Bookbinding for beginners

By FLORENCE O. BEAN Assistant in Manual Arts Boston Public Schools
JOHN C. BRODHEAD Assistant Superintendent Boston Public Schools Collaborating
———— SECOND EDITION ————
PUBLISHED BY THE DAVIS PRESS Worcester, Mass. 1918
Copyright 1914 School Arts Publishing Company ———— Second Edition Copyright 1918 The Davis Press
THE present day demand for industrial education has had the effect of somewhat discrediting the more formal manual training commonly found in the upper elementary grades and early high school years. This work is usually conducted in special shops and by special teachers, and the question is being raised whether, with all these advantages, more vital results might not be attained.
Whether these criticisms are justified or not, the present interest in industrial education is strengthening the demand for more effective construction work in grades four, five and six. It is a growing conviction that there must be laid, in the earlier grades, a strong foundation on which to build a practical education in the later grades whether directed toward industrial, commercial or professional life.
The appearance of this book, therefore, is timely because it outlines a course suitable for grades five and six which stimulates constructive activities and develops industrial intelligence. It should be noted that its industrial significance is much wider than its title, “Bookbinding for Beginners,” would indicate, as even a hasty examination of the book will show, and also that it is so planned that it may be used successfully in schools where special teachers and expensive equipments are impossible.
The book is different from, and, I believe, superior to others of its kind for the following reasons:
First, because the projects it presents, the methods it advises, and the results it anticipates have all been worked out by actual experience with thousands of boys and under conditions which may be duplicated in almost any schoolroom. The author’s personal experience with the problems incident to the giving of manual training by the grade teacher includes that which she gained as a successful grade teacher herself, supplemented by some years of supervisory work in a large city system. She is therefore conversant with every possible phase of the school problem.