CHAPTER II.

Fig. 14—Collating.Fig. 14—Collating.

To collate a book it is taken in both hands. Taking a good hold of it by the right hand at the top edge, it is lightly held by the left at the bottom towards the back. Now make a turn downwards with the right so that the wholepack of sheets springs upwards and spreads out at the back like a fan, and the controlling left hand lets them go one at a time, whilst checking the sequence of the signatures, that is to say, the sheets must be checked to see whether instead of the right signatures following in due order there is not a second signature or perhaps none at all. In such a case the sheet must be taken out and re-folded.

It may be well to refer now to another more detailed branch of this work which is necessary for certain purposes. If books which have already been used or bound are sent for re-binding it would be very unsafe to rely upon the pages being in proper order, especially if they have been much torn and have to be mended. Very frequently the leaves of a section have been misplaced. In such cases the book is laid flat upon the table, the head lying to the top, and, beginning at the title, leaf by leaf is lifted with the point of a knife after the way some ignorant persons have of using a moistened finger. The knife point is not inserted under the leaf lying uppermost but is lightly placed at the top of the leaf near the page number and the leaf pushed up from the side so that the left index finger takes it as it separates from the succeeding leaf whilst the eye scans the page numbers 1, 3, 5, 7, 9, &c. Also with other things that do not admit of any other method of collating,e.g., ledgers, documents, &c., this is the only possible way of doing it.

Nowadays, paper received in the printery has been so well calendered beforehand—that is to say, polished between rollers—and after printing the sheets are once more so wellrolled that the gathered sheets may at once be prepared for sewing. Old paper, however, must be beaten or rolled to make it firm and solid. The former work will be completely forgotten at no very distant date, as the younger generation of masters and men show less and less inclination to learn it. For beating, a stone about the height of a low table, and a surface about the size of a sheet may be used, or a cast-iron plate about 6 cm. in thickness embedded in a block of wood the same height as the stone. Upon this firm base—which, of course, must stand on the ground floor or in the cellar—the book, or section of it if too thick, is beaten with a short-handled iron hammer, the face of which measures about 100 sq. cm. All corners and edges are well rounded off, and the face is slightly convex. The handle must be short, not above 12 cm. long, cut oval, and just thick enough to be well grasped. The hole in the hammer is made so that the handle drops a little at the (outer) end.

In beating, the sections should be held by the left hand after being knocked up. In order to prevent injury to the paper, the sections are placed between pieces of waste paper of same size, also a mill-board or piece of waste paper to size is laid upon the beating stone. The right hand wields the hammer, which must strike the sections (or book) fairly and squarely with the full face. The beating is begun at the edge, and blow after blow is given in gradually lessening circles until the centre is reached, the left hand, of course, keeping up the necessary motion of the sections. It requires considerable practice to do this without shifting the sections, but if this happens they must again be knocked up.

The experienced workman knows by the touch where the book has been beaten much or little and works accordingly. The main thing in this, as in all other work, is that the book should be again pressed for some time—for a night at the least. The beaten volumes are divided into several lots orsections about a finger thick, and pressing-boards placed between them. If any sections show folds or creases even after pressing, they must be once more beaten and pressed.

Fig. 15—Rolling machine.Fig. 15—Rolling machine.

The work of beating, as already said, has been almost entirely superseded by the rolling machine. In treatises by theorists, one finds over and over again that books are not so well bound nowadays owing to the "practice of hand-beating being discontinued." This opinion is absurd, and arises from a very superficial technical knowledge and wholly imperfect acquaintance with the requirements of our craft. A machine-rolled or unbeaten book is always much better than one imperfectly beaten, for here nothing is demanded but sheer force, and that is always exercised with better results by a machine. As already pointed out, our modern printed books do not require any such work; besides, the so-called surface papers and printed illustrations prohibit both beating and rolling, as such work would destroy the high surface of the paper. Old books, on the contrary, where the paper is unsized, spongy, and swollen, require some such work, as pressing alone, even for days, has not the required effect.

