An Essay in the History of Gold-Tooled
Bindings by Herbert P. Horne
London 1894
Part 6
sheet is then sewn like the former ones; but when the thread is taken out by the kettle-stitch
hole E., the needle is thrust between the first and second sheets, and is drawn round the
thread, which passes from one kettle-hole to the other; thereby fastening the sheets by a kind
of chain stitch: indeed,' the term, kettle stitch, as Mr. Zaehnsdorf, in his Manual of Bookbinding,
suggests, is probably a corruption of catch up stitch. A book must be sewn by a continuous
length of thread; but the bulk and numbers of the sections usually necessitate the use of two,
or more pieces joined together: and when all the sections have been sewn, the end of the
thread must be 'properly secured at the last kettle-stitch hole. In theory, the sewing of a book is
the simplest of operations; but in practice, it requires a skill and judgment, which can only be
appreciated by experiment. The thickness, both of the cords and of the thread are to be chosen
according to the size of the book, and the nature of its paper: and the tension of the thread
varied in the several parts of the sewing. In some early bindings, according to Mr. Zaehnsdorf,
the head-bands, which I shall describe in their place, were formed during the process of sewing;
'by fastening other pieces of leather for the head and tail, and making it the catch-up stitch as
well': but it was necessary to cut the edges of a book treated in this way, before it was sewn.
English binders, on account of the hard paper used in modern books, usually overcast the first
and last sections; that is, they sew them over, as if they were single sheets. Sections treated in
this way, are afterwards pasted up, or secured with paste, by the edges of their backs to the
next sections. But this method is greatly to be deprecated; for when these sections break away,
which invariably happens, if the paper be hard, and the book be much used, they are so
damaged, that they require to be mounted upon guards, if the book be rebound. All single
sheets should be mounted upon guards; and both these, and the end-papers, should be sewn
with the sections; so that the entire book may open to the quick, from board to board. A simple
device employed by many binders of the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, effectually prevented
the body of the book breaking away from the end-papers. A sheet of vellum was laid between
two sheets of paper; and the whole was then folded and sewn in the usual way, with the other
sections of the book. The outer paper, and vellum, leaves were next pasted upon the boards of
the book; while the four remaining leaves were left free, as fly-leaves. This method is commonly
to be found employed, in the bindings of Grolier: and an earlier example may be seen in the copy
of the Mora!£a of St. Gregory, already mentioned.