The corners of account books must always be rounded. Metal corners on account books are clumsy, damage the writing desks and other books coming into contact with them, and even when using the best mill-boards it is impossible to fix them so firmly that they will not work loose in the course of time. In their stead, leather corners and guards may be fixed, which are frequently tastefully finished in blind or gold.
All books for office use are either folioed or paged, i.e., either each page or each sheet gets a consecutive number in order to facilitate reference from the index. This may be done either by the hand numbering machine or by the larger machine worked with a treadle. In both cases the figures succeed each other automatically whilst printing.
It is always advisable to do this work before binding, as it is then easier and, besides, there is less chance of the fresh ink smudging when each single sheet of the sections is pushed up.
The manipulation of this apparatus is so simple that further explanation seems superfluous.
Where bound books have to be paged, small pieces of blotting-paper must be laid between the sheets to prevent smudging.
The manufacture of guard books for bills, letters, &c., comes into the same department as the making of account books. Guards are cut 4 cm. wide and folded in sixes along the middle, and sewn with strong thread, end to end, upon a strip of linen stretched upon a piece of wrapper to which bands have been pasted to further strengthen. The sections are sewn together at intervals of about 2 cm., so as to allow room for the papers that are to be pasted in.
The stiff back with the sewn-on guards is now pasted into a cover, which is made with a back measurement as seen in the illustration. An insertion for the back is not cut for this purpose, but the two boards are hinged together with a strip of stiff paper somewhat wider than the back. The book is then provided with a linen or mole-skin back and corners, covered with paper, and, after the guarded back has been pasted in, is lined with paper. If it is intended to gum the guards, the gumming should be attended to before the sewing. The guards are fanned up slightly and brushed with gum-dextrine, to which a little sugar and a few drops of glycerine have been added, so that when dry the gum should not be too brittle.
Fig. 121—Suggestion for back of guard book.