In beating, the work should be divided into sections or lots of 15 to 20 sheets; they need not be counted, they are measured by the eye. For rolling, however, the sheets must be counted off exactly, from 8 to 12; they are knocked up and placed between zinc plates of same size and passedthrough the rollers obliquely, the upper back corner being first inserted. It is well to introduce the second lot before the first has quite passed through the rollers; this not only saves the rollers but avoids the extra pressure on the lower corner when a section leaves the rollers. For this reason it is advisable to insert the lots right and left alternately. The first lot rolled should be examined to test the amount of pressure, and at first a lighter pressure should be applied to avoid risk of injury.

We have now come to the end of the processes through which a book has to pass before it is actually made up into book form. Before we take up this work there is incidental work to be mentioned which comes before the work of binding proper. This is the stitching and treatment of stitched or bound books for binding and the necessary repairs thereto.

The stitched or brochured book is no true book form; it is nothing more than the gathered sheets of a work in a temporary form, handier and more convenient, and therefore more saleable.

To prevent leaves from falling out in the event of their being cut open, they are lightly stitched together—holländert.

How did the name originate? It is difficult to say. Perhaps books stitched in this manner were first brought out in Holland.

With this method of sewing, the sheet only gets one short thread in the middle; but as the sewing of each sheet separately would entail a considerable loss of time, that old contrivance of the bookbinder for most kinds of sewing work, the sewing frame, is here made use of. A base or bed has on each front corner a perpendicular screw, upon which is placed a movable cross-bar with a slit. This bar is regulated by two screws; lay cords are fastened to hooks which are slipped through the slits, the other ends being knotted tometal keys fixed under the base. A narrow movable bar, bevelled to the front of the bed, holds these keys when the lay cords are tightened.

Fig. 16—Sewing frame.Fig. 16—Sewing frame.

There are no lay cords on the sewing frame for the work of Holländering as in other kinds of sewing, but two strips of zinc plate about 1 to 1-1/2 cm. in width are fastened so that at the top they are attached to the hooks and at the bottom are held with a pin. The lot to be sewn is placed rather slant-wise on the bed of the frame to the left, the back turned outwards, the head to the sewer, all sheets, therefore, facing away from the worker.

Fig. 17—Arrangement on the sewing frame.

The left hand takes the upper sheet with thumb and middle finger, so that the forefinger at once falls in the middle of the sheet, turning the sheet so that the headAlies to the left and face upwards as shown in the illustration; zinc strips are stretched at the pointsx. The left hand is introduced into the opened sheets from behind to take the needle when pushed in and then to draw it out again; the right hand inserts the needle from outside, and also draws out the needle inserted from inside by the left hand.

All kinds of sewing on the sewing frame are divided between both hands in the same way.

The threaded needle is now introduced into the sheets tothe right of the right strip at the back fold and again brought out to the right of the left strip, the sheets being meanwhile held open by the left hand. The thread is drawn out, except for a short end, the second sheet taken and laid open, and the needle is now introduced to the left of the left strip and brought out to the left of the right strip; and so on, each time introducing the needle from the right side to the right of the strip and from the left side to the left of the strip, drawing out accordingly. The thread is only to be seen on the outside of the strips.

The so-called English darning-needle—a long needle with a long eye—is used by the bookbinder. A special thread is made on purpose, the highest number being used for holländering.

When the sewing frame is packed so full that the sheets can no longer be kept properly squared, a sharp knife is taken and the threads cut off along the metal strips, and the sheets are then removed from the sewing frame. Every sheet is now independent of the other, and has a thread in the middle, of which a little may be seen at each needle-hole. These ends are afterwards pasted up in the work to follow. It is clear from this method of sewing that it is not necessary to tie a second thread on to the first when finished, but simply to begin with a new thread, letting the ends always project a little.

