MAKING THE COVER.
The boards for making the covers are cut the required size exactly as
when cutting for glueing; a packing of thin cardboard or thin wrappers
is cut for the back. The width of the back from first to last sheet is
carefully measured by laying across it a strip of paper, the dividers
are adjusted to the measure, and this is transferred to the wrapping
paper. The packing is cut to suit the boards in height. When cloth only
is used for the cover, the cloth is cut 2 to 2-1/2 cm. longer and about
4 cm. wider than the packing. The width of the back depends upon the
question of cost or other consideration. In whole-cloth bindings the
cloth is, of course, cut in one piece and 1 to 1-1/2 cm. larger all
round than the boards and back taken together. Glue is always used for
cloth. As piles of pieces of cloth shift about in glueing, a touch of
glue is given to two corners of the pile and left to dry a little. These
corners hold the pieces of cloth in position whilst being glued and
prevent the edges from being smeared. In glueing cloth it must be seen
that the glue is well rubbed into the grain or artificial indentations.
For covers which have only the back made, the packing is laid upon the
middle of the glued cloth and the boards hinged on right and left at
side of it, leaving, however, as much space between as is required by
the joint and the thickness of the boards. As a rule, the space required
will be as much as the thickness of the board. In making leather backs
one allows a little more.
The cloth back is at once turned in at head and tail after the boards
have been laid on, and the cover rubbed down in the groove with the
folder.
Turning-in is done by pushing the side to be operated on a little over
the edge of the table, and with the thumbs the cover is pressed over the
edges of the boards with a sliding motion, whilst the forefingers hold
the cover underneath.
Whole-cloth bindings are turned in in the same way, but in this case the
corners must be first cut off obliquely as shown in the illustration.
Fig. 60--Corners cut for turning in.
The cloth is cut off at the corners so close that only as much as the
thickness of the board remains. Thick boards have therefore more cloth
left at the corners than thin ones.
Fig. 61--Corners: Right and wrong.
The top and bottom edges must be turned in before the fore-edge. At the
corners, the cloth is nipped a little with the folder, without, however,
making an oblique fold; there should rather be a hollow round turn-over
remaining which is only drawn on with the fore-edge, then from the
corner slanting to the board.
The edges must always be turned in quite sharp; there must never be a
hollow place on the edge of the board. On the other hand, it looks bad
if the edges have been much rubbed down with the folder, at least with
cloth; it is different with leather.
The turned-in cover is turned and the front side well rubbed down under
paper with the folder. When cloth has once been glued it must not be
allowed to lie long as it rolls up and sticks together, which renders it
practically unworkable.
The finished covers are laid between pasteboards to dry; only when the
drying has to be done in a hurry may they be hung on stretched cords.
The latest in this work is a case machine which turns out 550 cases per
hour.
When leather is used, it must first be pared, that is to say, the parts
to be turned in where it is too thick in the joint must be gradually
thinned.
Fig. 62--Paring with Offenbach or Berlin knife.
The paring knife, of which there are various kinds, is used for this
work. The best known and the most generally used are the Offenbach and
the Berlin, both very much alike except for a slight difference in the
edge. The quickest paring knife is made after the French pattern.
This knife is called a "thrusting" knife because of the manner of using
it, in contradistinction to those generally used with a cutting motion;
but even these a skilful worker will be able to use with a thrusting
motion. The under side of the paring knife is covered with leather.
A lithographic stone or piece of marble will serve as a bed upon which
to pare the leather. The stone is set in a frame under which there is a
bar to hold it against the edge of the table so that it does not work
backwards whilst in use. All edges are rounded off and the surface is
ground and polished.
Ability in paring does not entirely depend upon the skilful use of the
knife but also upon the way the left hand manipulates the leather and
upon a thorough knowledge of the nature of the leather. It should not be
forgotten that the latter has a grain, though very few bookbinders pay
any heed to this. With many leathers it is a very difficult matter to
pare against the grain, especially pig-skin and cow-hide. One may
generally take it that a leather pares best in the direction in which it
stretches least. The grain runs from the back to the sides. The
Offenbach knife is narrower and ground more to a square point than the
Berlin knife, the edge of which forms a sort of half right-angle to the
blade. See manner of holding the knife in Fig. 62.
Quick working is an advantage of the Offenbach knife, which is due to
the fact that less attention need be given to holding the leather on the
stone, and paring proceeds from left to right, the left hand at the same
time helping to push the knife. The Berlin make pares from right to
left; here the blade is held almost parallel to the edge of the leather,
the point of the knife inclining to the leather; with the other the edge
is cut over slantingly with the point outwards.
