BOOKBINDING

is the art of sewing together the sheets of a book; and securing them with a back and side boards. Binding is distinguished from stitching, which is merely sewing the leaves without bands or backs; and from half-binding, which consists in securing the back only with leather, the pasteboard sides being covered with blue or marble paper; whereas in binding, both the back and sides are covered with leather. Bookbinding, according to the present mode, is performed in the following manner:—The sheets are first folded into a certain number of leaves, according to the form in which the book is to appear; viz. two leaves for folios, four for quartos, eight for octavos, twelve for duodecimos, . This is done with a slip of ivory or boxwood, called a folding stick; and in the arrangement of the sheets the workmen are directed by the catch-words and signatures at the bottom of the pages. When the leaves are thus folded and arranged in proper order, they are usually beaten upon a stone with a heavy hammer, to make them solid and smooth, and are then condensed in a pre . After this preparation they are sewed in a sewing pre , upon cords or packthreads called bands, which are kept at a proper distance from each other, by drawing a thread through the middle of each sheet, and turning it round each band, beginning with the first and proceeding to the last. The number of bands is generally six for folios, and five for quartos, or any smaller size. The backs are now glued, and the ends of the bands are opened, and scraped with a knife, that they may be more conveniently fixed to the pasteboard sides; after which the back is turned with a hammer, the book being fixed in a pre between boards, called backing boards, in order to make a groove for admitting the pasteboard sides. When these sides are applied, holes are made in them for drawing the bands through, the superfluous ends are cut off, and the parts are hammered smooth. The book is next pre ed for cutting; which is done by a particular machine called the plough, to which is attached a knife. See the figures and descriptions infra . It is then put into a pre called the cutting pre , betwixt two boards, one of which lies even with the pre , for the knife to run upon; and the other above for the knife to cut against. After this the pasteboards are cut square with a pair of iron shears; and last of all, the colours are sprinkled on the edges of the leaves, with a brush made of hog’s bristles; the brush being held in the one hand, and the hair moved with the other. Different kinds of binding are distinguished by different names, such as law binding, marble binding, French binding, Dutch binding, . In Dutch binding, the backs are vellum. In French binding a slip of parchment is applied over the back between each band, and the ends are pasted upon the inside of each pasteboard. This indorsing, as it is called, is peculiar to the French binders; who are enjoined, by special ordonnance , to back their books with parchment. The parchment is applied in the pre , after the back has been grated to make the paste take hold. The Italians still bind in a coarse thick paper, and this they call binding all a rustic a . It is extremely inconvenient, as it is liable to wear without particular care. A patent was obtained in 1799 by Me rs. John and Joseph Williams, stationers in London, for an improved method of binding books of every description. The improvement consists of a back, in any curved form, turned a little at the edges, and made of iron, steel, copper, bra , tin, or of ivory, bone, wood, vellum, or, in short, any material of sufficient firmne . This back is put on the book before it is bound, so as just to cover without pre ing the edges; and the advantage of it is that it prevents the book, when opened, from spreading on either side, and causes it to rise in any part to nearly a level surface. In this method of binding the sheets are prepared in the usual manner, then sewed on vellum slips, glued, cut, clothed, and boarded, or half boarded; the firm back is then fastened to the sides by vellum drawn through holes, or secured by inclosing it in vellum or ferret wrappers, or other materials pasted down upon the boards, or drawn through them. A patent was likewise obtained in 1800 by Mr. Ebenezer Palmer, a London stationer, for an improved way of binding books, particularly merchants’ account-books. This improvement has been described as follows:—let several small bars of metal be provided about the thickne of a shilling or more, according to the size and thickne of the book; the length of each bar being from half an inch to several inches, in proportion to the strength required in the back of the book. At each end of every bar let a pivot be made of different lengths, to correspond to the thickne of two links which they are to receive. Each link must be made in an oval