See that the leaves are all in and complete.
No. 1. Books sewed regularly, that is, not whipstitched. Guard the first and last signatures with jaconet. If the title-page or frontispiece is an insert, paste the guard along the insert and over the first signature. This saves the labor of guarding the insert and first signature separately.
Guard with jaconet the inner side of the inside leaf of every signature that is at all worn or weak; if badly worn guard also the outer side of the outside leaf. In some cases every leaf should be guarded. But remember that guards thicken the back.
Make two sets of four-page end-sheets by folding once with the grain pieces of lithographed lining paper; and two sets of waste papers by folding once pieces of good book paper, about 60 lb. Guard the outside of the folds of all of these with jaconet, and place one of each kind at the front and back of the book, the lithograph one on the outside in each case.
Use Hayes’s standard linen thread of a weight adapted to the book. The cotton thread used in book sewing machines wears well, but is not recommended for hand-work. No. 25 is good for books with light sections, 16 for those with heavy sections, and 20 for those with medium. Sew the book on four stout but flexible tapes, each about a quarter of an inch wide. Sew all along throughout.
Leave about three-fourths of an inch of tape projecting each side when cutting off.
From here on the process is very similar for this kind of binding sewed in the ordinary way, and for No. 2, whipstitched, which follows.
No. 2. Books which are whipstitched, being in such condition or of such character that they have to be trimmed at the back, being then simply piles of loose sheets.
Cut off as little of the backs as possible. Prepare and place end sheets and waste papers as above described, except here paste the jaconet guard only along one side, the outer, of the folds of all of them. This gives firm hold for first overcast stitches.
Glue the back of the book slightly so that it may be divided into signatures of a few leaves each which will hold together.