(5) The finisher, who decorates and letters the volume after it is forwarded.
In Paris the work is still further distributed, a special workman (couvreur) being employed to prepare the leather for covering and to cover.
In the opinion of the writer, the work, as a craft of beauty, suffers, as do the workmen, from the allocation of different operations to different workmen. The work should be conceived of as one, and be wholly executed by one person, or at most by two, and especially should there be no distinction between "finisher" and "forwarder," between "executant" and "artist."
The following technical names may serve to call attention to the principal features of a bound book.
(1) The back, the posterior edge of the volume upon which at the present time the title is usually placed. Formerly it was placed on the fore-edge or side.
The back may be (a) convex or concave or flat; (b) marked horizontally with bands, or smooth from head to tail; (c) tight, the leather or other covering adhering to the back itself, or hollow, the leather or other covering not so adhering; and (d) stiff or flexible.
(2) Edges, the three other edges of the book,—the top, the bottom, and the fore-edge.
(3) Bands, the cords upon which the book is sewn, and which, if not "let in" or embedded in the back, appear on it as parallel ridges. The ridges are, however, usually artificial, the real bands being "let in" to facilitate the sewing, and their places supplied by thin slips of leather cut to resemble them and glued on the back. This process also enables the forwarder to give great sharpness and finish to this part of his work, if he think it worth while.
(4) Between-bands, the space between the bands.