Practical Bookbinding

wi

ng, 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 o

and is really satisfactory. Only the very

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; fir

t of threads in ol

sired to imitate the old method, the sewing is done on double cords; that is to say, for every cord two cords are stretched a

ent of threads w

uts in the back, in which the cords are laid. By this means the sewing thread never actually

The common practice of widening the cut by means of a coarse file gives a triangular cut like this ˉˉˉˉˉ\/ˉˉˉˉˉ 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 at head 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 th

= 9 di

= 7 di

= 6 di

= 5 di

visions fo

deep and quite narrow; they only mark the p

hen using four or six, are unequal; the reason for this w

in, several may be laid together-so that the back projects about 1/2 cm. beyond the edges of the boards. The fi

ress-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

chine for

are replaced, the volumes again collated, and the end p

g 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 wher

le 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

then we have a single end paper; this is used for

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 upw

ns for single and

pers, the tear-off may be folded at the same time; with double end papers, the leaf which is to be

for double end pa

ace inwards. Double cloth joints are no longer used in printed books, as they make the end papers too thick

m. from the fold. This, however, has many disadvantages, therefore the end papers are made as explained, then carefully tearing off the outside

the first and last sheets after havi

t; it is used in England for all high-class work, and in Ge

a small margin and pasted. The first leaf is then pasted down on the end-paper sheet so as to leave a margin of

sted 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

vercast e

k, and when it is not possible to stitch them with the machine they mu

by a simple loop which is easily undone as soon as it is taken off the hook. At the bottom a double lo

g to frame hooks. Fig. 29-

e 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.

g. 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

tion for sewin

tion for sewin

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 tim

part of Holland, sewing is

valuable books, unless the sections are exceptionally thin. The latter is "good enough" (i.e., not worth much) for the trade and cheap work. A

dle so that the backs of the sheets lie close and firm together; this is called "pressing down." Should thi

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 t

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 t

tion for sewin

e sewn on top of each other on the sewing frame; in this case the vo

en one volume after another is drawn along the cords to the ends until they are twice the length of the

ker 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 loos

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

sheet so as to leave 3 mm. free, paste this strip and bring down upon it the once-mor

y over the outer sheets after pasting d

rly carried out, the result will be that in

wn 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 m

g 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

astening 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 m

read-sewin

ire-sewin

cheap lines. We only mention them to draw attention to their existence. Unprinted paper and