Bookbinding and The Care of Books

A Handbook for Amateurs Bookbinders & Librarians by
Douglas Cockerell with Drawings by Noel Rooke and other
Illustrations New York 1902

Bookbinding Chapter III Part 3

PARING PAPER

For paring the edge of paper for mending or guarding, take a very sharp knife, and holding the
blade at right angles to the covering-board, draw the edge once or twice along it from left to
right. This should turn up enough of the edge to form a “burr,” which causes the knife to cut
while being held almost flat on the paper. The plate or paper should be laid face downwards on
the glass with the edge to be pared away from the workman, the knife held in the right hand,
with the burr downwards. The angle at which to hold the knife will depend on the shape and
thickness and character of the paper to be pared, and can only be learned by practice. If the
knife is in order, and is held at the proper angle, the shaving removed from a straight edge of
paper should come off in a long spiral. If the knife is not in proper order, the paper may be
badly jagged or creased.

SOAKING OFF INDIA PROOFS

Place a piece of well-sized paper in a pan of warm water, then lay the mounted India proof, face
downwards, upon it and leave it to soak until the proof floats off. Then carefully take out the
old mount, and the India proof can be readily removed from the water on the under paper, and
dried between sheets of blotting-paper.

MOUNTING VERY THIN PAPER

Very thin paper, such as that of some “India” proofs, may be safely mounted as follows:-The
mount, ready for use, is laid on a pad of blotting-paper. The thin paper to be mounted is laid
face downwards on a piece of glass and very carefully passed with thin, white paste. Any paste
on the glass beyond the edges of the paper is carefully wiped off with a clean cloth. The glass
may then be turned over, and the pasted plate laid on the mount, its exact position being seen
through the glass.

SPLITTING PAPERS

It is sometimes desirable to split pieces of paper when the matter on one side only is needed, or
when the matter printed on each side is to be used in different places. The paper to be split
should be well pasted on both sides with a thickish paste, and fine linen or jaconet placed on
each side. It Is then nipped in the press to make the linen stick all over, and left to dry.
If the two pieces of jaconet are carefully pulled apart when dry, half the paper should be
attached to each, unless at any point the paste has failed to stick, when the paper will tear. The
jaconet and paper attach must be put into warm water until the split paper floats off.

INLAYING LEAVES OR PLATES

When a small plate or leaf has to be inserted into a larger book, it is best to “inlay it”; that is to
say, the plate or leaf is let into a sheet of paper the size of the page of the book. To do this, a
piece of paper as thick as the plate to be inlaid, or a little thicker, is selected, and on this is laid
the plate, which should have been previously squared, and the positions of the corners marked
with a folder. A point is made about an eighth of an inch inside each corner mark, and the
paper within these points is cut out (see fig. 16). This leaves a frame of paper, the inner edges of
which will slightly overlap the edge of the plate. The under edge of the plate, and the upper
edge of the mount, should then be pared and pasted, and the plate laid in its place (with the
corners corresponding to the folder marks). If the edges have been properly pared, the thickness
where they overlap should not exceed the thickness of the frame paper. If an irregular fragment
is to be inlaid, it is done in the same way, except that the entire outline is traced on the new
paper with a folder, and the paper cut away, allowing one eighth of an inch inside the indented
line.

Back to Chapter III Part 2

Bookbinding Part 4

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