Notes on bookbinding for libraries

Front matter

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Preface to Second and Revised Edition

In the first edition of this book I said that it ought not to be taken as a final authority, but as a set of suggestions which I hoped would arouse interest in the subject of library binding and lead a few to pursue the subject further. Some of the changes made for this edition indicate that I have followed the topic a little further myself, — I hope with advantage to my readers.

Several chapters are new. There are many minor changes and omissions. The lists have been enlarged and brought into one.

I had looked into the subject of library binding and discovered the ignorance concerning it of American librarians, including myself, before I visited Mr. Chivers' beautiful bindery in Bath, England, several years ago. That visit had much to do with the contents of this little book. Mr. Chivers was quite of my opinion that the only way to induce librarians in America to improve our binding was to persuade us to look into the subject. If the book has led some to do this it has accomplished its purpose. As to the fundamental points in it, they largely come, I am pleased to confess, from England, by way of that bindery in Bath.

At the risk of seeming to speak to commercial

ends I quote in effect some of the things said by

Preface

Mr. Chivers in one of his circulars, prefacing the quotation with the remark that the point I wish chiefly to make in this book is the advantage of having certain books, when new, bound once for all:

**The following statement is not an exaggeration: A library saves half the cost of new popular books, and of replacements for which much use may be anticipated, if it purchases them in Cedric Chivers' patent bindings. New books supplied in these bindings are sold as being bound once for all. It is thought that they are so bound as to serve for quite fifty per cent, more issues than will a book purchased in publisher's cloth, used for a time, and then rebound in the ordinary way. Generally speaking such results and even better results are obtained. Occasionally, however, a book does not come up to these expectations. In such cases it is especially desired that its failure be reported and, if necessary, that the book be returned for examination. The paper used in modern books is of such varying quality that it is sometimes difficult to tell without actually trying what is the best manner of treating it."

Buy books well bound direct from publishers' sheets; mend ordinary books very little; rebind them early; watch results; tabulate them, and make use of experience. These are the main themes of this book.

J. C. D.

Free Public Library,

Newark, N. J., May, 1909.

Contents

Page

Description of Frontispiece 4

Quotation from Naude 9

Chapter I

As the title indicates these notes have been compiled in the hope that they may be of assistance to librarians in caring for the binding and rebinding of library books. They hardly touch upon publishers' binding or the decoration of bindings. The suggestions and advice they give should not be taken as final, for the binding and rebinding question is not yet settled. They may help some to carry out more successfully their own inquiries and experiments. If good binders were more common librarians would need little of the information here briefly set forth. But under the present conditions of the bookbinder's art in this country librarians themselves must often furnish considerable expert knowledge, if they wish their work well done.

I have refrained from going much into the details of the process of binding. The details can only be made clear by means of illustrations, and have already been most admirably set forth in Douglas Cockerell's book. I have tried to draw attention to the important points. The librarian ought to know good results when he sees them, or at least when he tests them on his books; the details of every step he can learn if he will, by a little practice and l8 BOOKBINDING FOR LIBRARIES

a good deal of observation. No librarian should try to bind or to conduct personally his own bindery. Binding is a special trade, and skill and speed in it come only by long practice. The librarian cannot become a skilled binder. He should become familiar with the results of the binding he gets by a study of his books. If he finds they do not wear well, but rot, break or show loose pages, let him keep a few statistics, and if he learns he is wasting money on cheap work or poor material, let him change his material and his processes, and perhaps his binder. I hope this book may lead some to test the work they are now getting, and may help some to get more satisfactory workmanship and more enduring materials. It is not a guide to the craft of binding. To get good binding, go to a good binder; to learn about the binding craft, practice it and read Cockerell; to discover if your binding is good, watch it and gather statistics of its wear.

Much of the information, many reports of experiences and many suggestions will be found in the lists of leathers, etc., and definitions of terms used in binding. It seemed unwise to repeat them as part of a connected text.

