Dust-proof flaps are hinged on to three sides of a thin board with strips of linen in the following style, and lined and covered separately. The body itself is likewise made of thin board. (See Fig. 122.)
The whole arrangement is pasted on to the back board of the portfolio.
CHAPTER XI.
School Books and Mounting.
The school book, perhaps the most despised branch of work in the bindery, has unjustly come to be treated as a sort of step-child by bookbinder and bookseller. Although everything has been cut down as finely as possible as regards paper and printing, yet the cost of binding must also be cut down, and a profit on the whole is still looked for. Thus it is that school books can only be produced by machinery. Folding, sewing, board cutting, trimming, and lettering are all done exclusively by machinery. All finishing work, pressing, headbanding, decorating the paper covers, have fallen off. The cover is always made in advance and the book fixed into it. A good goat-skin is seldom used for the back, almost always split sheep-skin, thereby also saving paring, or the so-called split horse-hide. These latter are put on the market in various colours and grains and are well suited for the work. A third-rate marbled paper is used for covering, as prices are not given for better kinds. A stout smooth paper is strongly recommended for end papers.
Frequently, in the smaller towns, there are still produced Bible histories, catechisms, and the like in half-leather bindings, tanned sheep-skin, the sale of which is likely to be large and assured for many years. The whole skin must be damped and well stretched previous to cutting out, in order that it may be cut into backs to the best advantage.
The backs are laid on top of each other and pressed out in the wooden press between two old boards to remove all superfluous moisture. The edges are then pared with a sharp knife, the backs pasted, laying every two with pasted sides together to prevent their drying, and the books fixed in the leather backs. For this purpose the books are set in boards previously cut to size. In this case the books take tight backs; the joints are well rubbed down with the folder.
Thinner volumes in cloth have likewise tight backs. The cloth for the backs is cut into strips of handy length as wide as the length of the backs must be, is glued and cut a suitable width with a knife upon the cutting board, measuring with the eye. Recently, the so-called "taking off," as practised in fancy goods work, has been adopted for the sake of its cleaner and neater results in pasting and glueing covers. A large zinc plate is coated with glue, neither too thick nor too thin, the cover is laid face downwards and taken up, so that it is evenly coated all over with the glue or paste. The work requires some practice, but it is very quick and, above all, is neat and clean. The boards are laid upon these strips by a worker (allowing for the thickness of the back), turned in at top and bottom by a second worker, and the books at once fixed in. The backs, still damp, fit very well to the books, the joints are well rubbed in; covering and pasting on are done afterwards.
Where hand sewing must be done, the end papers should be first attached to each first and last section, double in front, single at the end. Sewing should never be upon two bands only but on three at least, better upon four, so that the two middle ones can be changed each time. In order to expedite the scraping of the bands, the threads are untwisted before pulling out from each other, the loose end need not exceed 1-1/2 cm., as a long band holds no better than a short one, care being taken that it is always firmly pasted down. The drawn-out volumes are placed in batches on top of each other, all bands lying outwards. The projecting ends are well brushed with a hard brush, which renders them easy to scrape down. If it is intended to paste down the bands, the whole of the ends might now be pasted, the books lifted off one by one, and the bands pasted over on to the end paper. It is better to leave the ends free and to paste down when glueing up. They then become more thoroughly saturated with the paste and are pressed at once, and thus join the boards so much better.