Practical Bookbinding

by Paul Adam

Besides the method of laying on the gold-leaf with the gilder's tip there is another which is specially used in gilding hymn-books; a piece of gauze is stretched across a frame, passed over the hair, and then the gold for the entire length of the edge is at once picked up and laid on. Round edges may be similarly covered by means of a couple of threads or horse-hairs stretched on a frame. The threads can be shifted to the short sides of the frame; they are adjusted to the width of the edge, allowing for the rounding, and are slightly greased by passing over the hair, and thus pick up the strip of gold at the edges. Just before laying on the gold, the threads are adjusted so that the gold fits the shape of the edge. Then plenty of glair is applied and the gold quickly and truly laid on.

This method is not exactly difficult, but it is not quite so safe as laying on with a gilder's tip, especially for very large edges.

The simplest way of laying on for flat edges is by means of strips of paper. This has the advantage of allowing a larger number of gold strips being made ready for laying on at one time. Select a piece of stiff and not too thin paper, cut into strips about the width of the strips of the gold-leaf, draw one side of the paper across the hair, and then take up the leaf so as to allow it to project a little over the edge of the paper strip. After glairing, strip by strip is laid on.

For very cheap work it is often necessary to gild edges with alloyed gold. Such edges are not so carefully and thoroughly prepared; in particular, they are not scraped, but rubbed down with sand-paper. Blood serum is used instead of white of egg; this is prepared by allowing ox-blood to stand a few days and then filtering off the clear liquid.

Aluminium is laid on a gelatine solution: one tablet of gelatine to 1/4 litre of water.

Gilt edges are also frequently tooled or scraped and painted. This work comes within the sphere of the art binder and cannot be dealt with in this book.

All other coloured and marbled edges can be burnished in the same way as gilt edges. In good work this must always be done.

In small shops headbands are made to this day of striped calico, which is cut into strips of 2 cm. wide right across the pattern, and one edge is pasted round a thin cord. After drying, pieces the exact size of the back of the book are cut off. The back of the book at the head is glued with a not too thin glue and the headband glued on so that the pad made by the cord lies on top of the edges and thus covers the place where book and cover join.

Woven headbands are now to be had so cheap that it is no longer necessary for the binder to make his own. The cheaper kinds are woven of cotton, and of these there are bands made which have two pads, each edge having a different colour. This band is cut along the middle for use; for the rest, it is cut into pieces according to the width of the book and then glued on to the back. Better kinds in silk are only woven on one side, therefore the cutting asunder is not necessary. For work in quantities, the headbands are cut the size of the back with the adjustable headband shears.