Bookbinding and The Care of Books
Douglas Cockerell with Drawings by Noel Rooke and other
Illustrations New York 1902
Bookbinding Chapter II Part 1
for that purpose, with the date of entry, and customer’s name and address,
and any instructions he may have given, written out in full underneath,
leaving room below to enter the time taken on the various operations and
cost of the materials used. It is well to number the entry, and to give a
corresponding number to the book. It should be at once collated, and any
special features noted, such as pages that need washing or mending. If the
book should prove to be imperfect, or to have any serious defect, the owner
should be communicated with, before it is pulled to pieces. This is very
important, as imperfect books that have been “pulled” are not returnable to
the bookseller. Should defects only be discovered after the book has been
taken to pieces, the bookbinder is liable to be blamed for the loss of any
missing leaves.
BOOKS IN SHEETS
The sheets of a newly printed book are arranged in piles in the printer’s
warehouse, each pile being made up of repetitions of the same sheet or
“signature.” Plates or maps are in piles by themselves. To make a complete
book one sheet is gathered from each pile, beginning at the last sheet and
working backwards to signature A. When a book is ordered from a
publisher in sheets, it is such a “gathered” copy that the binder receives.
Some books are printed “double,” that is, the type is set up twice, two copies
are printed at once at different ends of a sheet of paper, and the sheets have
to be divided down the middle before the copies can be separated.
Sometimes the title and introduction, or perhaps only the last sheet, will be
printed in this way. Publishers usually decline to supply in sheets fewer than
two copies of such double-printed books.
If a book is received unfolded, it is generally advisable at one to fold up the
sheets and put them in their proper order, with half-title, title, introduction,
&c.,and, if there are plates, to compare them with the printed list.
Should there be in a recently published book defects of any kind, such as
soiled sheets, the publisher will usually replace them on application,
although they sometimes take a long time to do so. Such sheets are called
imperfections,” and the printers usually keep a number of “overs” in order
to make good such imperfections as may occur.
FOLDING
Books received in sheets must be folded. Folding requires care, or the
margins of different leaves will be unequal, and the lines of printing not at
right angles to the back.
Books of various sizes are known as “folio,” “quarto,” “octavo,”
“duodecimo,” &c. These names signify the number of folds, and
consequently the number of leaves the paper has been folded into. Thus, a
folio is made up of sheets of paper folded once down the centre, forming
two leaves and four pages. The sheets of a quarto have a second fold,
making four leaves and eight pages, and in an octavo the sheet has a third
fold, forming eight leaves and sixteen pages (see fig. 2), and so on. Each
sheet of paper when folded constitutes a section, except in the case of folios,
where it is usual to make up the sections by inserting two or more sheets,
one within the other.
Paper is made in several named sizes, such as “imperial,” “royal,” “demy,”
“crown,” “foolscap,” &c. so that the terms “imperial folio” or “crown
octavo” imply that a sheet of a definite size has been folded a definite
number of times.
email: info@aboutbookbinding.com