Insert a piece of waste joint itself getting a thin paper under the cloth joint, the coat of rather weak glue. The bands, which must remain free although, cut off to leave only 2 cm in length, are laid over the joint and likewise glued. Now lay the book square before you, the open board next the table edge, and with the point of a knife first lift the bands from the cloth joint, lay them taut over the smooth board and smooth them down with the knife so that everything lies smooth and even, taking special care that the bands are not noticeable in the joint through any evenness. The cloth joint is now drawn over and well rubbed down on the board, the latter being at the same time well pressed on the joint so that it has quite a straight sharp edge.

The book lies open in this way to dry, but it may be turned, placed on a board, pushed up to the joint, and the other side, similarly pasted on.

Plainer bindings, especially school books and publishers' cheap cases, are often pasted down with only the outer leaf or white end paper and without a cloth joint, whilst here the colored end paper has still to be pasted down; in the former case proceed as follows:

The back without packing is simply glued over, the packing rounded. The book is properly placed in the cover, and the outside fly leaf afterwards an end paper-and bands are pasted, the latter at the same time being smoothed out with a knife or folder; the boards are then closed, pressing them over very sharply. The book is turned and the other side done in the same way, and at once pressed.

Where a cloth joint has to be pasted on, a paste down must be pasted on to the board.

The practice of doing the colored end papers at the same time as the book is not so good as subsequent pasting down, as they are then less likely to be injured during trimming and coloring the edges, &c.

The paste down is first cut to size a little less than the book itself and fastened in with thin glue so that the paper is close to the joint but not so close as to cause it to swell. 'The counterpart of the fly leaf is pasted on to it, both leaves are cut with a knife close along the joint, for back and front, about 1/2-cm. wide, are pushed up, thinly pasted, and pasted into the book up to the pressed joint. The leaves so hinged in are now raised, the under leaf thinly coated with thin glue, the leaf closed and rubbed down under paper with a folder.

Immediate pressing is to be avoided, as the thin glue is very easily squeezed out. After a while the pressing is done, of course, when zinc plates-if necessary, polished boards should be inserted between the end papers, and not too great pressure applied.

If the boards have been fastened on with paste and without a back zinc plates are also used, but between the first and last sheets of the book, so as to press these very smooth and to prevent the plates from sticking to the damp end papers.

Half or whole cloth, half leather, or, generally speaking, all bindings which are not pasted down open, are laid upon a board, pasting thinly with thin paste first one side, then turning the hook and pasting the other, and then pressing. In doing quantities, ten may be done before pressing.

< Treatment of Sewn Books Part 3