Bookbinding and The Care of Books
Librarians by Douglas Cockerell with Drawings
by Noel Rooke and other Illustrations
New York
1902
Book Binding Chapter
XIV Part 2
will be impossible to obtain clear impressions.
One inch square for blind tools, or three-quarters
of an inch for gold tools, is about the maximum
size for use with any certainty and comfort. Tools
much larger than this have to be worked with the
aid of a press, and are called blocks.
FINISHING
The first thing the finisher does to a Finishing
book is to go over the back with a polisher and
smooth out any irregularities.
inside margins and the upper for sides. Polishers must be used warm, but not too hot, or the
leather may be scorched, and they must be kept moving on the leather. Before using they should
be rubbed bright on a piece of the finest emery paper, and polished on a piece of leather. New
finishing polishers often have sharp edges that would mark the leather. These must be rubbed
down with files and emery paper.
seal or pig skin, may either have the grain rough or crushed
flat. If there is to be much finishing, the grain had better be
crushed, but for large books that are to have only a small
amount of finishing, the grain IS best left unflattened. If the
grain of the leather is to be "crushed," it may be done at this
stage. To do this, one board at a time is damped with a
sponge and put in the standing press, with a pressing plate on
the grained side, and a pad of blotting-paper, or some such
yielding substance, on the other (see fig. 83)' The press is
then screwed up tight, and the board left for a short time.
For some leathers this operation is Finishing best done after
the binding has been finished and varnished, in which case,
subject to great pressure after it has been covered, or the leather on the back may crinkle up and
become detached. The next thing will be to decide what lettering and what decoration, if any, is
to be put on the vellum. The letter should be made out first (see page 215). If the book is to be
at all elaborately decorated, paper patterns must be made out, as described in Chapter XVI.
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