Bookbinding, and the Care of Books Part 2

COLLATING

In addition to the pagination each sheet or section of a printed book is lettered or numbered. Each letter or number is called the "sheet's signature." Printers usually leave out J W and V in lettering sheets.

If there are more sections than there are letters in the alphabet, the printer doubles the letters, signing the sections A A, B B, and so on, after the single letters are exhausted. Some printers use an Arabic numeral before the section number to denote the second alphabet, as 2A, 2B, &c., and others change the character of the letters, perhaps using capitals for the first alphabet and italics for the second. If the sheets are numbered, the numbers will of course follow consecutively. In books of more than one volume, the number of the volume is sometimes added in Roman numerals before the signature, as II A, II B.

The main pagination of the book usually commences with Chapter I., and all before that is independently paged in Roman numerals. It is unusual to have actual numbers on the t.i.tle or half-t.i.tle, but if the pages are counted back from where the first numeral occurs, they should come right.

There will sometimes be one or more blank leaves completing sections at the beginning or end. Such blank leaves must be retained, as without them the volume would be "imperfect."

To collate a modern book the paging must be examined to see that the leaves are in order, and that nothing is defective or missing.

The method of doing this is to insert the first finger of the right hand at the bottom of about the fiftieth page, crook the finger, and turn up the corners of the pages with it. When this is done the thumb is placed on page 1, and the hand twisted, so as to fan out the top of the pages. They can then be readily turned over by the thumb and first finger of the left hand (see fig. 5). This is repeated throughout the book, taking about fifty pages at a time. It will of course only be necessary to check the odd numbers, as if they are right, the even ones on the other side of the leaf must be so. If the pages are numbered at the foot, the leaves must be fanned out from the head.

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 5.]

Plates or maps that are not paged can only be checked from the printed list. When checked it will save time if the number of the page which each faces is marked on the back in small pencil figures.

In the case of early printed books or ma.n.u.scripts, which are often not paged, special knowledge is needed for their collation. It may roughly be said, that if the sections are all complete, that is, if there are the same number of leaves at each side of the sewing in all the sections, the book may be taken to be perfect, unless of course whole sections are missing. All unpaged books should be paged through in pencil before they are taken apart; this is best done with a very fine pencil, at the bottom left-hand corner; it will only be necessary to number the front of each leaf.

PULLING TO PIECES

After the volume has been collated it must be "pulled," that is to say, the sections must be separated, and all plates or maps detached.

If in a bound book there are slips laced in the front cover, they must be cut and the back torn off. It will sometimes happen that in tearing off the leather nearly all the glue will come too, leaving the backs of the pages detached except for the sewing. More usually the back will be left covered with a ma.s.s of glue and linen, or paper, which it is very difficult to remove without injury to the backs of the sections. By drawing a sharp knife along the bands, the sewing may be cut and the bands removed, leaving the sections only connected by the glue. Then the sections of the book can usually be separated with a fine folder, after the thread from the centre of each has been removed; the point of division being ascertained by finding the first signature of each section. In cases where the glue and leather form too hard a back to yield to this method, it is advisable to soak the glue with paste, and when soft to sc.r.a.pe it off with a folder. As this method is apt to injure the backs of the sections, it should not be resorted to unless necessary; and when it is, care must be taken not to let the damp penetrate into the book, or it will cause very ugly stains. The book must be pulled while damp, or else the glue will dry up harder than before. The separated sections must be piled up carefully to prevent pages being soiled by the damp glue.

All plates or single leaves "pasted on" must be removed. These can usually be detached by carefully tearing apart, but if too securely pasted they must be soaked off in water, unless of course the plates have been painted with water-colour. If the plates must be soaked off, the leaf and attached plate should be put into a pan of slightly warm water and left to soak until they float apart, then with a soft brush any remaining glue or paste can be easily removed while in the water.

Care must be taken not to soak modern books printed on what is called "Art Paper," as this paper will hardly stand ordinary handling, and is absolutely ruined if wetted. The growing use of this paper in important books is one of the greatest troubles the bookbinder has to face. The highly loaded and glazed surface of some of the heavy plate papers easily flakes off, so that any guard pasted on these plates is apt to come away, taking with it the surface of the paper. Moreover, should the plates chance to be fingered or in any way soiled, nothing can remove the marks; and should a corner get turned down, the paper breaks and the corner will fall off. It is the opinion of experts that this heavily loaded Art Paper will not last a reasonable time, and, apart from other considerations, this should be ample reason for not using it in books that are expected to have a permanent value.

Printers like this paper, because it enables them to obtain brilliant impressions from blocks produced by cheap processes.

In "cased" books, sewn by machinery, the head and tail of the sheets will often be found to be split up as far as the "kettle" st.i.tches. If such a book is to be expensively bound, it will require mending throughout in these places, or the glue may soak into the torn ends, and make the book open stiffly.

Some books are put together with staples of tinned iron wire, which rapidly rust and disfigure the book by circular brown marks. Such marks will usually have to be cut out and the places carefully mended.

This process is lengthy, and consequently so costly, that it is generally cheaper, when possible, to obtain an unbound copy of the book from the publishers, than to waste time repairing the damage done by the cloth binder.

Generally speaking, the sections of a book cased in cloth by modern methods are so injured as to make it unfit for more permanent binding unless an unreasonable amount of time is spent on it. It is a great pity that publishers do not, in the case of books expected to have a permanent literary value, issue a certain number of copies printed on good paper, and unbound, for the use of those who require permanent bindings; and in such copies it would be a great help if sufficient margin were left at the back of the plates for the binder to turn it up to form a guard. If the plates were very numerous, guards made of the substance of the plates themselves would make the book too thick; but in the case of books with not more than a dozen plates, printed on comparatively thin paper, it would be a great advantage.

