Bookbinding and The Care of Books
Douglas Cockerell with Drawings by Noel Rooke and other
Illustrations New York 1902
Book binding Chapter IX Part 2
side is shown at fig. 46. The side of
the press with runners should be
reserved for cutting, the other side
used for all other work.
The plough knife for mill-boards
should not be ground at too acute an
angle, or the edge will most likely
break away at the first cut. The shape
shown at fig. 47 is suitable. The knife
should be very frequently ground, as
it soon gets blunt, which adds greatly
to the labor of cutting.
After an edge has been cut, each
side should be well rubbed with a
folder to smooth down any burr left
by the plough knife. Then a piece of
common paper with one edge cut
straight is pasted on to the one side of
the board, with the straight edge
exactly up to the cut edge of the
board. Then a piece of paper large
enough to cover both sides of the
board is pasted round it, and well
rubbed down at the cut edge. After
lining paper shall stick. They are stood up to dry, with the doubly lined
side outwards. The double paper is intended to warp the board slightly
to that side, to compensate for the pull of the leather when the book is
covered. If the board is a double one, a single lining paper will be
sufficient, the thinner board helping to draw the thicker. The paste for
lining boards must be fairly thin, and very well beaten up so as to be free
from lumps. It is of the utmost importance that the lining papers should
stick properly, for unless they stick, no subsequent covering of leather or
paper can be made to lie flat.
doubly lined sides together, and the top back corner marked to
correspond with the marks on the top back corners of the book.
Then near the top edge, with the aid of a carpenter’s square, two
points are marked in a line at right angles to the cut edge. The pair
of boards is then knocked up to the back and lowered into the press
as before, so that the plough knife will exactly cut through the
points. The same operation is repeated on the two remaining uncut
edges. In marking out those for the fore-edge, the measurement is
taken with a pair of compasses (fig. 48) from the joint of the book to
the fore-edge of the first section. If the book has been trimmed, or is
to remain uncut, a little more must be allowed for the “squares,”
and if it is to be cut in the plough, it must be now decided how
much is to be cut off, remembering that it is much better to have the
boards a little too large, and so have to reduce them after the book
is cut, than to have them too small, and either be obliged to get out
a new pair of boards, or unduly cut down the book.
email: info@aboutbookbinding.com