In considering the subject of economical binding and rebinding for libraries, we find that we are entirely without standards. We have no figures for comparisons. Librarians have, save in a very few cases, made no study of the comparative value of bindings, either of original cloth or of the rebindings they have had put on their books. If a few librarians would note the number of times books can be issued without rebinding after they are received in the original publisher's cloth, and how many issues they will stand after they have been once, or twice, rebound, they would, in a few months, have data from which they could draw helpful conclusions in regard to the comparative value of bindings and rebindings.

The test of a binding, whether publisher's original, special from the sheets, or a rebinding, lies, for ordinary lending books, in the ratio of its cost to the number of times the book it covers is lent for home use before being discarded. This ratio has rarely been systematically noted.

To the inquiry, does the method of rebinding which my library now employs give the best possible return for the money spent? most librarians must reply that they do not know.

Reference and college libraries are often also much in the dark. The continued quite general use for permanent bindings of a leather which tests have shown will not last over 25 or 30 years at the most is an evidence of this.

In England, as is well known, a good many years of careful observation and comparison of experiments have led a large number of librarians to the conclusion which some American librarians also accept, that it is the part of sound economy to have books carefully bound directly from publishers' sheets, even though the prices of such bindings seem at first unduly high.

I sent a letter of inquiry to a large number of libraries asking for detailed information about the wear of books in publishers' bindings and in the one or more rebindings which were placed on them. Replies were received from i8 libraries, giving brief life histories of 74 books. Definite conclusions cannot be drawn from these reports, as librarians differ much in their ways of treating books. Some rebind them as soon as they show serious signs of wear; others keep them in circulation long after they have begun to go to pieces. But the figures indicate that it would pay these libraries, as it probably would all others, to get most of the books which are to be subjected to much handling strongly bound direct from publishers' sheets.

The reports show that 74 books cost, including first price, rebinding and labor of handling for rebinding, an average of $1.38 each; that they, were lent an average of 79 times in the two states, new and rebound; and that they were out of use an average of five weeks while being rebound. A book of a nature similar to those reported on, well-bound from publishers' sheets costs about $1.50; can be lent from 100 to 150 times and loses no time in being rebound.

Of these books 52 were rebound a second time at an average cost, including labor in preparation, of 40 cents; were out of use an average of five weeks; and were lent an average of 43 times each in this second binding. The complete history of the books a second time rebound is as follows :

X 11 o t t

• 95

Cost of first rebinding

•36

Cost of time in handling

.07

Cost of second rebinding

•33

Cost of time in handling

.07

Total cost

1.78

Times lent in publishers' cloth

Times lent in first rebinding

Times lent in second rebinding

Time out of use first rebinding 5 . 5 weeks Time out of use second rebinding 5 . weeks Total time out of use i o • 5 weeks

These figures do not tell the whole story. The book bound strongly and flexibly from publishers' sheets is from the first more convenient to handle and pleasanter to read, and usually looks better throughout all its one long life than do, on the average, those books which twice or thrice in their histories get into a broken-backed, loose-leaved, generally disreputable condition. Furthermore, and this is most important, a book is most wanted in a library when it is new; if sent out to be rebound for five and a half weeks after it has been lent 32 times it is out of use just when it is most in demand; and the library loses in its effectiveness — that is, in the service it can render its public for the money expended — much more than the mere difference in the money cost of the two kinds of binding would indicate. The durable first binding gives us a book which can be in constant service from 100 to 150 times from the day it goes to the shelves, just when it is most needed. A book once or twice rebound in the first few months of its life is a special source of annoyance — the paradox is permissible — by its very absence. Table of life histories:

t before ng

bindine

t of use

mdling

c

1 rebind-

t of use

indling

M

c

— M w

0 tfl

.2 c-H

^ C

N

j3

II " C

Ih

rt

OS s;s

M

to u a 0

(/] 0

C Ih

VI 0

c

<u c f

H

(J

I y

9 00

AO

2 00

3 25

9 80

J

0^

0 *

I

10 00

CO

Co

4 00

I

I

I

1 00

I

ID lO

3 00

I

I

1 1

I

2 70

I

I

ID

2 72

I

I

15 00

I

I

Totals 74

70 20

5 22

3 84

Averages for each Book 9 5

In the Newark library an examination of 56 books, chiefly novels, from 15 or 20 different publishers, shows that on the average they were lent in publishers' binding only 25 times each before being rebound;

and that 42 books in the juvenile department were lent in the pubHshers' binding an average of only 17 times each.