form, and contain two holes proportioned to the size of the pivots, these links to be the same metal as the hinge, and each of them nearly equal in length to the width of two bars. The links are then to be riveted on the pivots, each pivot receiving two of them, and thus holding the hinge together, on the principle of a link-chain or hinge. There must be two holes or more of different sizes, as may be required, on each bar of the hinge or chain; by means of these holes each section of the book is strongly fastened to the hinge which operates with the back of the book, when bound, in such a manner as to make the different sections parallel with each other, and thus admit writing without inconvenience on the ruled lines, close to the back. The leather used in covering books is prepared and applied as follows: being first moistened in water, it is cut to the size of the book, and the thickne of the edge is paired off on a marble stone. It is next smeared over with paste made of wheat flour, stretched over the pasteboard on the outside, and doubled over the edges within. The book is then corded, that is, bound firmly betwixt two boards, to make the cover stick strongly to the pasteboard and the back; on the exact performance of which the neatne of the book in a great measure depends. The back is then warmed at the fire to soften the glue, and the leather is rubbed down with a bodkin or folding stick, to set and fix it close to the back of the book. It is now set to dry, and when dry the boards are removed; the book is then washed or sprinkled over with a little paste and water, the edges and squares blacked with ink, and then sprinkled fine with a brush, by striking it against the hand or a stick; or with large spots, by being mixed with solution of green vitriol, which is called marbling. Two blank leaves are then pasted down to the cover, and the leaves, when dry, are burnished in the pre , and the cover rolled on the edges. The cover is now glazed twice with the white of an egg, filleted, and last of all, polished, by pa ing a hot iron over the glazed colour. The employment in book binding of a rolling pre for smoothing and condensing the leaves, instead of the hammering which books have usually received, is an improvement introduced several years ago into the trade by Mr. W. Burn. His pre consists of two iron cylinders about a foot in diameter, adjustable in the usual way, by means of a screw, and put in motion by the power of one man or of two, if need be, applied to one or two winch-handles. In front of the pre sits a boy who gathers the sheets into packets, by placing two, three, or four upon a piece of tin plate of the same size, and covering them with another piece of tin plate, and thus proceeding by alternating tin plates and bundles of sheets till a sufficient quantity have been put together, which will depend on the stiffne and thickne of the paper. The packet is then pa ed between the rollers and received by the man who turns the winch, and who has time to lay the sheets on one side, and to hand over the tin plates by the time that the boy has prepared a second packet. A minion bible may be pa ed through the pre in one minute, whereas the time nece ary to beat it would be twenty minutes. It is not, however, merely a saving of time that is gained by the use of the rolling pre ; the paper is made smoother than it would have been by beating, and the compre ion is so much greater, that a rolled book will be reduced to about five-sixths of the thickne of the same book if beaten. A shelf, therefore, that will hold fifty books bound in the usual way would hold nearly sixty of those bound in this manner, a circumstance of no small importance, when it is considered how large a space even a moderate library occupies, and that book-cases are an expensive article of furniture. The rolling pre is now substituted for the hammer by several considerable bookbinders. IMG:4147767755307473660_illo0158a.png:Sewing pre  Fig. 141. represents the sewing pre , as it stands upon the table, before which the bookbinder sits. Fig. 142. is a ground plan without the parts a and n in the former figure. A is the base-board, supported upon the cro bars m n , marked with dotted lines in fig. 142. Upon the screw rods r r fig. 141. the nuts t d serve to fix the flat upper bar n , at any desired distance from the base. That bar has a slit along its middle, through which the hooks below z z pa down for receiving the ends of the sewing cords p p , fixed at y y , and stretched by the thumb-screws z z . The bar y y is let into an oblong space cut out of the front edge of the base board and fixed there by a movable pin a , and a fixed pin at its other end round which it turns. IMG:4147767755307473660_illo0158b.png:Cutting pre  Fig. 143. is the bookbinder’s cutting pre , which is set upright upon a sort of chest for the reception of the paper