BOOKBINDING.

BOOKBINDING: art of fastening together and covering the sheets of paper composing a book. The early form of books being either rolls of papyrus or wax-COVered tablets, the art of B. in its present form appeared first with the introduction of leaves of parchment or papyrus instead of rolls. This improvement in form is attributed by Dibdin, though on somewhat doubtful authority, to Attalus II., King of Pergamos, about B.C. 150, and though used to a considerable extent by the Greeks, was a novelty to Martial in Rome as late as A.D. 100. From this time to the invention of printing, B. was done almost exclusively by the monks; and great labor was bestowed on the covering of their most precious manuscripts. One of the oldest specimens existing is the St. Cuthbert Gospels in the British museum, bound about A.D. 700. It is covered with velvet heavily ornamented with silver inlaid with gems. A fine example of the early monastic style is shown on Plate XII., the covers being of hard wood with a figure of Christ carved on an ivory plaque in the centre, surrounded by gold filagree work, containing 16 jewels. All monastic binding has the same characteristics of heavy boards with strong metal clasps and bands, though the materials varied from the plainest parchment and iron to ivory, enamels, and mosaics with jewelled silver and gold. The invention of printing and the dawn of the Renaissauce wrought a revolution in B. The contrast between the clumsy, inartistic productions of the monasteries and the masterpieces of taste and beauty from the library of Jean Grolier (q.v.) is sharp and striking, and no productions of later times have surpassed in artistic beauty the work of these nameless Italian and French binders employed by Grolier, Maioli, and others. It is in the reign of Henry III. of France (1574-89) that the name of the binder first appears, Nicholas and Clovis Eve being the first of whom we find mention. An example of the work of one of the most famous French binders of the 17th c., Nicolas Padeloup, is shown on Plate 13. The most important event in the art of B. since the invention of printing was the introduction of cloth for covering, 1820-30, by John Pickering, a London publisher, and Albert Leighton, a bookbinder. The use of cloth aided greatly in the multiplication of cheap books, not only on account of the cheapness of the materials, but also because the process of binding allowed a much greater use of machinery than in the case of books bound in morocco. The machinery used in B. is nearly all of American invention, and has greatly reduced the cost as well as increased the rapidity of production.

Bookbinding may be divided into two classes, 'Extra work,' i.e., books bound with extra care, and by hand methods which are still very similar to those employed 300 years ago, and Edition work,' done principally by machinery in large quantity.

EXTRA WORK.-The book comes from the printer in flat sheets of 8, 16, 24, or 32 pages each, which are folded by girls with an ivory folder, so that the pages come in consecutive order. Although great care must be taken,

BOOK BINDING.

an expert folder will fold on an average 400 sixteen-page sheets per hour. Piles of the folded sheets, now called signatures, are next laid in regular order on a long table, and a girl picks up one of each signature as she passes along, making a complete book when she reaches the end, the process being called gathering. The book is then collated, that is, examined to see that no signature has been omitted or duplicated; this is done very rapidly by bending the book so that the signature number, which is on the lower left-hand corner, can be seen. In order to make the book solid, it is next beaten with a heavy, broad-faced hammer, or subjected to pressure in a press.

Sewing is done on a frame called a sewing-bench, on which bands or cords are stretched in a vertical position, and to these the signatures are attached by passing the needle and thread through the middle of the signature and around each band or cord, the number and location of these cords being shown on a bound book by the raised bands on the back. In most work at the present time grooves are sawed in the backs of the books, into which the cords fit, and the raised bands usually seen on the backs of fine books are put on by strips of pasteboard before the leather is drawn on.

After the colored lining papers have been pasted on, the back is covered with glue, and before the glue has thoroughly hardened the back is rounded by beating it in a peculiar way with a hammer. The book is then placed between backing boards, and the edges of the back beaten in such a way as to form the two projections against which the covers rest. The edges of the book are next trimmed by a knife called a plow, while the book is held firmly in a press. Before cutting the front edge, the back is struck forcibly against the table so as to render it flat, and the volume, firmly held, is placed in the press and clamped.

BOOK BINDING.

After cutting and release, the book springs back to its former round, leaving the front concave. In the most particular class of work, the boards are laced to the book before it is cut by the plow.

The ends of the cords to which the signatures are sewed, and which are allowed to project an inch or two, are securely laced to the boards forming the cover, and the ends glued down on the inside of the cover. As the name implies, the material used for covers formerly was wood, but is now a thick pasteboard rolled very hard. The book is now ready for gilding, marbling, or otherwise coloring the edges. Marbling is a separate trade, requiring peculiar skill and adroitness, but in large establishments is combined with B. Prepared colors are thrown into a shallow trough containing a preparation of gum tragacanth and other substances boiled in water, on which the colors float and spread, and are by skillful manipulation made to assume the desired appearance. The edges of the book are dipped into the liquid, and the colors adhere. After the edges are thoroughly dry, they are burnished.

Gilding is done by laying thin sheets of gold-leaf on the edges of the book, which have first been scraped very smooth and covered with a preparation of white of egg, and which, when dry, are thoroughly burnished.

The headbands, which are next attached, are purely ornamental, and serve to give a finished look to the head and tail of the volume. They consist of pieces of parchment

Fig. 1.

Fig. 2.

Boot.-Fig. 1, Common Sandal of the Ancient Egyptians. Fig. 2, Ancient Greek Ornamental Sandal.

Vol. 4