This method is the more recent and practical. It admits of one kind of sheet being sewn immediately after folding: nay, more: whilst one folder is still busy folding, another may begin to holländer. It is not till afterwards that the sheets are gathered. Gathered sheets are sewn in the same way, and are more easily knocked up than when sewn on cords and the threads left uncut after the old style instead of on metal bands. In holländert sheets the threads lie as shown in Fig. 18.

Fig. 18—Arrangement of threads in holländering.Fig. 18—Arrangement of threads in holländering.

Fig. 19—Small stapling machine for single sheets.Fig. 19—Small stapling machine for single sheets.

Lately, in brochuring, the sheets are not holländert, but sewn with wire on the machine. This is a very good method when the finest possible staple closing from the outside is used. For this work a small machine is used, similar to those used for wiring documents, copy-books, and single sheets, which have an automatic wire-drawing action.

The batch of sheets is here arranged face upwards to the right of the worker. The right hand takes the sheet by the head, opening it at the same time with the forefinger, and inserts it in the groove of the machine, which is at the same moment set in motion. With each different sheet the position of the staple must be changed so that all do not stand the same height, as it would cause the paper to be cut through in pressing.

The accompanying sketch shows the arrangement of the collected brochures.

Fig. 20—Arrangement of staples in brochures.

It is barbarous to sew more tightly with wire, for in the necessary pulling to pieces to bring them to their formerstate for binding they are sure to be more or less damaged. Sewing with a large machine using strips of gauze cannot be recommended.

The further treatment of holländert or wire-sewn sheets is dealt with towards the end of the chapter.

Most of the books given to the small binder do not come to him fresh from the printer, but sewn, used or unused, cut open, or as published. The sheets for binding must, as far as possible, be restored to the condition they were in before they were sewn. It is absolutely necessary that they should be made into loose single sheets. This work is called "pulling to pieces." The outer cover is torn off, the thread or wire inside the sheet removed, and the sheets very carefully separated one by one. When they are all pulled to pieces they are pushed open a little at the back, first to one side, then to the other, and scraped with a knife from top to bottom so as to remove all dirt, glue, &c., adhering.

Where the sheets had been cut open and the inner leaves worked out of place, they must be well pushed into the back again. The sheet is lightly held half-open in the left hand, and the leaves are knocked into the back with a long folder or knife.

If sheets are found badly folded they must now be properly re-folded. Any torn places must be repaired. A special chapter ought really to be devoted to this, for repairing and restoring is an art in itself. Here, only the most necessary work can be mentioned.

There are three different kinds of tears: tears in the print, in the margin, and in the back. The first may be torn with slanting edges; in such a case, both edges must be carefully pasted, fitted to each other, a piece of paper laid over and under, and then well rubbed down. If the tear has not slanting edges, but is clean cut, it is always best to paste theedges likewise and to join the pieces by overlapping very slightly. It always looks better than the patching with strips of paper—a method adopted even by good workmen. The pasting on of pieces of tissue paper is to be condemned.

In cases of repairs like the foregoing, a piece of unpasted tissue paper may be laid on the repaired place and rubbed down, so that any paste exuding cannot do harm, and besides, it will serve to strengthen a weak place. It may be used, however, only on condition that the tint is exactly the same as that of the other paper.

Tears at the margin are repaired by pasting on strips of the same paper or of a kind as near as possible in texture and tint. To make the mend less noticeable, the paper should be torn beforehand, that is to say, by tearing one side of the paper the edge is less sharply defined and appears more like part of the sheet and is hardly perceptible.

Tears in the back (if outside) leaves are mended by pasting them down on to the following inner leaf; afterwards the glue makes this place still stronger. If the middle leaf is likewise torn, a narrow strip is pasted into the back. This may be cut true by the straight-edge if a very narrow strip suffices, but if the tear is here also sideways a piece of torn paper must be pasted on. If there are backs, torn off corners, or the like to be put in, a suitable paper is selected, a piece a little larger than the missing piece cut off the edge of the damaged leaf neatly pasted, the patch laid on slightly overlapping, and well rubbed down under a piece of waste paper. When thoroughly dry, the loose edges of the patch should be carefully torn off so as to slope and taper off nicely.

