Bookbinding and The Care of Books
Librarians by Douglas Cockerell with Drawings
by Noel Rooke and other Illustrations
New York
1902
Book binding Chapter XV
Part 2
dividers set to the average distance between the
head of one letter and the head of the next, five
points are made through the folded paper. The
paper is opened, turned over, and the points
joined with a fine folder worked against the
straight-edge. It should leave on the front five
raised lines, up to which the head of the letters
must be put. The letters in the top line are
counted, Lettering on and the centre letter marked.
Spaces be- the Back between words are counted as
first, and the others added on each side of it. Some thought is needed in judging where to put
the centre, as the difference in the width of such letters as " M " and " W" and " I " and" J" have
to be taken into account.
comfortably fills the panel, but of course
it cannot always be made to do this. The
greatest difficulty will be found in making
titles of books that consist of a single
word, look well. Thus if you have
"CORIOLANUS" to place on a back
which is not more than i-inch wide, if it is
put across as one word, as at fig. 95 (I), it
will be illegible from the smallness of the
type, and will tell merely as a gold line at
a little distance. If a reasonably large type
is used, the word must be broken up
somewhat, as at (2), which is perhaps
better, but still not at all satisfactory. The
word may be put straight along the back,
as at fig. (3), but this hardly looks well on
The use of type of different sizes in lettering a book should be avoided when possible, and on
no account whatever should letters of different design be introduced. Occasionally, when the
reason for it is obvious, it may be allowable to make a word shorter by putting in a small letter,
supposing that only thus could reasonably large type be used. I t is especially allowable in cases
where, in a set of volumes, there is one much thinner than the others. It is generally better to
make some compromise with the lettering of the thin volume, than to spoil the lettering of the
whole set by using too lettering on small a letter throughout (see fig. 115). The back on very thin
books it is sometimes hardly possible to get any lettering at all on the back. In such cases the
lettering is best put on the side.
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