In bindings and rebindings one of the most essential things to be secured is ease of opening. A book that opens out easily, and lies flat without being pressed or held in position, will probably keep clean and whole for more than twice as many lendings as one that is held together tightly at the back. As a great many of the library books which call for rebindings have to be trimmed at the back and overcast, it is essential that the overcast sewing be of a flexible nature, one that permits of the easy opening of the book. Probably few of the factors in book construction and book injury have been more effective than the tight binding, held open with difficulty, which is produced by nearly all of the current overcasting or whipstitching.

Another point that cannot be too strongly insisted on is that books not only differ from one another in their natures and so require different treatment in binding; but also differ in the use they are to receive, and require different bindings on that account.

It should be understood that bookbinding is a craft in the best sense of that word. To bind a book well calls for good judgment and care at every step. The librarian can draw up schedules with infinity of detail, and make them as correct as he may please, basing them on experience without end; and the binder, so far as material and processes are concerned, may seem to follow these specifications exactly, and still may produce poor bindings. To secure a good binding the spirit of the binder must go into it. In drawing the thread, in paring and placing the leather, in applying the paste and glue, and in every other of the many processes involved, the man without good will, as the man without skill, can spoil the whole binding. Librarians should learn to esteembookbinding highly. It is a craft which lies close to them. It is preeminently their business to encourage it to grow in excellence. They should develop their local binder's interest in his calling, stand by him, urge him on to better work, and pay him adequately for it.

One may frankly say that the character of binding done in nearly all libraries in America has been, up to the present time, a discredit to the library profession. We owe it to ourselves to take up this craft and do what we can to elevate it.

One objection sometimes made to bindings of the highest grade is that they last too long ; and after the book is too greatly soiled and tattered within to be longer kept, the binding itself still holds, showing that more care has been put into its construction, and consequently more cost, than it needed. The objection needs only to be stated for its absurdity to be seen. The thorough binder, the skilled craftsman, adapts his binding to the book and to the use, as far as he can judge of it, which it is to receive.

He binds each book so well that it will hold together to the end of time; or until its paper fairly drops to pieces. He can issue with each volume no guarantee that it will not receive more than its proper baptism of dirt from careless borrowers long before the paper in it begins to give way and fray out. The binder's obligation is to bind the book well. It is the librarian's business to see that the book is, as to its interior, well treated. As to its binding lasting too long, why should the librarian concern himself about the shell after the kernel is eaten? It should be noted again, however, that a book well bound, opening easily, and lying open without pressure from fingers or thumbs, keeps clean many times longer than one that opens hard.

The sum of all my observations is, the best is the cheapest. If a book is worth binding let it be bound by the best man available. If possible, buy books so well bound from the publishers' sheets, that they will never need to be bound again.

Chapter II

Books are now printed in large sheets from 4 to 64 pages at a time. In many cases paper is drawn from a roll (as it is in the printing of a newspaper), printed on both sides in large sections of 64 pages, and cut and folded as it leaves the press. These sheets, of several pages each, after being printed, are gathered into a complete book, sometimes by a machine, and are then sewn together by a machine. This machine for sewing is a comparatively recent invention. In most cases sewing done on a machine is not as strong as the old-fashioned hand sewing. The sections, or signatures, or folds of the book, as the several sets of several pages each are called, are caught together only by thread; strings or tapes are not used. This sewing is then reinforced by a piece of cloth, usually thin, cheap muslin, or poor super, which is pasted over the back and allowed to extend a little way down each side. But sewing on a machine can be done with strings added and made very strong.

Covers for books are now made by machines into which are fed pieces of cardboard and a roll of cloth. The machine cuts the cloth into the proper size, pastes it and folds it over the boards into a cover, leaving a loose place between the two boards to be filled by the body of the book. This cover is then printed in a machine much like a printing press; the gold of the title on the back or sides or both, and the colors or blank impressions, for ornament, all being impressed on it with great rapidity. The completed cover, called a case, is then pasted to the

Sewing

A Section of Fifteenth Century sewing on double bands

with head and tail bands.