When all parts are repaired and the sheets again in proper order, the book is pressed for a while between boards.

It is thus that good books are treated, and although it would be better to return books of no special value as notworth the labour, still it does happen that cheap books—mostly school books and periodicals—have to be repaired. A quick way of getting through such work is as follows:—

A larger piece of similar paper is well pasted and laid upon a clean cutting-board, and from this piece strips of the required width are cut, laid down in their place, and cut to length with the shears, and well rubbed down under waste paper. If the pasted piece becomes dry before it is used it must be coated again.

All repaired sheets must be laid between mill-boards to dry.

Worn and damaged periodicals are repaired in the same way. Generally the numbers are curled towards the fore-edge. Before commencing to pull to pieces they should be rolled towards the back, especially close to the back, to straighten them. The leaves must all be well pushed into the back, turned down corners (so-called dogs' ears) must be turned up, and two-page illustrations must be pasted away from the back. There are generally single or double leaves at the end of each copy or sheet—these must be pasted on. This work is not done singly, but the whole volume is at once laid open from back to front for pasting. All parts of the sheets to be pasted are placed at the front edge of the table, the edges fanned out, the other sheets wherein they are to be placed being meanwhile pushed further back so that they are not touched during pasting. The fanned-out sheets are pasted and each is rubbed down on to the sheet following.

It has already been said that in pulling to pieces the wire or thread sewing must be removed; this is not always easy. To begin with, the wires must be first bent upwards; if they are firmly glued to the outside of the back, the latter has first to be softened by smearing it very thickly with paste, and after leaving it some little time the glue may be scraped off andthe wires loosened. Not until then can the wires inside the sheets be removed and the sheets separated. The backs of books that have been bound are softened in the same way.

Even to-day—Heaven help us!—well-got-up books, even illustrated works, are sewn through sideways with coarse wire staples. Great care must be used in removing these and in separating the sheets, so that the bookbinder may at least try to undo the harm caused by barbarous methods practised either in thoughtlessness or ignorance.

It sometimes happens that the back of a book is so bad that it is necessary to cut it clean off. The leaves are then made up into sections of 6 to 8, levelled at the back, and overcast with a fine needle and fine thread. This work can be done quicker with an ordinary sewing-machine, adjusting it for the longest stitch.

New works consisting of thin single sheets are done in the same way.

Modern books are fastened together by sewing; as a rule thread is used, and always in sewing good books. Thread sewing is very much better than wire stitching. In the first place, thread has not the disadvantage of rusting, to which wire is always subject; secondly, thread does not break the paper in the back, as so frequently happens when cheap paper containing much wood fibre is wire-stitched. The greatest advantage of thread sewing over wire lies in the flexibility of the spun thread; with sharp pressure it lies flat in the sheet, whilst wire does not give at all. Besides, it is flexible the whole length, and this adds greatly to the life of the book.

All thread sewing is now done by machinery and is really satisfactory. Only the very smallest job shops sew their books by hand.

The principle of sewing is to fasten each sheet to several cords or bands by means of a long thread running right along the inside of the sheet. These cords give the book its hold to the cover; therefore the more cords used, the more firmly is the book secured to its cover. There are now two methods of fastening the sheets on the cords; first, there is the older method of passing the thread along and out of the sheet, around the cord, and again into the sheet, and repeating the same movement at the next band.

Fig. 21—Arrangement of threads in old style of sewing.

Nowadays, this method is almost entirely discarded. When for special reasons, or on account of its greater strength, it is desired to imitate the old method, the sewing is done on double cords; that is to say, for every cord two cords are stretched alongside each other and regarded as one. This sewing is more tedious, as the thread must take up each cord as shown in Fig. 22.