parings; and consists of three sides, being open above and to the left hand of the workman. The pre bar, or beam a , has two holes n n upon its under surface, for securing it to two pegs standing on the top of the chest. The screw rods t t pa through two tapped holes in the bar, marked with b c at its upper end; their heads r r being held by the shoulders o o . The heads are pierced with holes into which lever pins are thrust for screwing the rods hard up. The heavy beam a remains immovable, while the parallel bar with the book is brought home towards it by the two screws. The two rulers s s serve as guides to preserve the motions truly parallel; and the two parallel lath bars b c guide between them the end bar e , of the plough, whose knife is shown at i , with its clamping screw z . IMG:4147767755307473660_illo0159a.png:Paper cutter Mr. Oldham, printing engineer of the Bank of England, distinguished for mechanical ingenuity, has contrived a convenient machine for cutting the edges of books, banknotes, . either truly square or polygonal, with mathematical precision. Fig. 144. represents an end elevation of the machine. Fig. 145. a side view of the same, the letters of reference indicating the same parts of the machine in each of the figures. IMG:4147767755307473660_illo0159b.png:Details of paper cutter a , is the top cro bar with rectangular grooves b b ; c c , are side posts; d d , cro feet to the same, with strengthening brackets; e e , a square box, in which the pre stands, for holding waste cuttings. Fig. 146. is a cro section of the upright posts, c c , taken horizontally. There are rectangular grooves in the upright posts, for the projecting ends of the cast iron cro bracket f , to slide up and down in. In the middle of the under-side of this piece f , there is a bo , within which is a round rece , to receive the top of the screw g , which works in the cast iron cro piece h , similarly made with the former, but bolted firmly to the posts c c . Upon the screw g there is a circular handle or ring i , for partially turning the screw, and immediately over it cro holes for tightening the pre by means of a lever bar. Upon the cro piece f , is bolted the board j , and upon each end of this board is made fast the rabbet ted pieces k k , for another board l , to slide in. Acro the middle of this board, and parallel to the pieces k k , the tongue piece m , is made fast, which fits into a groove in the bottom of board l . A horizontal representation of this is seen at fig. 147. and immediately under this view is also seen an end view of l , and f , connected together, and a side view of f by itself. In the middle of the board l , is a pin for a circular board n , to turn upon, and upon this latter board is placed the “material to be cut,” with a saving piece between it, and the circular piece which is to be divided upon its edge into any number of parts required, with a stationary index on the board l , to point to each. It will now be understood that the “material to be cut,” may be turned round upon the centre pin of the board n , and also that both it and the board can be shifted backward and forward under the top cro piece a , and between the side slide slips k k , the surfaces of which should also be divided into inches and tenths. The plough, fig. 148. , shown in several positions, is made to receive two knives or cutters as the “material to be cut” may require, and which are situated in the plough as I now describe. The plough is composed of three principal parts, namely, the top, and its two sides. The top o , is made the breadth of the cro piece a , and with a handle made fast thereon. The sides p p , are bolted thereto, with bolts and nuts through corresponding holes in the top and sides. The figures below give inside views, and cro sections of the details of the manner in which the cutters and adjustments are mounted. A groove is cut down each cheek or side, in which are placed screws that are held at top and bottom from moving up and down, but by turning they cause the nuts upon them to do so; they are shown at q q . These nuts have each a pin projecting inwards, that go into plain holes made in the top ends of cutters r r . The 148th. and following figs. are 1 ⁄ 4 in scale. IMG:4147767755307473660_illo0159c.png:Plough and related details The cutters, and the work for causing them to go up and down, are sunk into the cheeks, so as to be quite level with their inner surfaces. Fig. 149. shows one of those screws apart, how fixed, and with moveable nut and projecting pin. The top of each screw terminates with a round split down, and above it a pinion wheel and bo thereon, also similarly split. This pinion fits upon the split pin. Above , there is cro section of a hollow coupling cap with steel tongue acro , that fits into both the cuts of the screw pin and pinion bo , so that when lowered upon each other, they