B Section of modern "flexible" sewing round single bands. C Section of ordinary sewing with sunk bands. D Section of tape sewing advocated for cheap work in place of C.

From report of the Committee on Leather for Bookbinding Edited for Society of Arts. London: Bell & Sons, 1905.

sides of the book, A book thus bound has nothing to hold cover and inside together save a strip of thin muslin, with a strip of paper which goes over it, passing from the back of the book to the inside of the board covers. This strip grows weak after a little use and frequently breaks, or pulls away from the cover, or from the back, or from both. Books printed on cheap paper and folded and sewed and bound by machinery in the manner thus very briefly outlined can be produced and sold at present for lo cents each, or even less.

Books printed with more care, on better paper, with a better quality of cloth on the cover, and a more elaborate title in real gold instead of some cheaper imitation of it, books, that is, like the novels issued by the better class of publishers, can be produced in quantities of from one to three thousand, for from 15 to 30 cents each. Few of the novels put on the market today cost the publishers, for their making alone, as much as the latter price. To this must be added a royalty to the author, generally 10% of the retail price, the cost of the management of the business and the advertising. In the case of small editions, one or two thousand, this brings the original cost of the average work up to 50 or 75 cents. Suppose this book to be offered at retail at $1.25. There must then be deducted from this retail price the discount to the jobber, 25 to 40+10%, and the royalty, and the advertising, and the cost of production, etc., leaving a profit to the publisher of from 5 to 20 cents on each volume. A well-made and widely advertised novel which does not sell more than a thousand copies is not a very profitable product for a publisher to put out.

The school text-books issued by the more reputable publishing houses are generally very well made. They are printed on good paper, usually rather highly calendered, with good ink, are bound with extra care, and have good material in their covers. The competition between school book publishers makes it necessary for them in self-defense to produce books which will wear well in the hands of the average pupil.

Up to a few years ago all books were sewn by hand, the covers were made by hand, and hand work was employed in putting book and cover together.

The process of sewing by hand may be briefly described as follows: Two or more strings or tapes are stretched between the edge of a board and a stick held horizontally above it by two uprights. The book folded and ready for sewing, after having been either pressed or beaten with a hammer to make it lie smooth, is held in a vise and two saw cuts are made in the back at about the same distance from each other and from the ends. Two smaller saw cuts are also made in the back of the book, one between each of the larger ones and the opposite ends of the back. The first signature — the fold or section made of a large sheet folded — of the book is laid on the board so that the larger saw cuts are opposite the two strings. A thread is passed through the small cut at one end, into the middle of the fold, then out again by the first string, around the string, and in again to the middle of the fold, then along the inside of the fold to the next string, around that string, along inside the fold, then out again at the other small cut. The second signature is then laid on top of the first. The thread is passed into the small cut, along and around the two strings, as with the first signature, and out at the other end, where it is tied to the end of the thread which has been left sticking out of the first saw cut for this purpose. This process is continued until the book is all fastened together and to the strings. As the sewing goes on, the several signatures are caught together at the smaller holes at each end by passing the thread, as it comes out of the hole, down and under the loop made by the passing of the thread between the two signatures previously sewn. In the case of a book containing a large number of signatures the thread does not extend the whole length of each fold, but passes from one to another as it goes the length of the book, gathering on two signatures at once. Sometimes, by using four strings instead of two, the string is made to pass through and to sew on three signatures at a time. Examples of this two-on and three-on method can be seen in almost any large book bound prior to 15 or 20 years ago. In yery careful binding by hand in the early days of book-making, the strings were not set into saw cuts, but were simply laid across the back of the book. The thread came out of the signature and passed around the strings, and went in again.

The strings, with the thread thus wrapped around them, made a welt across the back of the book. These welts, when covered by the leather of the binding, showed as raised bands. These raised bands are imitated by pasting bits of leather on the back in much so-called fine binding today. In some cases the old process is employed and the bands have a real reason for existence. Books are sometimes sewn on tapes or strips of vellum. These, laid across the back, sometimes make ridges which are treated as bands in the completed book.