Fig. 22—Arrangement of threads with double cords.

These somewhat elaborate modes of sewing have been simplified in recent years by making saw-cuts in the back, in which the cords are laid. By this means the sewing thread never actually passes out of the sheet, but is drawn behind the cord lying in the saw-cut and thus holds it.

That is why we "saw-in" our books. The sawing-in is done with a broad saw; the so-called "tenon saw" being the one most generally used. The saw-cut must correspond exactly to the thickness of the cord to be used, should be less deep than wide, and should not take up too much glue when glueing up, as this might easily turn brittle. By inclining the saw to right and left alternately during sawing, the resulting cut will be something like this ¯¯¯¯¯/__\¯¯¯¯¯; this is the best and most usual form. The common practice of widening the cut by means of a coarse file gives a triangular cut like this ¯¯¯¯¯\/¯¯¯¯¯ which is objectionable, as the groove gets filled with glue, thus rendering the thread liable to break. As many cuts must be made in the book as there are cords to be used, besides the so-called kettle stitch athead and tail by which the thread is passed from one sheet to the other. Dividing the back for sawing-in is done by marking off 1 cm. from the head and twice as much from the tail and dividing the rest into equal portions with the dividers. An octavo should never be sewn on less than four cords, and a folio on six. If obliged to use less through low prices, then three must be taken as the minimum number, and that only in exceptional cases. If the books are very small—as, for instance, prayer-books and hymn-books less than 7 cm. in height—it may then be permissible to sew on two cords. The division for the different sizes for sawing-in is made as shown in Fig. 23.

6 cords = 9 divisions.Fig. 23—Divisions for sawing-in.4 cords = 7 divisions.Fig. 23—Divisions for sawing-in.3 cords = 6 divisions.2 cords = 5 divisions.

Fig. 23—Divisions for sawing-in.

The saw-cuts at the kettle stitch are less deep and quite narrow; they only mark the place where the thread is to pass in and out.

It may be wondered why the distances between the cords, when using four or six, are unequal; the reason for this will be explained when we come to the sewing of such sizes.

In sawing-in, the batch to be sawn is knocked up head and back and put between two boards—if the volumes are thin, several may be laid together—so that the back projects about 1/2 cm. beyond the edges of the boards. The first and last sheet of each volume have previously been laid aside, as these, with one exception, are not sawn-in.

Books and boards are now clamped in a small hand-press, which is screwed up by hand only. For convenience of working, the press with the screws is laid flat upon the table, so that the nuts are against the table edge. The press is propped up at the back by the press-jack. The divisions for the cords are marked on the back with a lead pencil after measuring with the dividers, and the cuts made according to the markings. If several volumes of the same size are to be sawn-in, the top sheet of the first batch sawn is used as a guide for marking the others, thus saving the work of measuring each one with the dividers. Where much sawing-in is done, a sawing-in machine is employed. The sheets are placed, backs downwards, in a moveable box, which is led over a system of circular saws.

Fig. 24—Machine for sawing-in.Fig. 24—Machine for sawing-in.

After the work of sawing-in, the first and last sheets are replaced, the volumes again collated, and the end papers put in place; the sheets are now ready for sewing.

End papers are the blank leaves which the binder places at the beginning and end of a book. They vary according tothe style of the book. Every end paper consists of a "fly leaf" (this lies over the title page in the book), the "paste-down," and in most cases of a "tear-off." For the stronger end papers and in half-leather bindings a cloth joint is used. Whilst dealing with these end papers, we must not forget the narrow guard; it is worked on the prepared end paper (as will be shown later) by folding over, and serves to enclose the title or end page with which it is sewn. The words joint, guard, and swell may here be more clearly explained, as they are used very frequently in the bindery. In the first place, we call the part where back and cover are joined by a sort of hinge "the joint," also strips of leather, cloth, &c., used for making this part are called "joints"; secondly, the slightly raised part of the back, caused by pressing or sewing, is shortly called "the swell"; and any strips of linen or paper fastened into the back of the book for hingeing maps, plates, &c., are called "guards."

