Now for the sewing. We have stripped off the wrappers, cleaned the backs of the sheets, and laid them in order, the last sheet on the top. But to make neat work, we should have what bookbinders call “end papers”—plain pieces of paper cut and folded to the size of the magazine—to go at the beginning and end of the volume; one leaf of each will be pasted down by-and-by to the inside of the cover adjoining it.
We begin by laying an end paper on the frame with its back against the tapes. We take a needle and thread, tie a knot at the end of the latter, and pass the needle, as in Fig. 2, through the middle of tape No. 1, and through the paper, drawing the thread to the knot. How we then go on is shown by the dotted line in Fig. 2; at the nearer side of tape No. 2 we pass the needle out again, carry it behind the tape, in again at the farther side of the tape, and so on, till we finally bring it out on the near side of tape No. 5. Please to notice that we do not pass the needle through any tape except through No. 1 at first starting; with that exception, the thread merely goes behind the tapes.
Fig. 1.
When we have reached the last tape and brought the needle out on the near side of it, we lay a sheet, in this case the last sheet, of the magazine, on the frame, and pass the needle through it inwards on the farther side of tape No. 5, and then work back to the nearest side of tape No. 1. Another sheet is now laid on, and so we proceed till the whole volume, including the front end paper, is stitched together.
If we now lay a good heavy weight on our volume, we can squeeze it into narrower compass, for as the threads merely go round the tapes, they will slip down them; and we can then glue the back. Everybody has not a glue-pot, but everybody can get a 4d. bottle of Le Page’s Liquid Glue, and nothing is better or more handy. Damp a strip of paper, or better, of thin muslin, and rub it down on the glue; it will strengthen the back. Leave the volume under pressure till the glue has set, and we may then take it out of the frame and cut off the tapes to, say, about two inches long on each side.
Fig. 2.
And now we are ready for our covers; a couple of pieces of stiff millboard, the wreckage of some old draper’s box, will do very well. We cut them to size, and glue down the tapes upon them, as is shown in Fig. 3; and when the volume is heavy it is well to paste a strip of thin muslin over the hinge, as indicated by the dotted lines at a, to keep all tight.
I have just spoken of paste; we shall want it for everything else that we have to do, so I will tell you how to make it. Take a couple of tablespoonfuls of flour and half a teaspoonful of powdered alum, beat them carefully with cold water to the consistency of thin cream, and boil briskly for four minutes, stirring all the time.