Popular Technology Volume II Part 7

21. The manufacture of paper, as just described, seems to be a tedious process; yet with two machines and a suitable number of hands, say sixty or eighty, three hundred reams of letter-paper can be produced from the raw material in a single day. It is hardly necessary to remark, that paper is of various qualities, from the finest bank-note paper, down to the coa.r.s.est kinds employed in wrapping up merchandise, and that, for every quality, suitable materials are chosen. The process of the manufacture is varied, of course, to suit the materials. None but writing and drawing paper requires to be sized.

22. Until after the beginning of the present century, paper was made exclusively _by hand_, and this method is still continued in a majority of the mills in the United States, although it is rapidly going out of use. It differs from that just described chiefly in the manner of collecting the pulp to form the paper, this being effected by means of a _mould_, a frame of wood with a fine wire bottom, of the size of the proposed sheet. In the use of this instrument, a quant.i.ty of the pulp is taken up, and while the _vatman_, or _dipper_, holds it in a horizontal position, and gives it a gentle shaking, the water runs out through the interstices of the wire, and leaves the fibrous particles upon the mould in the form of a sheet. The sheets thus produced are pressed between felts, and afterwards treated as if they had been formed by means of a machine.

23. The first idea of forming paper in a continued sheet originated in France; but a machine for this purpose is said to have been first made completely successful in England, by Henry and Sealy Fourdrinier. Many machines made after their model, as well as those of a different construction, are in use in the United States, to some of which is attached an apparatus for drying, sizing, and pressing the paper, as well as for cutting it to the proper size. Very few machines, however, yield paper equal in firmness and tenacity to that produced by hand.

THE BOOKBINDER.

1. Bookbinding is the art of arranging the pages of a book in proper order, and confining them there by means of thread, glue, paste, pasteboard, and leather.

2. This art is probably as ancient as that of writing books; for, whatever may have been the substance on which the work was executed, some method of uniting the parts was absolutely necessary. The earliest method with which we are acquainted, is that of gluing the sheets together, and rolling them upon small cylinders. This mode is still practised in some countries. It is also everywhere used by the Jews, so far as relates to one copy of their law deposited in each of their synagogues.

3. The name Egyptian is applied to this kind of binding, and this would seem to indicate the place of its origin. Each volume had two rollers, so that the continued sheet could be wound from one to the other at pleasure. The square, or present form of binding, is also of great antiquity, as it is supposed to have been invented at Pergamus, about 200 years before Christ, by King Attalus, who, with his son Eumenes, established the famous library in that city.

4. The first process of binding books consists in folding the sheets according to the paging. This is done by the aid of an ivory knife, called a _folder_; and the operator is guided in the correct performance of the work by certain letters called _signatures_, placed at the bottom of the page, at regular intervals through the book.

5. Piles of the folded sheets are then placed on a long table in the order of their signatures, and gathered, one from each pile, for every book. They are next beaten on a stone, or pa.s.sed between steel rollers, to render them smooth and solid. The latter method has been introduced within a few years. This operation certainly increases the intrinsic value of the book; but it is not employed in every case, since it is attended with some additional expense, and since it diminishes the thickness of the book, and consequently its value in the estimation of the public at large.

6. The sheets, having been properly pressed, are next sewed together upon little cords, which, in this application, are called _bands_.

During the operation these are stretched in a perpendicular direction, at suitable distances from each other, as exhibited in the foregoing cut. The folded sheets are usually notched on the back by means of a saw, and at these points they are brought in juxta-position with the bands. After the pages of several volumes have been acc.u.mulated, the bands are severed between each book. The folding, gathering, and sewing, are usually performed by females.

7. At this stage of the process, the books are received by the men or boys, who generally _take on_ one hundred at a time. The workman first spreads some glue on the backs of each book with a brush. He then places them, one after the other, between boards of solid wood, and beats them on the back with a hammer. By this means the back is rounded, and a groove formed on each side for the admission of one edge of the pasteboards.

8. These having been applied, and partially fastened by means of the bands, which had been left long for the purpose, the books are pressed, and the leaves of which they are composed are trimmed with an instrument called a _plough_. The pasteboards are also cut to the proper size by the same means, or with a huge pair of shears. In the preceding picture, a workman is represented at work with the plough.