For use as end papers, a paper must be selected which suits in quality and tone the printed paper. Nothing shows lack of taste more than the use of a blue end paper with a paper of yellow tone. For both back and front a double sheet is necessary and is cut the required size. A paper guard, about the width of three fingers, is made from a piece of stout waste paper and pasted on a narrow margin at the back of the double leaf, in order to protect it in the joint and also for fastening on the cover. If there are single leaves to be used up, two of these might be pasted to each other narrowly on the back and upon this the guard; this is the so-called double end paper.

If instead of these only a single leaf is taken, then we have a single end paper; this is used for cheap school books and generally at the back only.

The accompanying sketch shows both these end papers with the small guard already folded. This folding of theguard is not very easy for the beginner. The leaf is placed face upwards, square in front of the worker, and a very narrow margin at the back edge bent upwards about 3 mm. in width, the forefinger and thumb of both hands shaping and bending the guard, working from the centre to the ends.

Fig. 25—Suggestions for single and double end papers.

Should the sheet from which the end papers are made be a little wider than required for the end papers, the tear-off may be folded at the same time; with double end papers, the leaf which is to be pasted down later is inserted between fly leaf and tear-off, and therefore is called "insertion."

Fig. 26—Suggestion for double end paper with tear-off.

If the end papers are to have a cloth joint it must be placed within the two leaves or, better, pasted in face inwards. Double cloth joints are no longer used in printed books, as they make the end papers too thick, and in the subsequent rounding the first sheet is apt to break. The joint is here also folded on as before.

Formerly, when linen joints were used, the end paper was simply made by inserting the strip of cloth and hingeing on the outside leaf about 1 cm. from the fold. This, however, has many disadvantages, therefore the end papers are made as explained, then carefully tearing off the outside leaf in the back in pasting down and cutting it as required it is pasted on to the board, as will be more fully explained under "pasting down."

The French paste a double leaf before the first and last sheets after having pasted a covering leaf around these.

For extra work, the following style of end paper is the best; it is used in England for all high-class work, and in Germany also it has been adopted by all the first-class firms.

The end papers consist merely of single leaves the size of the sheet. These are fanned out at the back to make a small margin and pasted. The first leaf is then pasted down on the end-paper sheet so as to leave a margin of about 2 mm.; the second leaf is pasted level with the back. All end papers are proceeded with in the same way.

If these are to have a cloth joint it must be pasted on the outside also only 2 mm. wide. When the end papers are dry, they must be stitched down along the back, 2 mm. from the edge, with the sewing-machine adjusted to its longest stitch. It is unnecessary to knot the ends of the thread—they are cut clean off. When there is no sewing-machine, the volumes must be overcast by hand. This overcasting is done by inserting a fine needle near the back of the knocked-up sheets from above and drawing the thread almost quite through, the second and following stitches all being made from above. The thread would then appear as in Fig. 27.

Fig. 27—Overcast end paper.

These end papers are made up before sawing-in and sawn in with the book, and when it is not possible to stitch them with the machine they must be sawn in before overcasting, or the sawing would cut the threads.

Now for the sewing. We stretch the requisite number of cords, which are secured to the hooks at the top by a simple loop which is easily undone as soon as it is taken off the hook. At the bottom a double loop is made, through which a key is passed so as to hold the stretched cord underneath the moveable board.

Fig. 28 and 29—Loops for attaching to frame hooks. and keys

Fig. 28—Loops for attaching to frame hooks.Fig. 29—Loops for taking frame keys.

