If the pasting-on of the joints is not properly carried out, the result will be that in most cases the book opens badly when finished.
In half-cloth or other simple bindings, the scraped cords may be pasted on at once. Bring a little paste (about the size of a pea) upon the point of a folder under the slightly raised cord, pasting the latter evenly and neatly upon the paste-down of the end paper so that the pasted-down strands of the cord lie like a feather. To prevent the pasted cords sticking to each other, the books are piled up back and front until dry. In extra work, the cords—which are also longer—must by no means be pasted on; a piece of waste paper or a cover the size of the sheet is pasted outside the sections under the cords, level with the backs. This serves partly as a protection for the end papers and partly to make a good joint when covering.
The volumes so prepared are now glued up. They must be knocked up at head and back; they are then placed with the backs outwards on a board specially kept for this work—the glueing board—with the fore-edge of which they must be exactly level. On top must be placed a smaller board or a heavy piece of iron, likewise level with the book. The book backs are thus held firmly between the glueing boards, the left hand holding them firmly by pressing on the top, the right hand glueing the backs with very hot but not thick glue; rub this well in with the point of a hammer, and after having firmly squeezed the glue out of the brush, use it for taking off the surplus glue from the backs. An old trick of the bookbinder is to heat the hammer for this work. It is a bad plan to give the back a thick coating of glue and then allow it to dry, because it at once becomes brittle. Some experienced workers place the books between the glueing boards so as to leave about 1 cm. projecting, as it is thought that the glue thereby gets better between the sheets; but this method is out of date and is of no special value. It is, however, of great importance that the glued book should be laid so that it is truly square at the head as well as the back, for if this is neglected no amount of trouble will save the book from being cut out of shape.
Before passing on to the next chapter we have still to mention the mechanical contrivances for sewing. For small as well as large binderies, machines have been invented both for wire stitching and thread sewing; the former are more generally used, the latter not being sufficiently perfect in construction to meet all demands for speed and accuracy. Then also the method of fastening the book in the cover differs so much from the traditional method that we must still hope for improvement. When this comes to pass, this machine will then supersede the wire-stitching machine, with all its unavoidable disadvantages. The working of the machines is so simple that they are attended to almost entirely by girls. We refrain from giving descriptions of mechanical appliances within the limits of a short treatise, as any day may bring forth new inventions which are certain to effect great changes in this department. Besides these costly appliances there are also simpler sewing-machines for small shops, by which books are sewn in very simple fashion over steel needles, by means of which the cords may afterwards be drawn along.
As these machines demand very large saw-cuts, they can only be used for trade work and any cheap lines. We only mention them to draw attention to their existence. Unprinted paper and music are sewn on tapes as well as cords. This method of sewing is described in Chapter IX.