Bookbinding and The Care of Books
Librarians by Douglas Cockerell with Drawings
by Noel Rooke and other Illustrations
New York
1902
Book binding Chapter XVII
Part 2
glue, and the board paper is placed nearly to the
edge of the joint, leaving very little cloth visible. In
the process of finishing, the boards of a book will
nearly always be warped a little outward, but the
pasted end papers should draw the boards a little as
they dry, causing them to curve slightly towards the
book. With vellum ends there is a danger that the
boards will be warped too much.
OPENING NEWLY BOUND BOOKS
Before sending out a newly bound book the
table, and the leaves opened a short distance from the front, and then at an equal distance from
the back, and then in one or two places nearer the centre of the book, the leaves being pressed
down with the hand at each opening. If the book is a valuable one, every leaf should then be
turned over separately and each opening pressed down, beginning from the centre and working
first one way and then the other. In this way the back will be bent evenly at all points. When a
book has been opened, it should be lightly pressed for a short time without anything in the
joints.
If a book is sent out unopened, the first person into whose hand it falls will probably open it
somewhere in the centre, bending the covers back and "breaking" the back; and if any leaves
chance to have been stuck together in edge-gilding, they are likely to be torn if carelessly opened.
A book with a “broken" back will always have a tendency to open in the same place and will not
keep its shape. It would be worth while for librarians to have newly bound books carefully
opened. An assistant could" open" a large number of books in a day, and the benefit to the
bindings would amply compensate for the small trouble and cost involved.
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