To use the French knife requires more practice; the cutting edge is
almost at right angles to the knife, and, besides, the method of holding
it is somewhat unusual. For paring all thick leathers or large surfaces
it surpasses all other makes in execution. To make the leather more
workable for paring it is previously manipulated, that is to say, it is
turned flesh side outwards and rolled to and fro, whilst firm pressure
is applied with the second and third fingers of the right hand, thus
making it pliable.
Fig. 63--Paring with French knife.
In an ordinary bindery thin or split leathers are mostly used; these do
not require very much paring, which is only necessary for pig-skin and
the finest moroccos. The latter leather is narrowly pared about 2 to 3
mm. wide along the edge for half as well as for whole bindings. Only the
back is pared the whole width, therefore 1 to 1-1/2 cm. has to be nicely
gradated. Broken places, inequalities of the edge, or even holes to be
filled in, greatly add to the difficulty of the work.
In the thicker skins also--thick places often occur in the otherwise
thin skins--the joint must be thinned down. The packing is laid upon the
wrong side of the leather and its position marked out with the folder.
The leather is pared about 1 cm. in width along this line, that is to
say, it is pared so that 1/2 cm. right and left along the mark the
thickness of the leather is reduced.
As a rule, first-class books are not provided with a cover made in
advance, and even those described by publishers as "super extra" do not
rise above morocco goat.
We have to do with the following leathers which are mostly used for the
publishers' bindings: Goat-skin (of oriental hybrid sheep), morocco
goat, sheep-skin (unsplit sheep-skin), and split sheep-skin [or
so-called skivers]. There is another goat-skin, not Levanted, sold and
used under the name "bastard" leather. "Levanting" means to imitate by
pressing the grain natural to the skins from the Levant. Most kinds of
our leather receive their grain by such process.
For whole-leather bindings a narrow margin is pared down all round the
edges, the turn-in at the back is pared just as much as is necessary,
and also at the corners. The leather corners are cut slant-wise at the
outset, and the paring is done so that the thinning begins exactly at
the edge of the board.
In leather bindings the board, as well as the back packing, is glued on,
rubbed down, and the edges then pasted and turned in, the leather is
rubbed down sharply in the joint, the back, and on the edges; but a
folder must never be used on the leather covering the board itself.
It frequently happens that the board is finished off with round corners;
in this case, the method of turning in cloth as well as leather is
slightly different. The two neighbouring edges are turned in. The
leather or other material is cut off not quite so close as for square
corners, and the material is drawn very smoothly and neatly over the
edges in little folds, using a pointed folder for the work.
Illustration: Cover corner shapes, 1
Illustration: Cover corner shapes, 2
Books not wholly covered with cloth or leather get corners of the same
material as is used for the back. Cloth corners are not cut singly, but
a strip of material long enough for the required number of corners is
glued and then cut with the shears into pieces of this shape or, better,
placing them on the boards in such a way that the material projects a
little over the corner of the board. First of all, the lappets of the
top and bottom edges are turned in, the corners nipped in the manner
shown, and then the lappets of the fore-edge are also turned in. Leather
corners are treated in the same way, but these are cut from waste pieces
according to the zinc stencil plate kept for the purpose, and then pared
down.
Illustration: Cover corner shapes, 3
Glue is used for fixing on cloth corners, but strong paste is always
used for leather. All edges and corners are well rubbed down with the
folder and left smooth and sharp, but, on the other hand, the grain on
the board side must be left uninjured. Insufficient paring of the
corners or using only the fingers for turning-in causes very thick
edges; such work is out of date and would not be done by any thoughtful
workman.
Illustration: Half cloth or half leather corner.
Books bound in half-cloth or half-leather have the sides covered with
paper; the latter often with cloth. When cloth sides are used, the
material must always harmonize with the back both in regard to colour
and texture. On each side to be turned in the paper is cut 1 to 1-1/2
cm. larger than the surface of the board to be covered. The paper is cut
along the back with the knife and rule. The corners are turned down in
half right-angles according to the size of the cloth or leather corners
and somewhat smaller than these, and cut off with the shears as shown in
the illustration, using the fold as a guide.
Illustration: Small corner diagram
In ordinary work with very small corners, especially in large
quantities, the corners may simply be cut off diagonally, and if there
are many covers they are knocked up and the cutting is done with knife
and rule or with the machine.
As a trade article for the publishers, the finished cover is lined with
paper on the inside, both for the sake of improved appearance and to
prevent the drawing outwards. For every board a sheet of paper is cut
about 1/2 cm. smaller than the board and pasted on. The covers are
placed between boards to dry.
Covers are generally decorated in some way; as a rule by means of the
blocking press. Where they get any hand tooling, it is always done on
the book when bound, for which no case is made in advance. Simple gold
lines along the back and corners of the cover are excepted; such work is
known as "filleting."