We now come to the first step in the actual process of Bookbinding, viz., that of folding or refolding; the first term applying to new work, the second to rebound books.

In new work, the binder receives the sheets of the book from the printer flat, and not folded, and his first duty is to fold them so as to bring the pages into order, with propel' margins of plain paper all round. The manner of doing this

will depend upon the number of pages in each sheet, and the manner in which the printer arranges (technically, "imposes") them. In the first place, if we take a sheet of white paper, of any size, and desire to have it occupied by four large pages, the printer will so arrange them that when the sheet is printed there will be the impression of two pages on each side of the sheet, as at Fig. 19 (this shows both sides of pages).

Thus, one side will bear pages 1 and 4, and the other pages 2 and 3. This size is termed" folio," from the Latin word folium, a leaf, and consists of two leaves only.

Very many of the ancient books were folio, as the size was convenient to the printer. This sheet only requires folding up the back, in such sort that pages 2 and 3 fall accurately on each other. To do this, a clean millboard is laid on the work-bench, and a pile of first sheets (or, as a binder would say, of "section B ") is

laid upon it with the inner pages upwards, and the "head" on top of the pages farthest from the folder, page 2 being to his or her left hand, and page 3 to the right.

The folder holds a bone" folding-stick" in his right hand. He slightly" fans" out the heap of sheets by a circular motion of his folding-stick or thumb nail on the top of the heap. This permits the respective sheets to be seized expeditiously. The folder now, with his right hand, turns the right-hand portion of the top sheet (pages 1 and 4) over on to the left (pages 2 and 3), slightly doubling over the head of the page where the head-line and page figure are (as at Fig. 20), bending it a little over the folding-stick. He then advances the folding-stick and paper with his right hand until he sees that he has got the head-line and page figure of page 3 exactly on, and over, those of page 2. When this is achieved, he gives the folding-stick a rapid sweep down the centre of the doubled-over part (page 4), from head to tail,

as at Fig. 21, and the sheet is folded. The sheet is now cut into halves, and doubled again up the back. It is then placed on the left, and a second sheet proceeded with.

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