The folder should also be well rubbed in the joints to make the cover adhere to those parts where the back is likely to hold the leather off. If any derangement of the squares has taken place, it must now be rectified. The headband must next be set; this is an important operation, upon which much of the beauty of the work depends. It is usual to tie a piece of fine twine round the book between the back and the boards before the headband is set. This cord rests in the places where the inner corners of the bands at head and tail are cut off (Fig. 111), and should be tied in a knot.

With a small smooth folder, one end a little pointed, the double fold of the leather at head must be rubbed, to make it adhere; and if the boards have been cut at the corners, the hand must be applied thereon, and headband forced close to the leather and made even on the back with the fingers, while a neat cap is formed of the projecting part on the top of it. . The folder is then applied again to the edges of the boards, to ensure their square appearance. The cap of the headband should be exactly level with the boards, and yet cover the headband neatly and completely. The grain of the morocco should be nowhere marked or obliterated. The perfection of covering in

morocco is to have all the edges of the boards sharp and square, without the grain of the leather being anywhere destroyed.

In some cases, when the leather is unusually thick or untractable some binders" tie up" the bands, to ensure the adhesion of the cover to the back, in the manner following. A pair of backing-boards are placed on each side of the book at the fore edge in such manner that they project slightly over it, and are then secured by a cord with a slip-knot (see Fig. 112). Another knot of the same kind is made at the end of a longer piece of cord, and the loop is placed crossways around one of the end bands. It is then drawn in a slanting direction over the backing-board at the fore edge, and drawn tight; next passed round the other band, then over the fore edge again, and so on with the other bands. This is roughly shown at Fig. 112, whence it will be seen that the cord, which should be kept fairly tight, presses down on each side of each band and drives the leather home there, while the backing-boards prevent the cord leaving any impression on the edge of the boards at the fore edge. This cord is left on all night until the cover is dry.

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