The Art of Bookbinding: A practical treatise, with plates and diagrams

by Joseph William Zaehnsdorf

CHAPTER X. GLUEING UP.

The book must now be glued up; that is, glue must be applied to the back to hold the sections together, and make the back firm during the rounding and backing. Knock the book perfectly true at its back and head, and put it into the lying press between two pieces of old mill-board; expose the back and let it project from the boards a little, the object being to hold the book firm and to keep the slips close to the sides, so that no glue shall get on them; then with glue, not too thick, but hot, glue the back, rubbing it in with the brush, and take the overplus off again with the brush. In some shops, a handful of shavings is used to rub the glue in, and to take the refuse away, but I consider this to be a bad plan, as a great quantity of glue is wasted.

The Germans rub the glue into the back with the back of a hammer, and take away the overplus with the brush; this is certainly better than using shavings. The back must not be allowed to get too dry before it is rounded, or it will have to be damped with a sponge, to give to the glue the elasticity required, but it should not be wet, this being worse than letting it get too dry. The book should be left for about an hour, or till it no longer feels tacky to the touch, but still retains its flexibility. A flexible bound book should first be rounded, a backing board being used to bring the sheets round instead of a hammer, then the back glued, and a piece of tape tied round the book to prevent its going back flat. |46|

But all books are not glued up in the press; some workmen knock up a number of books, and, allowing them to project a little over their press, glue the lot up at once; others again, by holding the book in the left hand and drawing the brush up and down the back. These last methods are, however, only practised in cloth shops, where books are bound or cased at very low prices. The proper way, as I have explained, is to put the book in the lying press. The book is then laid on its side to dry, and if more than one, they should be laid alternately back and foredge, with the back projecting about half an inch, and allowed to dry spontaneously, and on no account to be dried by the heat of a fire. All artificial heat in drying in any process of bookbinding is injurious to the work.

CHAPTER XI. ROUNDING.

The word “rounding” applies to the back of the book, and is preliminary to backing. In rounding the back, the book is to be laid on the press before the workman with the foredge towards him; the book is then to be held with the left hand by placing the thumb on the foredge and fingers on the top of the book pointing towards the back, so that by drawing the fingers towards the thumb, or by pressing fingers and thumb together, the back is drawn towards the workman at an angle. In this position the back is struck with the face of the hammer, beginning in the centre, still drawing the back over with the left hand. The book is then to be turned over, and the other side treated in the same way, and continually |47| changed or turned from one side to the other until it has its proper form, which should be a part of a circle. When sufficiently rounded, it should be examined to see if one side be perfectly level with the other, by holding the book up and glancing down its back, and gently tapping the places where uneven, until it is perfectly true or uniform. The thicker the book the more difficult it will be found to round it; and some papers will be found more obstinate than others, so that great care must be exercised both in rounding and backing, as the foredge when cut will have exactly the same form as the back. Nothing can be more annoying than to see books lop-sided, pig-backed, and with sundry other ailments, inherent to cheap bookbinding. |48|

Rounding Machine.

The back when properly rounded should be about a third of a circle, according to the present mode, but in olden times they were made almost flat. They were not rounded as now done, but the swelling caused by the thread used made quite enough rounding when put in the press for backing.

Flat back books have a certain charm about them, the more so if in other respects they are properly forwarded. The theory is altogether averse to practical binding. I have always been given to understand that we round our books in order to counteract the tendency of a book to sink in and assume a convex back. Any old well-used book bound with a flat back will show at once this defect.