In old bindings, to give the book a better appearance at top and bottom, what is called a headband was put on with thread, the thread passing through the signatures and from one signature to another in such^ a way as still more securely to hold these together. Today the headband is still used; but usually it is simply pasted in and is little more than an ornament. Sometimes the book's back is still further reinforced by pasting or gluing to it a piece of vellum, leather or heavy cloth before the process of putting on the cover begins.

Set rules for sewing books should not be laid down. Each book is treated by the skillful binder, or should be, in accordance with the character of its paper, the number of inserts, the thickness of the paper, the size of the signatures, the size of the leaves, the use it is to receive, and other facts. The good binder binds each book well according to its kind.

After the book is properly sewn, the strings on which it is gathered are cut off a short distance from the sides. Pieces of cardboard are cut of the proper size for a cover. The ends of the strings are laced into them or fastened down upon them with paste

Showing a Method of Sewing on Tapes

The catching up of the alternate groups of threads as they cross the bands renders the sewing firmer. There are other methods of achieving this end.

From report of the Committee on Leather for Bookbinding Edited for Society of Arts. London: Bell & Sons, 1905.

or glue. The leather for the cover is then pasted or glued to the back and the outside of the boards. The ends are turned over the boards and at the top and bottom of the book are turned down and pasted to themselves, thus forming a roll or crown which lies up close to the headband. The sides are then covered, if the book is not to be bound in full leather, with cloth or paper or other material. The outside sheets of the books, called end-sheets, are then pasted to the inside of the cover and the book is practically complete.

The back of the book is always covered with glue after the sewing and before the leather or cloth is put on. This glue is thin and hot, and is put on to hold together the backs of the signatures. In rounding, the binder manipulates the book with the hands, and taps it with a hammer until the proper shape is secured. This is done after the coat of glue has been applied. In edition work this is done on a machine. In backing the book is held between two metal, or metal-edged, plates close up to the back, the back having been stiffened previously with a coat of glue which has not set very firmly; and with a hammer the backs of the signatures are pounded down and out, making a slight ledge or groove along the outer edges against which set later the boards of the covers.

If the book is to be tight back the cloth or leather is glued direct to the backs of the signatures thus rounded, though often a thin piece of cloth, super, is first glued on, extending over onto the sides. If it is to be loose back a double fold of paper is attached to the back, one sheet to the back and one to the cover material. The leather or cloth then stands out from the book, when it is open, being attached to it only at the joints. It is in loose back binding, as said above, that cloth or leather is sometimes glued fast and with great care to the back before the cover goes on, thus taking the place of the leather of the cover in the tight back book. In the best binding this backing extends over through or past the joint and onto the sides or covers; and is also firmly

Showing Method of Attaching Tape Slips or Ends of Bands to a Split Board Leaving a " French Joint "

From report of the Committee on Leather for Bookbinding. Edited for Society of Arts. London: Bell & Sons, 1905.

attached, at the joint, to the leather of the back. In the Newark library we use for this a thin soft muslin of the best quality.

This description of the process of binding is a suggestive outline only. Enough has been said, however, to show that the books sewn by hand and fastened carefully to the cover as described will, if properly made, wear much longer than a book bound by machinery, if bound as above described. But, just as a machine properly handled can produce paper of greater uniformity of thickness and of a quality superior in many respects to the best hand-made paper, so the machines used in binding can, if properly handled, bind books even more strongly than can any save the most careful workman. The possible differences between machine-made books can easily be noted in the cheap novels of the day, which are poorly bound, and well-made law books and encyclopaedias. These latter are often faithfully put together and will stand almost as much wear as any books ever produced.

CHAPTER III The Literary Side of Library Rebinding

After satisfactory materials and methods of binding for a library have been discovered and adopted, there still remain many questions which can be well answered only by one having a wide knowledge of books. Nor is a general knowledge of books alone enough to qualify one to answer wisely these questions. Close acquaintance with the library's policy in regard to book-saving and book-buying and of its attitude toward the demand for popular and ephemeral fiction; knowledge of its reference work; of the amount of handling its books receive by the public, and of its financial condition and policy — all this and much besides the person in charge of binding should have before she can make wise decisions. And particularly she needs knowledge of paper, editions, prices and similar matters.