The length of the cords is regulated by the thickness of each book, and as it is possible to sew a number of books at the same time when they are all sewn the same way, the length of the cords is regulated accordingly; it also depends upon the kind of books to be sewn. Cheap books get 3 cm. for every cord on each side more than the thickness of the book, that is 6 cm. plus the thickness of the book. School books get still shorter cords. For extra work, where the ends of the cords are laced through the boards, one should allow double. It is easy to calculate the length required for a single volume, but rather difficult for a batch of books varying in thickness; it is then better to measure. For example, suppose we have to sew a batch of six books, all differing in thickness but measuring in all 25 cm. high; we would allow for cheap work: 6 vols., each taking 6 cm. extra lengths = 36 cm. + total height, 25 cm., making 61 cm.; for extra work: 6 vols., each taking 12 cm. extra lengths = 72 cm. + 25 total height = 97 cm. length of cord.

The collated batch of books is laid on the bed of the sewing frame as in holländering (Fig. 17), the sheets taken hold of in the same way, and laid open for sewing. Of course the cords are adjusted to the saw-cuts, and it is better to push them more to the right than to the left, so as to give the left arm full play. Here also, as in holländering, the left hand does the work behind the cords inside the sheet, whilst the right inserts the needle from the front and again brings it out.

Fig. 30—Suggestion for sewing on four cords.

Fig. 31—Suggestion for sewing on six cords.

The first and last sheets—called end sheets—are sewn a little differently from the others, as the needle is here not inserted and drawn out exactly at the cord but at a little distance from it so as to allow them to be adjusted afterwards. Sewing[1]with us is invariably begun with the last sheet at the right, working on to the left, and reversing the process with the following sheet, and so to the end, so that the thread one way passes from and the other to the worker. With all other sheets, excepting the end sections, the thread is inserted at the kettle stitch and brought out at the next cord, round the cord, and inserted at the same hole, to be brought out again at the next cord, and so on till the thread comes out at the other kettle stitch and is inserted in the next sheet to go through the same process. With books sewn on four cords, it is allowable to skip one of the two middle cords alternately, so that each time the thread passes on to the right the right middle cord is skipped, and the left is skipped when the thread passes in the opposite direction. This facilitates and shortens the work without taking away from durability or quality. Books on 6 cords may be treatedin the same way; the right and left of each pair of cords may be skipped alternately. It was for this reason that we paid attention to the distribution of the cords on the back when sawing-in (seeFig. 23).

[1]In England, France, and part of Holland, sewing is begun with the title page.

This method of sewing is known as "end to end," in contradistinction to "two sheets on." The former is the better method and is essential for valuable books, unless the sections are exceptionally thin. The latter is "good enough" (i.e., not worth much) for the trade and cheap work. As far as strength is concerned it would do, but a book sewn in this way does not swell sufficiently in the back to make a proper backing groove.

It is an old rule in bookbinding that each sheet after it has been sewn should be pressed down with the needle so that the backs of the sheets lie close and firm together; this is called "pressing down." Should this, however, not be sufficient, the back must be knocked firm from time to time with the dividers or a rule.

The first and last sheets must be fastened to the one following and preceding respectively; but in the course of the sewing this enchaining to the preceding sheets—the so-called kettle stitch—is only necessary in the case of very thick sections. It is done by passing the needle through and bringing it out between the two preceding sheets at each end and thus chaining on the then top sheet to the one lying underneath.

The two-sheets-on sewing is done by laying open the second sheet on top of the first after making the first stitch in the first sheet and then passing the needle through the second sheet, then the third stitch is made in the first sheet and the fourth in the second sheet. One length of thread is used for the two sheets. Where the sheets have not been cut open, the left hand lightly takes the sheets in turn where they have been cut, a folder is placed in the middle and isshifted from one to the other as required. The process is the same whether there are only three cords or even six.

Fig. 32—Suggestion for sewing two-sheets-on.

It has already been said that several volumes of the same kind can be sewn on top of each other on the sewing frame; in this case the volumes must be separated from each other after the sewing is completed.

