REINFORCING
In Chapter 6 will be found a discussion of the advisability of purchasing books bound from the sheets or in reinforced publisher's covers. While it is advisable on the whole to have reinforcing done by regular library binders, the work can be done in large libraries that have proper equipment and labor. The essential principles of reinforcing are the same in all libraries that practice it, though they may differ as to minor details. The following method has proved satisfactory.
1. Remove the book from its cover, which is laid aside for future use. If the call number is to be gilded it will be easier to do it before the cover is removed than after it is replaced.
2. Make end papers and fly-leaves of 60-pound kraft paper or 80-pound manila, guarded with jaconet on one side of the sheet. End papers should be guarded on the inside of the fold.
3. Oversew the fly-leaves to the first and last sections of the book, being careful that stitches are not over one-eighth of an inch deep.
4. Sew the end papers to the fly-leaves which have just been oversewed, and paste fly-leaves and end papers together.
5. Apply a thin coating of flexible glue to the back of the book and put over it a piece of thin canton flannel cut as long as the book and wide enough to extend an inch on each side. This should be well rubbed down.
6. Paste the canton flannel which projects on the side to the end papers.
7. Glue one side of the book and place it on the proper side of the cover. Glue the side remaining uppermost and draw the cover up over it.
8. Rub both sides and back until sure that the glue is well forced into them.
9. If desired, the book may be given a coat of white shellac and one of varnish, after which it should be wiped with a paraffine cloth.