same
thing with the back. All that remains for you to do now is to turn back
one of the blank pages which you sewed on to the book and glue it on
the cover which will conceal the muslin flap.
After you have bound the book lay it between a couple of smooth boards
and screw it up tight between the jaws of a pair of wood clamps. Let it
stay there over night and in the morning when you take the wood clamps
off you will have one more book to add to your five foot shelf.
_Putting on the Title._--If you have a printing press you can print
the title of the book and the author’s name--don’t forget the author’s
name--on a slip of heavy paper and gild it, or on a piece of cloth and
glue it to the front of the cover as shown in Fig. 73.