The edges are next sprinkled with some kind of coloring matter, or covered with gold leaf. A strip of paper is then glued on the back, and a _head-band_ put upon each end.

9. The book is now ready to be covered. This is done either with calf, sheep, or goat skin, or some kind of paper or muslin; but, whatever the material may be, it is cut into pieces to suit the size of the book; and, having been smeared on one side with paste, if paper or leather, or with glue, if muslin, it is drawn over the outsides of the pasteboards, and doubled in upon the inside.

10. The covers, if calf or sheep skin, are next sprinkled or marbled.

The first operation is performed by dipping the brush in a kind of dye, made for the purpose, and beating it with one hand over a stick held in the other; the second is performed in the same manner, with the difference that they are sprinkled first with water, and then with the coloring matter.

11. After a small piece of morocco has been pasted on the back, on which the t.i.tle is to be printed in gold leaf, and one of the waste leaves has been pasted down on the inside of each of the covers, the books are pressed for the last time. They are then glazed by applying the white of an egg with a sponge.

12. The books are now ready for the reception of the ornaments, which consist chiefly of letters and other figures in gold leaf. In executing this part of the process, the workman cuts the gold into suitable strips or squares on a cus.h.i.+on.

13. These are laid upon the books by means of a piece of raw cotton, and afterwards impressed with types moderately heated over a charcoal fire; or the strips of gold are taken up, and laid upon the proper place with instruments called _stamps_ and _rolls_, which have on them figures in relief. The portion of the leaf not impressed with the figures on the tools, is easily removed with a silk rag. The books are finished by applying to the covers the white of an egg, and rubbing them with a heated steel _polisher_.

14. The process of binding books, as just described, is varied, of course, in some particulars, to suit the different kinds of binding and finish. A book st.i.tched together like a common almanac, is called a pamphlet. Those which are covered on the back and sides with leather, are said to be _full-bound_; and those which have their backs covered with leather, and the sides with paper, _half-bound_.

15. The different sizes of books are expressed by terms indicative of the number of pages printed on one side of a sheet of paper; thus, when two pages are printed on one side, the book is termed a folio; four pages, a quarto; eight pages, an octavo; twelve pages, a duodecimo; eighteen pages, an octodecimo. All of these terms, except the first, are abridged by prefixing a figure or figures to the last syllable: thus, 4to for quarto, 8vo for octavo, 12mo for duodecimo, &c.

16. The manufacture of account-books, and other blank or _stationary_ work, const.i.tutes an extensive branch of the bookbinder's business. It is not necessary, however, to be particular in noticing it, as the general process is similar to that of common bookbinding. Those binders who devote much attention to this branch of the trade, have a machine by which paper is ruled to suit any method of keeping books, or any other pattern which may be desired.

[Ill.u.s.tration: BOOKSELLER.]

THE BOOKSELLER.

1. The book-trade has arisen from small beginnings to its present magnitude and importance. Before the invention of typography, it was carried on by the aid of transcribers; and the booksellers of Greece, Rome, and Alexandria, during the flouris.h.i.+ng state of their literature, kept a large number of ma.n.u.script copyists in constant employ. Among the Romans, the transcribers or copyists were chiefly slaves, who were very valuable to their owners, on account of their capacity for this employment.

2. In the middle ages, when learning was chiefly confined to the precincts of monastic inst.i.tutions, the monks employed much of their time in copying the ancient cla.s.sics and other works; and this labor was often imposed upon them as a penance for the commission of sin.

From this cause, and from an ignorance of the true meaning of the author, much of their copying was inaccurately performed, so that great pains have been since required in the correction of the ma.n.u.scripts of those times.

3. This mode of multiplying copies of books was exceedingly slow, and, withal, so very expensive, that learning was confined almost exclusively to people of rank, and the lower orders were only rescued from total ignorance by the reflected light of their superiors. For a long time, during the reign of comparative barbarism in Europe, books were so scarce, that a present of a single copy to a religious house was thought to be so valuable a gift, that it ent.i.tled the donor to the prayers of the community, which were considered efficacious in procuring for him eternal salvation.

4. After the establishment of the universities of Paris and Bologna, there were dealers in books, called _stationarii_, who loaned single ma.n.u.scripts at high prices; and, in the former place, no person, after the year 1432, could deal in books in any way, without permission from the university, by which officers were appointed to examine the ma.n.u.scripts, and fix the price for which they might be sold or hired out.