must all turn together. In the middle and on the top of the upper piece o , the larger wheel s , runs loose upon its centre, and works into the two pinion-wheels t t . The wheel s has a fly-nut with wings mounted upon it. It will now be seen, when the plough is in its place as at fig. 150. , that if it be pushed to and fro by the right hand, and the nut occasionally turned by the left, the knives or cutters will be protruded downwards at the same time, and these either will or will not advance as the coupling caps u u are on or off. The ribs v v , run in the grooves b b , fig. 144. , and keep the cutters to their duty, working steadily. The top cro bar a , is the exact breadth of a bank-note, by which means both knives are made to cut at the same time. The paper is cut uniformly to one length, and accurately square. By the use of this machine, the air-pump paper-wetting apparatus, and appendant pre , the paper of 45,000 notes is fully prepared in one hour and a half by one person, and may then be printed. It is not so much injured by this proce as by the ordinary method of clipping by hand, soaking it, ., which more or le opens and weakens the fabric, especially of bank-note paper. One of the greatest improvements ever made in the art of bookbinding is, apparently, that for which Mr. William Hancock has very recently obtained a patent. After folding the sheets in double leaves, he places them vertically, with the edges forming the back of the book downwards in a concave mould, of such rounded or semi-cylindrical shape as the back of the book is intended to have. The mould for this purpose consists of two parallel upright boards, set apart upon a cradle frame, each having a portion or portions cut out vertically, somewhat deeper than the breadth of the book, but of a width nearly equal to its thickne before it is pre ed. One of these upright boards may be slidden nearer to or farther from its fellow, by means of a guide bar, attached to the sole of the cradle. Thus the distance between the concave bed of the two vertical slots in which the book rests, may be varied according to the length of the leaves. In all cases about one-fourth of the length of the book at each end projects beyond the board, so that one half rests between the two boards. Two or three packthreads are now bound round the leaves thus arranged, from top to bottom of the page in different lines, in order to preserve the form given to the back of the mould in which it lay. The book is next subjected to the action of the pre . The back, which is left projecting very slightly in front, is then smeared carefully by the fingers with a solution of caoutchouc, whereby each paper-edge receives a small portion of the cement. In a few hours it is sufficiently dry to take another coat of a somewhat stronger caoutchouc solution. In 48 hours, 4 applications of the caoutchouc may be made and dried. The back and the adjoining part of the sides are next covered with the usual band or fillet of cloth, glued on with caoutchouc; after which the book is ready to have the boards attached, and to be covered with leather or parchment as may be desired. We thus see that Mr. Hancock dispenses entirely with the operations of stitching, sewing, sawing-in, hammering the back, or the use of paste and glue. Instead of leaves attached by thread stitches at 2 or 3 points, we have them agglutinated securely along their whole length. Books bound in this way open so perfectly flat upon a table without strain or resilience, that they are equally comfortable to the student, the musician, and the merchant. The caoutchouc cement moreover being repulsive to insects, and not affected by humidity, gives this mode of binding a great superiority over the old method with paste or glue, which attracted the ravages of the moth, and in damp situations allowed the book to fall to pieces. For engravings, at la es, and ledgers, this binding is admirably adapted, because it allows the pages to be displayed most freely, without the risk of dislocating the volume; but for security, 3 or 4 stitches should be made. The leaves of music-books bound with caoutchouc, when turned over, lie flat at their whole extent, as if in loose sheets, and do not torment the musician like the leaves of the ordinary books, which are so ready to spring back again. Manuscripts and collections of letters which happen to have little or no margin left at the back for stitching them by, may be bound by Mr. Hancock’s plan without the least encroachment upon the writing. The thickest ledgers thus bound, open as easily as paper in quire, and may be written on up to the innermost margin of the book without the least inconvenience. Having inspected various specimens of Mr. Hancock’s workmanship, I willingly bear testimony to the truth of the preceding statement. See Cloth Binding . IMG:4147767755307473660_illo0161.png:Bottle mould