For lettering the backs of books, at one time each letter of the alphabet was mounted as a separate tool, and this plan still occasionally is met with. The modern plan is to cut the letters in brass type and use them in a type holder. The ordinary types employed in printing are also sometimes used. They are arranged in a holder (Fig. 100), and may be spaced out to fill the width of the back or put close together, as may be found necessary.

Small implements and utensils also are necessary. An earthenware pipkin, glazed inside, is required for boiling the size. It should be provided with a flat tin lid. An instrument called the" devil" (Fig. 101) is used in preparing the glaire which can be kept in any small earthenware vessel; the devil consists of two pieces of quill fastened as shown to a long stick like a penholder.

It is used like an egg whisk. Two polishers used for polishing and smoothing the back and sides of the book after finishing are shown in Figs. 102 and 103. Fig. 102 is the polisher generally preferred by London binders, and is very useful for working close to the bands, but the one shown by Fig. 103 is very good for the sides of whole-calf volumes. Some pieces of sponge, two or three camel-hair pencils, a gold rag, several small pieces of flannel, and a bit of good raw rubber are also required. The materials used by the finisher are few, and, with the exception of gold leaf, are of little value.
Finishers’ size is made from waste slips of vellum which are cut up very small, put with sufficient water into a clean pipkin, and allowed to boil gently. It will not keep long, and fresh size should be made often.

GIaire is made by breaking the white of a fresh egg into a tea-cup, carefully excluding the yolk, adding water until the cup is about half full, beating well together, and adding a pinch of salt as a preservative. This having been allowed to stand for a few hours, is carefully strained through a piece of old linen and bottled for use. No particle of the yolk should be mixed with the white. A usual method of making the glaire is by rolling the devil with a rapid motion between the palms of the hands, the quills being in the albumen. When all the albumen has been beaten to froth it is put aside to settle, and the result is glaire. The original white of eggs is ropy and gelatinous, but the frothing up makes it as thin and fluent as water. Another method is to place the whites of two or three eggs in a cup, and add a small quantity of vinegar and a pinch of salt, beating the whole well together. At the end of a minute or two remove the froth from the top and place the preparation in a bottle.

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