The free ends of the cords are untwisted so that they may be scraped open more easily afterwards, and then one volume after another is drawn along the cords to the ends until they are twice the length of the free cords away from each other, which, of course, will vary according to the subsequent style of binding.

So then we allow 6 and 12 cm. according to circumstances; but this length is curtailed to 3 cm. in the cheap school books, because the shorter the cords the quicker they are scraped open. Every cord is cut in the middle between the books with the shears, thus separating each volume from the other. The strands of the loose ends of the cords are now completely untwisted by inserting the cord in the groove of the scraper and repeatedly rubbing it up or down with the back of a knife.

After scraping the cords, the end-paper guards are always pasted down; the book is laid with the back to the front edge of the table, the first sheet with the end paper is turned downwards, the end-paper guard is bent up a little so that it stands away from the sheet, paste it neatly and carefully, close the section and adjust it so that the sheet in the end paper is level with the others, but not the end paper itself—thismust project a little at the back. When only one finger is required for pasting it must be the middle finger, so that the forefinger is free from paste and ready to take hold of anything.

If stitched end papers are used for extra work, a sheet of paper is laid on the second sheet so as to leave 3 mm. free, paste this strip and bring down upon it the once-more closed first sheet, taking care to square it at the outside with the body of the book.

The folder should be brought down firmly over the outer sheets after pasting down so as to ensure the paste sticking.

If the pasting-on of the joints is not properly carried out, the result will be that in most cases the book opens badly when finished.

In half-cloth or other simple bindings, the scraped cords may be pasted on at once. Bring a little paste (about the size of a pea) upon the point of a folder under the slightly raised cord, pasting the latter evenly and neatly upon the paste-down of the end paper so that the pasted-down strands of the cord lie like a feather. To prevent the pasted cords sticking to each other, the books are piled up back and front until dry. In extra work, the cords—which are also longer—must by no means be pasted on; a piece of waste paper or a cover the size of the sheet is pasted outside the sections under the cords, level with the backs. This serves partly as a protection for the end papers and partly to make a good joint when covering.

The volumes so prepared are now glued up. They must be knocked up at head and back; they are then placed with the backs outwards on a board specially kept for this work—the glueing board—with the fore-edge of which they must be exactly level. On top must be placed a smaller board or a heavy piece of iron, likewise level with the book. The book backs are thus held firmly between the glueing boards,the left hand holding them firmly by pressing on the top, the right hand glueing the backs with very hot but not thick glue; rub this well in with the point of a hammer, and after having firmly squeezed the glue out of the brush, use it for taking off the surplus glue from the backs. An old trick of the bookbinder is to heat the hammer for this work. It is a bad plan to give the back a thick coating of glue and then allow it to dry, because it at once becomes brittle. Some experienced workers place the books between the glueing boards so as to leave about 1 cm. projecting, as it is thought that the glue thereby gets better between the sheets; but this method is out of date and is of no special value. It is, however, of great importance that the glued book should be laid so that it is truly square at the head as well as the back, for if this is neglected no amount of trouble will save the book from being cut out of shape.

Before passing on to the next chapter we have still to mention the mechanical contrivances for sewing. For small as well as large binderies, machines have been invented both for wire stitching and thread sewing; the former are more generally used, the latter not being sufficiently perfect in construction to meet all demands for speed and accuracy. Then also the method of fastening the book in the cover differs so much from the traditional method that we must still hope for improvement. When this comes to pass, this machine will then supersede the wire-stitching machine, with all its unavoidable disadvantages. The working of the machines is so simple that they are attended to almost entirely by girls. We refrain from giving descriptions of mechanical appliances within the limits of a short treatise, as any day may bring forth new inventions which are certain to effect great changes in this department. Besides these costly appliances there are also simpler sewing-machines for small shops, by which books are sewn in verysimple fashion over steel needles, by means of which the cords may afterwards be drawn along.

Back to Index Next