International studio (34.1908)

Practical Bookbinding

of pressure to bear on the book for a few minutes
only, then loosen it up and again screw the press
down until the plates just hold the book in place.
When placing the book in the press it should be so
adjusted that its center lies under the central point
of the platen of the press.
The book should be left in the press overnight,
or at least for several hours, and if it is found that
it is not crushed enough—which is not often the
case—it can be easily remedied. Too often, how-
ever, the beginner finds that the pressure he has
used has been so great that the grain of the leather
has been quite crushed out, leaving a glossy sur-
face, the gold being thus on the surface of the
leather.
It should be noted that one of the objects of
proper “blinding-in” is to get the impression deep
enough and sharp enough, so that when the book
is finished no amount of handling will impair the
brilliancy of the gold, for the reason that the whole
pattern is sunk below the surface of the leather and
is not touched when the book is used. On the
contrary, when the “blinding-in” is poorly done,
or if the crushing is overdone, the gold is in this
operation brought up to the surface of the leather
and is open to injury from the slightest cause.
Half-hound hooks: This is a most useful style for
library use. The forwarding is in all respects the
same as that already described, up to the point of
putting in leather. In this case the back and cor-
ners only are covered with leather. The leather
may extend on the sides as far as may be desired;
the only point to be observed is to have the width
from A to B the same, or a bit greater than from
C to D. Otherwise the corners seem “skimpy.”
After the leather has been put in place and has
dried thoroughly, it should be cut square and true
at the free edges. Now cut a piece of thin mill-
board to fit on the outside and cover all of the
board not covered with leather. Using this as a
pattern, enough filling should be cut to raise the
surface level with the leather. The filling should
be long enough to cover the edges and the inside
edge of the board also if the leather here needs it.
The turn-over of the filling should not go further
than does the leather. If the inside of the board
needs lining as a whole, special filling should be
cut for it, just as in full-bound work.
When the filling-in has been completed, lines
should be drawn on the leather (with straight-edge
and folder) about one-eighth inch from the edge.
The paper or cloth for covering the board is
then cut to fit the space. It should be large enough
to come up to the lines above referred to and

to turn over the edges of the cover. It may be
fastened on with paste or glue; the latter is best,
but very troublesome to use until one becomes
expert.
Opening a newly hound book: When both for-
warding and finishing are quite done, the binder
should “open” the book carefully in the following
manner: Open one cover flat; hold a ruler’s edge
upright against the end-paper (fly-leaf) where it
is pasted to the section. Open the end-paper and
run a folder along the straight edge, thus “break-
ing” the page somewhat. Do the same to the other
end-paper. Now take all the sections, hold them
perpendicular, the covers lying on the bench; take
two or three sections at a time (front and back
alternately), flatten them down and run the hand
along the joint, always beginning at the center of
ba.ck, thus flattening them down as much as
possible. Continue until all have been attended
to. The book should now be put under pressure
again—not necessarily in the press—and left a
day or a few days before it is allowed to leave the
bindery.
“ Hand-tooled ” work produced by machinery: A
few words on this modern development may not be
out of place. The well-known method of “block-
ing” has recently been made use of to produce a
jy3kk


XLII