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by Joseph W. Zaehnsdorf
Published in London 1897
the book, in guarding maps, and in placing the plates. When pasting in any single leaves
or plates, a piece of waste paper should always be placed on the leaf or plate the
required distance from the edge to be pasted, so that the leaf is pasted straight. It takes
no longer to lay the plate down upon the edge of a board with paper on the plate, than it
does to hold the plate in the left hand, and apply the paste with the right hand middle
finder; by the former method a proper amount of paste is deposited evenly on the plate
and it is pasted in straight line; by the latter method, it is pasted in some places thickly,
and in some places none at all. I have often seen books with the plates fastened to the
book nearly half way up to its foredge, and thus spoit, only through the slovenly way of
pasting. After having placed th plates, the collator should go through them again when
dry, to see if they adhere properly, and break or fold them over up to the pasting, with a
folding stick, so that they will lie flat when the book is open. I must again call attention to
colored plates. They should be looked to during the whole of binding, especially after
pressing. The amount of gum that is put on the surface, which is very easily seen by the
gloss, causes them to stick to the letter-press: should they so stick, do not try to tear
them apart, but warm a polishing iron and pass it over the plate and letter-press, placing
a piece of paper between the iron and the book to avoid dirt. The heat and moisture will
soften the gum, and the surface can then be very easily separated. By rubbing a little
powdered French chalk over the coloured plates before sticking them in, these ill effects
will be avoided.
It sometimes happens that the whole of a book is composed of single leaves, as the
"Art Journal." Such a book should be collated properly, and the plates placed to their
respective places, squared and broken over, by placing a straight edge or runner about
half an inch from its back edge, and running a folder under the plate, thus lifting it to the
edge of the runner. The whole book should then be pressed for a few hours, taken out,
and the back glued up; the back having been previously roughed with the side edge of
the saw. To glue such a back, the book is placed in the lying press between boards, with
the back projecting about an eighth of an inch, the saw is then drawn over it, with its
side edge, so that the paper is as it were rasped. The back is then sawn in properly, as
explained in the next chapter, and the whole back is glued. When dry, the book is
separated into divisions or sections of four, six, or eight leaves, according to the
thickness of the paper, and each section is then overcast or over sewn along its whole
length, the thread being fastened at the head and tail (or top and bottom); thus each
section is made independent of its neighbour.
The section The sections should then be gently struck along the back edge with a
hammer against a knocking-down iron, so as to embed the thread into the paper, or the
back will be too thick. The thread should not be struck so hard as to cut the paper, or
break the thread, but very gently. Two or three sections may be taken at a time. After
press is used in all good bookbinding shops. The Paris houses have a curious way of pressing their books. The books
are placed in the standing press; the top and bottom boards are very thick, having a groove cut in them in which a
strong thin rope is placed. The press is screwed down tightly, when, after some few minutes has elapsed, the cord or
rope is drawn together and fastened. The pressure of the screw is released, the whole taken our en bloc, and allowed
to remain for some hours, during which time a number of there batches are passed through the same press. When
taken out of the press the book is ready for "marking up" if for flexible sewing, or for being sawn in if for ordinary work.
Interleaving
between each leaf of letter-press, either for notes or for a
translation: in such a case, the book must be properly beaten or
rolled, and each leaf cut up with a hand knife, both head and
foredge; the writing paper having been chosen, must be folded to
the size of the book and pressed. A single leaf of writing paper is
now to be fastened in the centre of each section, and a folded leaf
placed to every folded letter-press leaf, by inserting the one within
the other, a folded writing paper being left outside every other
section, and all being put level with the head; the whole book
should then be well pressed.
If by any chance there should be one sheet in duplicate and
another missing, by returning the one to the publisher of the book
the missing sheet is generally replaced; this, of course, has
reference only to books of a recent date.
There is a new press of American invention that has come under my
notice. It will be seen that it facts on an entirely new principle, having
two horizontal screws instead of one perpendicular. The power is
first applied by hand and finally by a lever and ratchet-wheel in the
centre. A pressure gauge is affixed to each press, so that the actual
power exerted may be ascertained as the operation proceeds. The
press can be had from Messrs. Ladd and Co., 116, Queen Victoria
Street, E.C.; and they claim that it gives a pressure equal to the
hydraulic press, without any of the hydraulic complications.
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