Bookbinding and The Care of Books
Douglas Cockerell with Drawings by Noel Rooke and other
Illustrations New York 1902
Book binding Chapter X Part 2
sheets at each end of the book should be cut off
flush with the edge of the board, and marks made
on them below the edge showing the amount of
the square, and consequently how much is to be
cut off. The curve of the back, and consequent
curve of the fore-edge, must first be got rid of, by
inserting a pair of pieces of flat steel called
“trundles” (fig. 54) across the back, from the
inside of the boards. When these are inserted the
back must be knocked quite flat, and, in the case
of a heavy book, a piece of tape may be tied round
cutting boards is placed one on each side of the leaves, the back
one exactly up to the point that the edge of the board came to,
and the front one as much below that point as it is desired the
square of the fore-edge should be. The trundles are removed
while the book is held firmly between the cutting boards by the
finger and thumb; book and boards are then lowered very
carefully into the press. The top edge of the front cutting board
should be flush with the right-hand check of the press, and that
of the back a square above the left-hand cheek (see fig. 56). A
further test is to look along the surface of the right hand cheek,
exactly correspond with the amount of the paper to be cut showing above the front board. It
will also be necessary before cutting to look at the back, and to see that it has remained flat. If
it has gone back to its old curve, or the book has been put into the press crookedly, it must be
taken right out again and the trundles inserted afresh, as it is usually a waste of time to try to
adjust the book when it is in the press. The leaves are cut in the same way as those of the head
and tail.
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