Bookbinding and The Care of Books
Douglas Cockerell with Drawings by Noel Rooke and other
Illustrations New York 1902
Bookbinding Chapter III Part 2
THROWING OUT
on a guard as wide as the sheet of the book. Such maps, &c., should be placed at the end, so
that they may lie open for reference while the book is being read (see fig. 14). Large folded
maps or diagrams should be mounted on linen. To do this take a piece of jaconet and pin it out
flat on the board, then evenly paste the back of the map with thin paste in which there are no
lumps, and lay it on the linen, rub down through blotting-paper, and leave to dry. Unless the
pasting is done evenly the marks of the paste-brush will show through the linen. If a folded
map is printed on very thick paper each fold must be cut up, and the separate pieces mounted
on the linen, with a slight space between them to form a flexible joint.
A folded map must have in the back of the book sufficient guards to equal it in thickness at its
thickets part when folded, or the book will not shut properly (see fig. 15).
of the back caused by the guards.
If plates are very thick, they must be hinged, as shown at fig. II, B. this is done by cutting a strip
of about a quarter of an inch off the black of the plate, and guarding with a wide guard of linen,
leaving a small space between the plate and the pieces cut off to form a hinge. It will save some
swelling if the plate is pared and a piece of thinner paper substituted for the piece cut off (see fig.
II, C). If the plates are of cardboard, they should be guarded on both sides with linen, and may
even need a second joint.
A book that consists entirely of plates or single leaves must be made up into sections with
guards, and sewn as usual. In books in which there are a great many plates, it is often found that
two plates either come together in the centre of a section, or come at opposite sides of the same
pair of leaves. Such plates should be guarded together and treated as folded sheets (see fig. 13).
In order to be sure that the pages of a book to be guarded throughout will come in their proper
order, it is well to make a plan of the sections as follows, and to check each pair of leaves by it, as
they are guarded: -
Thus, if the book is to be made up into sections of eight leaves, the pairs of leaves to be guarded
together can be seen at once if the number of the pages are written out -
1, 3, 5, 7, - 9, 11, 13, 15.
First the inside pair, 7 and 9, are guarded together with the guard outside, then the next pair, 5
and 11, then 3 and 13, and then the outside pair, 1 and 15, which should have the guard outside.
A plan for the whole book would be more conveniently written thus –
1-15 17-31 33-47
3-13 19-29 35-45
5-11 21-27 37-43
7-9 23-25 39-41, and so on
To arrange a book of single leaves for guarding, it is convenient to take as many leaves as you
intend to go to a section, and opening them in the centre, take a pair at a time as they come.
The number of leaves it is advisable to put into a section will depend on the thickness of the
paper and the size and thickness of the book. If the paper is thick, and the backs of the leaves
have been pared, four leaves to a section will be found to answer. But if the paper is thin and
does not allow of much paring, it is better to have a larger section, in order to have as little
thread in the back as possible.
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