Covering with calf, goat skin, roan, or any other leather, is conducted in the same manner. The calf cover must be soaked in water, carefully wrung out, and all the creases made by the wringing smoothed out before the skin is pasted. If the book is to be covered with white vellum or forril, the millboards and back should be covered with clean white paper, or the colour of the vellum will be degraded by the colour of the boards underneath. Half bound books are covered in the same general manner. The four corners are first pasted and affixed, and then the back.

Books bound in morocco or roan are usually lettered directly on the leather. But as this plan does not answer well with calf, it is usual, when binding in calf, to affix a small square of smooth morocco on the back at the place where the title is to appear, and these tablets are caned lettering pieces. They are generally scarlet, green, or purple, and should be in contrast to the colour of the calf ; thus, a scarlet lettering piece looks well on a book bound in dark-brown calf, a green piece on a dark purple, and a purple or marone piece on a fawn or salmon colour. If there is but one lettering piece, it is usually fixed in the space between the first and second band from the head, as at A in Fig. 44.

If a second piece is required to bear the number of the volume, it can be placed either at B or at C. Sometimes, when there are no raised bands, a square lettering piece is placed towards the head of the book, and below it a small round or oval piece of a different colour, as shown in Fig. 45.

This is an old fashioned method which at one time was very popular. For crown octavos a lettering piece towards the head is frequently adopted, as shown in Fig. 46, and, instead of filleting, the lower part of the back is tooled ornamentally. The backs of the books should be marked off for filleting before the lettering pieces are affixed. This is done by setting off the places of the fillet with a pair of compasses, and then creasing or making a slight channel at those places with the sharp edge of a thin folding stick, taking care that the marks shall be perfectly straight and square across the back, as the finisher will be guided by them in applying his fillet, roll, or pallet across the back.

Putting on sides and pasting down end papers are two processes properly belonging to forwarding, though the practice of different binders varies. Some perform these operations before the books are sent to the finishing shop; others have the finishing executed before they affix the sides and paste down the end papers; and some defer burnishing the edges until after the finishing of the book. These variations in practice are matters of convenience.

The sides of the half bound volume may be either of marbled paper or of cloth. If the book has marbled end papers and edges, the sides should, of course, match them. Cloth sides are more durable than paper, and- are much used for books that are likely to undergo hard service. Whether the cloth sides should match the leather back or contrast with it is a matter of taste. In cutting the cloth or paper the sides are cut perfectly straight along the back, and obliquely off for the corners, as at Fig. 47, the latter portions being so cut as to leave the leather corners showing beyond the sides all of exactly the same size.

It is advisable to do all the cutting with a sharp pointed knife and pair of cutting boards instead of scissors. Cloth sides are affixed with thin glue, and marbled paper sides with thin paste. The sides should be carefully rubbed down to exclude air bubbles, and turned over, and the edges made flat and square by rubbing with the folding stick. Before pasting down the end papers, the least possible shaving should be cut off at the head, tail, and fore edge of the leaf; otherwise, as the leaf will certainly stretch a little when it is pasted and rubbed down, the pasted down end paper might show slightly on the square of the board, which would be an imperfection in good binding. The end papers are then covered with thin paste, and are carefully rubbed down to get rid of any blisters or air bubbles. The end of the folder may be used to press home the paper at the joints; if the end paper does not stick to the edge of the board line, a hollow space, known technically as a "pencil case," will be left, and this is con­sidered very objectionable. The books, with the boards or covers open, should be set up on their heads or tails on a bench until dry, when they should be placed between pressing boards in the standing press and considerable pressure applied. The books then are ready for the finisher. Gilt edge books must be protected by covering their edges with paper.

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