If, in the process, some paste has gotten on the leather or paper, it may be removed by the use of a damp cloth, carefully rubbed over the soiled places.
Hollow Back.
In case a hollow back is desired for this book, deep punctures are sawed at every cord, and the cords which are smaller than in the flexible binding, are sunken into these punctures, Fig. 32. The sewing in such a binding is very simple, the thread running along the middle of the section and behind the cords, with kettlestitches at the head and foot, the same as in the flexible sewing.
Before the cover goes on, a heavy paper folded as in Fig. 33, making from three to five thicknesses, is glued by the bottom layer to the back.
But especially in elementary work where very little gold tooling and lettering are undertaken, the hollow back is neither necessary nor desirable. At all events, let us avoid the false cords sometimes seen in commercial books.
V.
REBINDING.
The foregoing work has assumed that the books were to be bound from the original, unfolded sheets.
In case of rebinding books, the following preliminary steps are necessary before beginning the sewing:—
1. Taking off old cover. This is done simply by pulling loose the endpapers and carefully loosening the super. If the glue or paste refuses to come off, it is covered with a coat of fresh paste, and after a short time may be scraped off.
2. Cutting sections apart. The leaves are counted until the thread is reached which indicates the middle of the section. The thread is clipped and the same number of leaves, disregarding plates, is counted, bringing us to the end of the section. The counting is necessary because of the fact that in many books, the first and last few sections are pasted, or tipped, together, making it difficult to tell where one stops and the other begins.