Fig. 33. Folded paper for hollow back cover.Book
Fig. 33. Folded paper for hollow back cover.
Fig. 33. Folded paper for hollow back cover.
Fig. 33. Folded paper for hollow back cover.
Book
Head and Foot Bands.
It is now time to make the head and foot bands. The book is fastened in a lying press as shown in Fig. 29, with the head leaning toward the workman. A needle, into which is tied one end of a long, colored silk thread is run through the middle of the first section down to the head puncture and out through the back, the thread being drawn half its length through. Then a strong piece of cord, considerably longer than the width of the back, is laid on the head of the book just back of the boards. The needle end of the thread is brought directly forward over the cord, while the other end is crossed over the needle end of the thread, under the cord, and forward over the cord the same as the first thread. Then changing hands again, this operation is repeated twice when the needle is run down into the head of the book and out at the back one-half inch or more below the head but as it comes back over the cord, it is crossed by the other thread exactly as at first. About every fourth crossing, the thread should be sewed into the book.
When the cord is covered to the other side of the book, the two threads are knotted firmly beneath the cord. A small bit of paste is put at the end of the silk on each side, and the cord cut off. Then a tough piece of paper reaching from the top cord to the top of the headband is glued on to hold the band in place.
The foot band is made in exactly the same manner.
Then a strip of paper as wide as the back is glued on and carefully fitted about the cords.
The leather back is put on as in the Library Binding, but much greater care and patience are required in rubbing down the leather about the cords and making it adhere strongly to the book at all points. Rubbing sticks, 7, Plate I, come in good place in this operation. Band nippers are often used to force the leather against the cords. The leather is moistened slightly at the head and foot and made to lie down snugly against the head and foot bands. Afterthis, the leather pieces for the corners are cut and marked up, leaving a three-quarter inch margin on the two equal sides of the triangle, Fig. 30. A general rule for the size of corners is that the altitude of the finished corner triangle should be about the same as the extension of the back leather over the side of the book.
The corners of the leather pieces are cut out just as the corners of the paper in the previous book. Then the edges are pared thin. The leather corners are covered with paste, one at a time, a corner of the cover board is placed in proper position on the leather and the turn-ins pasted, a and b, Fig. 31. This done, the book is put under light pressure for a time. The leather is now all trimmed to proper size and the cover paper marked and cut for the sides. The one-eighth inch lap is marked on the leather back, and the book laid on the paper as in previous book. Then with a sharp pencil, points are made on the paper showing where it must be cut to allow not more than one-eighth inch lap on the leather of the corners, Fig. 31.
The corners of the paper are cut out, the paper covered with paste, the book placed in proper position and the turn-ins pasted as at c and d. Care must again be exercised that the paper comes squarely against the edges of the boards and fits closely around the edges of the leather. For such processes, the bone folder is almost indispensable.
The next step is the lining of the boards. A rectangular piece of heavy paper is pasted on the inside of each cover and fitted snugly against the edges of the leather and paper turn-ins. After these linings are dry, the end papersare trimmed and pasted down. In this case, great care and patience are necessary to make the endpapers attach themselves to the back edges of the boards. Of course, the outside white leaves are torn off and the colored pastedowns are drawn back upon the boards as in the Library Binding, and with a bone folder, the papers are forced against the back edges of the boards. Then the book is closed and immediately opened. If in closing, the endpaper is pulled loose or wrinkled, it is again put into proper order and the book again closed.
When the end papers hold their positions perfectly, the book is thoroughly protected with paper, tins and boards and put lightly into press.
Then the head is colored with India ink, a coat of beeswax put on, and a burnisher used to give it a polish. It is well to leave the completed book under some pressure for several days.
If, in the process, some paste has gotten on the leather or paper, it may be removed by the use of a damp cloth, carefully rubbed over the soiled places.
