Bookbinding and The Care of Books
Librarians by Douglas Cockerell with Drawings
by Noel Rooke and other Illustrations
New York
1902
Book binding Chapter XIII
Part 1
Specifications III and IV
To produce cheaper bindings, as must be done in
the case of large libraries, some alteration of design
is necessary. Appearance must to some extent be
sacrificed to strength and durability, and not, as is
too often the case, strength and durability
sacrificed to appearance. The essentials of any good
binding are, that the sections should be sound in
themselves, and that there should be no plates or
odd sheets " pasted on," or anything that would
prevent any leaf from opening right to the back;
attached to the boards; and the leather fairly thick and of a durable kind, although for the sake of
cheapness it may be necessary to use skins with flaws on the surface. Such flawed skins cost half,
or less than half, the price of perfect skins, and surface flaws do not injure the strength of the
leather. By sewing on tape, great flexibility of the back is obtained, and much time, and
consequent expense, in covering is saved. By using a French joint much thicker leather than
usual can be used, with corresponding gain in strength.
To bind an octavo or smaller book according to the specification given; first make all sections
sound, and guard all plates or maps. Make end papers with zigzags. After the sections have been
thoroughly pressed, the book will be ready for marking up and sewing. In marking up for sewing
on tapes, two marks will be necessary for each tape. When there are several books of the same
size to be sewn, they may be placed one above the other in the sewing press, and sewn on to the
same tapes. It will be found that the volumes when sewn can easily be slid along the tapes, which
must be long enough to provide sufficient for the slips of each. The split boards may be « made"
of a thin black mill-board with thicker straw board. To make a pair of split boards the pieces of
straw- and mill-board large enough to make the two are got out, and the straw-board well glued,
except in the centre, which should previously be covered with a strip of thin mill-board or tin
about four inches wide. The strip is then removed, and the thin black board laid on the glued
straw-board and nipped in the press. When dry, the made board is cut down the centre, which
will leave two boards glued together all over except for two inches on one side of each. The
boards then are squared to the book in a mill-board machine. The back of the book is glued up,
and in the ordinary way rounded and backed. The edges may be cut with a guillotine. The ends
of the tapes are glued on the waste end paper, which should be cut off about an inch and a half
from the back.
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