Bookbinding and The Care of Books
Douglas Cockerell with Drawings by Noel Rooke and other
Illustrations New York 1902
Bookbinding Chapter V Part 2
the zigzag with the leather joint, and sewn through. Vellum ends must always be sewn, as it is
not safe to rely upon paste to hold them. They look well, and may be enriched by tooling. The
disadvantage of vellum is, that it has a tendency to curl up if subjected to heat, and when it
contracts it unduly draws the boards of the book. For large manuscripts, or printed books on
vellum, which are bound in wooden or other thick boards and are clasped, thicker vellum may
be used for the ends; that with a slightly brown surface looks best. The part that will come into
the joint should be scraped thin with a knife, and a zigzag made of Japanese paper.
Silk or other fine woven material may be used for ends. It is best used with a leather joint, and
may be stuck on the first paper of the end papers (BI, No. 2, fig. 19), and cut with the book. The
glare of the edge gilding will help to stop the edges fraying out. In attaching silk to paper, thin
glue is the best thing to use; the paper, not the silk, being glued. Some little practice is needed
to get sufficient glue on the paper to make the silk stick all over, and yet not to soil it. When the
silk has been glued to the paper, it should be left under a light weight to dry. If put in the press,
the glue may be squeezed through and the silk soiled.
If the silk is very thin, or delicate in colour, or if it seems likely that it will fray out at the edges,
it is better to turn the edges in over a piece of paper cut a little smaller than the page of the book
and stick them down. This forms a pad which may be attached to the first leaf of the end
papers; a similar pad may be mad for filling in the board.
Before using, the silk should be damped and ironed flat on the wrong side.
Silk ends give a book a rich finish, but seldom look altogether satisfactory. If the silk is merely
stuck on to the first end paper, the edges will generally fray out if the book is much used. If the
edges are turned in, an unpleasantly thick end is made.
Leather Joints
very little strength to the book, but give a pleasant finish to the inside of the board.
If there are to be leather joints, the end papers are made up without AI, and the edge of the
leather pasted and inserted at D, with a piece of common paper as a protection (see fig. 19, IV).
When the paste is dry, the leather is folded over at E.
A piece of blotting-paper may be pasted on to the inside of the waste leaf, leaving enough of it
loose to go between the leather joint and the first sheet of the end paper. This will avoid any
chance of the leather joint staining or marking the ends while the book is being bound. The
blotting-paper, of course, is taken out with the waste sheet before the joint is pasted down.
Joints may also be made of linen or cloth inserted in the same way. A cloth joint has greater
strength than a leather one, as the latter has to be very thin in order that the board may shut
properly.
With leather or cloth joints, the sewing should go through both E and F.
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