In case a hollow back is desired for this book, deep punctures are sawed at every cord, and the cords which are smaller than in the flexible binding, are sunken into these punctures, Fig. 32. The sewing in such a binding is very simple, the thread running along the middle of the section and behind the cords, with kettlestitches at the head and foot, the same as in the flexible sewing.
Before the cover goes on, a heavy paper folded as in Fig. 33, making from three to five thicknesses, is glued by the bottom layer to the back.
But especially in elementary work where very little gold tooling and lettering are undertaken, the hollow back is neither necessary nor desirable. At all events, let us avoid the false cords sometimes seen in commercial books.
V.REBINDING.
The foregoing work has assumed that the books were to be bound from the original, unfolded sheets.
In case of rebinding books, the following preliminary steps are necessary before beginning the sewing:—
1. Taking off old cover. This is done simply by pulling loose the endpapers and carefully loosening the super. If the glue or paste refuses to come off, it is covered with a coat of fresh paste, and after a short time may be scraped off.
2. Cutting sections apart. The leaves are counted until the thread is reached which indicates the middle of the section. The thread is clipped and the same number of leaves, disregarding plates, is counted, bringing us to the end of the section. The counting is necessary because of the fact that in many books, the first and last few sections are pasted, or tipped, together, making it difficult to tell where one stops and the other begins.
3. Beating out the joint. In books which have been rounded and backed, the first and last few sections especially have a decided bend near the backs caused by the hammering. This is removed by laying the sections down on a solid block and hammering them along the joints.
4. Mending, cleaning and guarding. Guards are strips of tough paper about one-fourth of an inch wide which are used to paste together the leaves of a folio that have been torn apart, and to fasten plates into the book. In case of the torn folio, the leaves are laid side by side inthe proper position and a guard, covered with paste, is placed over the joint where the leaves come together. The leaves are then folded together creasing the guard in the middle. This general rule as to the placing of the guards is given in the form of a bull:—“If it is to be guarded on the outside, put the guard on the inside; but if it is to be guarded on the inside, put the guard on the outside.” That is, if it is the outside folio of the section to be guarded, put the guard on the inside of the folio, so that the ragged edges of the tear may be gathered up by the glue on the back and that it may not interfere with the sewing. But if it is an inside folio to be guarded, put the guard or the outside of the folio. When guarding in a plate, a folio is opened out, the plate placed on the proper leaf, and the guard put on as in the case of a torn folio.
5. Cutting new end papers.
After all the foregoing steps, the book is ready to be pressed, placing the sections upon each other and inserting tins and boards as described in Case Binding.
When it comes to re-sewing the book and putting on new covers, the practice is to use any method or any combination of methods that seems to be demanded by the conditions and size of the book, and the character of usage which it will probably meet. It is not unusual in commercial binderies to sew books especially large, heavy books, on tapes or on sunken cords without regard to the style of cover. This is done especially where the book has large, thick sections that are difficult to hold in place. Thus it is seen how far, under some conditions, we depart from the standard types.
It sometimes happens that the folios are so badly torn at the folds that to guard them would make the back unusually thick. In such cases, the overcasting method is used. The back of the book is cut if it is in very bad condition, and then instead of sewing through punctures over cords or tapes, several of the leaves are taken and placed in the same position as a section, and sewed through, whipping over and over, and going around tapes or cords in the usual manner. It frequently happens however, that a book is in good condition with the exception of the cover, in which case, simply a new cover is put on. This necessitates re-gluing of the back and putting on new super and end papers. Then the question arises how to fasten in the end papers so that they may be strong. One method, especially in the case of heavy books, is to put in a cloth joint. This is a folded strip of cloth about one inch wide, at each end of the book, with one side of the fold pasted to the outside leaf. Then when the cover is put on, the other side of the cloth fold is pasted to the board, Fig. 34. A folio of cover paper is then tipped against the cloth and the outside leaf pasted to the board; or in many cases, a separate sheet is used for the pastedown, leaving both leaves of the end folio free.