Some books in which there are a large number of plates are cut into single leaves, which are held together at the back by a coating of an indiarubber solution. For a short time such a volume is pleasant enough to handle, and opens freely, but before long the indiarubber perishes, and the leaves and plates fall apart. When a book of this kind comes to have a permanent binding, all the leaves and plates have to be pared at the back and made up into sections with guards--a troublesome and expensive business. The custom with binders is to overcast the backs of the leaves in sections, and to sew through the overcasting thread, but this, though an easy and quick process, makes a hopelessly stiff back, and no book so treated can open freely.

REFOLDING

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 6.--Dividers]

When the sheets of books that have to be rebound have been carelessly folded, a certain amount of readjustment is often advisable, especially in cases where the book has not been previously cut. The t.i.tle-page and the half-t.i.tle, when found to be out of square, should nearly always be put straight. The folding of the whole book may be corrected by taking each pair of leaves and holding them up to the light and adjusting the fold so that the print on one leaf comes exactly over the print on the other, and creasing the fold to make them stay in that position. With a pair of dividers (fig. 6) set to the height of the shortest top margin, points the same distance above the headline of the other leaves can be made. Then against a carpenter's square, adjusted to the back of the fold, the head of one pair of leaves at a time can be cut square (see fig. 7). If the book has been previously cut this process is apt to throw the leaves so far out of their original position as to make them unduly uneven.

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 7.]

Accurate folding is impossible if the "register" of the printing is bad, that is to say, if the print on the back of a leaf does not lie exactly over that on the front.

Crooked plates should usually be made straight by judicious tr.i.m.m.i.n.g of the margins. It is better to leave a plate short at tail or fore-edge than to leave it out of square.

KNOCKING OUT JOINTS

The old "joints" must be knocked out of the sections of books that have been previously backed. To do this, one or two sections at a time are held firmly in the left hand, and well hammered on the knocking-down iron fixed into the lying press. It is important that the hammer face should fall exactly squarely upon the paper, or it may cut pieces out. The knocking-down iron should be covered with a piece of paper, and the hammer face must be perfectly clean, or the sheets may be soiled.

CHAPTER III

Guarding--Throwing Out--Paring Paper--Soaking off India Proofs--Mounting very Thin Paper--Splitting Paper--Inlaying--Flattening Vellum

GUARDING

Guards are slips of thin paper or linen used for strengthening the fold of leaves that are damaged, or for attaching plates or single leaves.

Guards should be of good thin paper. That known as Whatman's Banknote paper answers very well. An easy way to cut guards is shown in fig.

8. Two or three pieces of paper of the height of the required guards are folded and pinned to the board by the right-hand corners. A series of points are marked at the head and tail with dividers set to the width desired for the guards, and with a knife guided by a straight-edge, cuts joining the points are made right through the paper, but not extending quite to either end. On a transverse cut being made near the bottom, the guards are left attached by one end only (see fig. 9), and can be torn off as wanted. This method prevents the paper from slipping while it is being cut.

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 8.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 9.]

A mount cutter's knife (fig. 10) will be found to be a convenient form of knife to use for cutting guards.

In using the knife and straight-edge a good deal of pressure should be put on the straight-edge, and comparatively little on the knife.

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 10.--Mount Cutter's Knife]

To mend the torn back of a pair of leaves, a guard should be selected a little longer than the height of the pages and well pasted with white paste (see page 288). If the pair of leaves are not quite separated, the pasted guard held by its extremities may be simply laid along the weak place and rubbed down through blotting-paper. If the leaves are quite apart, it is better to lay the pasted guard on a piece of gla.s.s and put the edges of first one and then the other leaf on to it and rub down.

On an outside pair of leaves the guard should be inside, so that the glue may catch any ragged edges; while on the inside pair the guard should be outside, or it will be found to be troublesome in sewing. In handling the pasted guards care is needed not to stretch them, or they may cause the sheet to crinkle as they dry.

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 11.]

Plates must be guarded round the sections next them. When there are a great many plates the back margin of each, to which a guard will be attached, must be pared (see fig. 11, A), or the additional thickness caused by the guards will make the back swell unduly. In guarding plates a number can be pasted at once if they are laid one on another, with about an eighth of an inch of the back of each exposed, the top of the pile being protected by a folded piece of waste paper (see fig.

12). To paste, the brush is brought from the top to the bottom of the pile only, and not the other way, or paste will get between the plates and soil them. Guards should usually be attached to the backs of plates, and should be wide enough to turn up round the adjoining section, so that they may be sewn through. Should a plate come in the middle of a section, the guard is best turned back and slightly pasted to the inside of the sheet and then sewn through in the ordinary way.

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 12.]

If plates are very thick, they must be hinged, as shown at fig. 11, B.

This is done by cutting a strip of about a quarter of an inch off the back of the plate, and guarding with a wide guard of linen, leaving a small s.p.a.ce between the plate and the piece cut off to form a hinge.

It will save some swelling if the plate is pared and a piece of thinner paper subst.i.tuted for the piece cut off (see fig. 11, C). If the plates are of cardboard, they should be guarded on both sides with linen, and may even need a second joint.

A book that consists entirely of plates or single leaves must be made up into sections with guards, and sewn as usual. In books in which there are a great many plates, it is often found that two plates either come together in the centre of a section, or come at opposite sides of the same pair of leaves. Such plates should be guarded together and treated as folded sheets (see fig. 13).