Techniques for the joining of leaves along one edge and casing them in a cover to form a codex or book. All bookbinding was done by hand until the 19th-c, and the craft tradition lives on for the production of single copies and editions de luxe. Single leaves and folded sections of two or more leaves are stitched together with thread around cords attached to the cover boards; the spine and boards are covered with leather or cloth, and titling is stamped on the spine. Modern mechanical bookbinding automates these processes, though eliminating the cords. Various techniques such as adhesive or perfect (cut-off, glued backs) and burst (glue forced through the backs of folded sections) binding have replaced the thread. In paperback binding, light boards are glued around adhesive-bound books.
Bookbinding is the process of physically assembling a book from a number of separate or bifoliate sheets of paper or other material. Romans of the time created a form of simple book called a codex by folding sheets of vellum or parchment in half and sewing them through the fold. This book format became the prefered way of preserving manuscript or printed material.
Books were bound between hard covers, with pages made from paper, or parchment, folded and sewn onto strong cords or ligaments that were attached to wooden boards and covered with leather. Since early books were exclusively handwritten on handmade materials, sizes and styles varied considerably, and each book was a unique creation or a copy of it.
Some books have even been bound in human skin.
Modern commercial binding
There are various commercial techniques in use today. Commercially-produced books today tend to be of one of four categories:
A hardcover or hardbound book has rigid covers and is stitched in the spine. Looking from the top of the spine, the book can be seen to consist of a number of signatures bound together. When the book is opened in the middle of a signature, the binding threads are visible. The signatures in modern hardcover books are typically octavo (a single sheet folded three times), though they may also be folio, quarto, or 16mo. See the discussion below and book size. Unusually large and heavy books are sometimes bound with wire or cable.The covers of modern hardback books are of thick cardboard. Until the mid 20th century those of mass-produced books were covered in cloth, but from that period onwards most publishers adopted clothette, a kind of textured paper which vaguely resembles cloth but is easily differentiated on close inspection.
A variation of the hardcover which is more durable is the calf-binding, 'half-calf' or 'full-calf' (also called 'full-bound' or simply 'leather bound') where the cover is either fully or half clad in leather, usually from a calf.
A paperback or soft cover book consists of a number of signatures or individual leaves between covers of much heavier paper, glued together at the spine with a strong flexible
glue; A cardboard article looks like a hardbound book at first sight, but it is really a paperback with hard covers. Many books that are sold as hardcover are actually of this type.
A sewn book is constructed in the same way as a hardbound book, except that it lacks the hard covers. The binding is as durable as that of a hardbound book.A comb-bound book is made of individual sheets, each with a line of slits punched near the bound edge. Comb binding allows a book to be disassembled and reassembled by hand without damage. A velo bound book is made of individual sheets, punched with 4 or more holes near the bound edge. A thermal bound book is made of individual sheets, glued to the cover with an adhesive that is activated by heat, similar to the glue used in a hot glue gun. Individuals may purchase "thermal covers" or "thermobind covers" which are usually made to fit a standard letter size sheet of paper and come with a glue channel down the spine.
Magazines are considered more ephemeral than books, and less durable means of binding them are usual.
Perfect binding similar to paperback books is often used; Playboy (before 1985) is a well-known example of this type, as are most American comic books. Library binding refers to the hardcover binding of serials and paperback books intended for the rigors of library use. Though many publishers have started to provide "library binding" editions, many libraries elect to purchase paperbacks and have them rebound as hardcover books, resulting in longer life for the material.Modern hand binding
When talking about bookbinding as a craft, hardbound books are most common. Any sewn book can be pulled apart and rebound into a hardbound book by adding a case. A traditional method which uses sashes allows the book to open flat and not break the spine. An example is the Retchoso or Butterfly Stitch of Japan which relies on sewing in slits cut into the folded page or signature rather than small punctures as in traditional western binding.
Books can be bound in many different materials. A common way to bind a book is as a halfbound book, which means that the spine and the corners of the cover are covered with leather or cloth, while the rest is covered with paper (normally marbled or otherwise decorated). When only the spine is covered with cloth or leather and the rest of the cover is covered in paper, the book is called quarterbound.
Restoration hand binding
Book Restoration is only one part of the larger topic of Book Conservation that includes cleaning, repairing, consoliding and preserving manuscript and printed materials. These may be books, albums, letters, broadsides, sheet music, etc.
Sometimes, the protecting covering of these items is more important than the text itself and only it is in need of restoration, sometimes both the text and its covering need treatment.
In Restoration hand binding, the pages and book covers are often hundreds of years old and the handling of these pages has to be undertaken with great care, and a delicate hand. The binding archival process can extend a book’s life for many decades, and is necessary in order to preserve books that sometimes are limited to a small handful of remaining copies worldwide. It is vitally urgent that such books are cared for in the most loving manner befitting the books’ rarity and subject matter.
The first step in saving and preserving a book is found in its deconstruction. Various techniques are employed to repair the various types of page damage that might have occurred during the life of the book.
Master Bookbinders are qualified to undertake restoration and traditional hand binding, and use great care to make sure this process does not further damage the pages, then they are added to the various groups of page signatures, which when collated are beaten flat and pressed.
The preparation of the "foundations" of the book could mean the difference between a beautiful work of art and a useless stack of paper and leather.
The sections are then hand sewn in the style of its period into book form, and great care is taken to use the proper stitching of the period in which the book was made.
The next step is the creation of the book cover; The design of the book cover involves the hand-tooling, where an extremely thin layer of gold is applied to the cover.
Terms and techniques
A leaf is a single complete page, front and back, in a finished book. A signature is a large sheet printed with several pages, intended to form four or more leaves in the finished book. The pages are arranged on the sheet so that all of the pages orient the same way and are in proper sequence after the sheet is folded. (Signature also refers to a sequence number or code printed on the sheet so that the several signatures that make a complete book may be properly sequenced; Modern paper mills can produce very large sheets, so a modern printer will often print 64 or 128 pages on a single sheet. Folio, quarto, and so on may also refer to the size of the finished book, based on the size of sheet that an early paper maker could conveniently turn out with a manual press. A folio volume is typically 15" (38 cm) or more in height, the largest sort of regular book. The quires for a single book are arranged in order and then stitched together as a set. Trimming allows the leaves of the bound book to be turned. A sheet folded in quarto will have folds at the spine and also across the top, so the top folds must be trimmed away before the leaves can be turned. Deckle Edge, or Uncut books are untrimmed or incompletely trimmed, and may be of special interest to book collectors.Spine conventions
In left-to-right read languages (like English), books are bound on the left side of the cover; In right-to-left languages, books are bound on the right.
(As a side note, some English-language books are bound on the right side of the cover. By far the most common examples are English-language translations of Japanese comic books. Since the art is laid out to be read right-to-left, this allows the art to be published "unflipped".)
In Japanese, literary books are written top-to-bottom, right-to-left, and thus are bound on the right, while text books are written left-to-right, top-to-bottom, and thus are bound on the left.
The title of a book is traditionally written on the spine.
In many European countries, the general convention is to print titles bottom-to-top on the spine, with exceptions in the Netherlands, where titles are written top-to-bottom, and in Spain, where styles vary among publishers.
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