5. For a long time after the invention of printing, the printers sold their own publications; and, in doing this, especially at some distance from their establishments, they were aided by those who had formerly been employed as copyists. Some of these travelling agents, at length, became stationary, and procured the publication of works on their own account.

6. The first bookseller who purchased ma.n.u.scripts from the authors, and caused them to be printed without owning a press himself, was John Otto, of Nuremburg. He commenced this mode of doing business, in 1516.

In 1545, there were, for the first time, two such booksellers in Leipsic. The great mart for the sale of their books was Frankfort on the Maine, where were held three extensive fairs every year. Leipsic, however, soon became, and still continues, the centre of the German book-trade.

7. The first Leipsic catalogue of books appeared as early as the year 1600; but the fairs at that place did not become important, as regards the book-trade, until 1667, when it was attended by nineteen foreign booksellers. The booksellers of Germany, as well as some from distant countries, meet at the semi-annual fairs held in that city, to dispose of books, and to settle their accounts with each other. Every German publisher has also an agent there, who receives his publications, and sends them, according as they are ordered, to any part of Germany.

8. In no other part of the world, has such a connexion of booksellers been formed, although almost every kingdom of Europe has some city or cities in which this branch of trade is chiefly concentrated; as London, in England; Edinburgh, in Scotland; and Amsterdam, Utrecht, Leyden, and Haerlem, in the Netherlands. In Spain and Portugal, the price of every book is regulated by the government.

9. A very convenient method of effecting the sale and exchange of books among booksellers, has been adopted in the United States; and this is by auction. A sale of this kind is held in Boston once, and in New-York and Philadelphia twice, every year; and none are invited to attend it but the _trade_; hence such sales are denominated _trade-sales_.

10. The sale is usually conducted by an auctioneer who has been selected by a committee of the trade in the city in which it is to be held. In order to obtain a sufficient amount of stock for the purpose, the agent issues proposals, in which he informs publishers and others concerned in this branch of business, of his intention, and solicits invoices of books, to be sold at the time specified. A catalogue of all the books thus sent for sale, is distributed among the booksellers.

11. The booksellers having a.s.sembled, the books which may have been acc.u.mulated from different parts of the Union, are offered in convenient lots, and _struck off_ to the highest bidder. Each purchaser holds in his hand the printed catalogue, on the broad margin of which he marks, if he sees fit, the prices at which the books have been sold; and the record thus kept affords a tolerable means of determining their value, for a considerable time afterwards.

12. A sale of this kind occupies from four to six days; and, at the close of it, a settlement takes place, in which the parties are governed by the terms previously published. The payments are made in cash, or by notes at four or six months, according to the amount which the purchaser may have bought out of one invoice. The conductors of the sale are allowed about five per cent. commission for their services.

13. A vast number of books is also sold, every year, at auction, to miscellaneous collections of people, not only in the cities and considerable towns, but likewise in the villages throughout the country. By many booksellers, this method of sale is thought to be injurious to the trade, since it has reduced the prices of books, and interfered with the regular method of doing business. These disadvantages, however, have been far overbalanced by the increased number of readers which has been thus created.

14. The circulation of books is likewise promoted by means of travelling agents, who either sell them at once, or obtain subscriptions for them with the view to their future delivery. These methods have been employed more or less from the very commencement of the printing business; and they have probably contributed more to the general extension of knowledge than the sale of books by stationary booksellers. In fact, they are among the most prominent causes of the vast trade in books, which is now carried on, especially in the United States.

15. Nevertheless, publishers, who do not employ agents to vend their books, generally consider them interlopers upon their business; and the people themselves, who owe a great share of their intellectual cultivation to this useful cla.s.s of men, are generally averse to afford them the necessary patronage, because they require a small advance on the city prices to pay travelling expenses.

16. A considerable amount of books is also sold by merchants who reside at some distance from the cities and large towns. They, however, seldom venture to purchase those which have not been well known and approved in their neighborhood; and, in a majority of cases, regard them as mere subjects of merchandise, without taking into consideration the effects most likely to be produced by these silent, but powerful agents, when circulated among their customers.

17. Some booksellers in Europe confine their trade chiefly to particular departments; such as law, theology, and medicine. Others deal in toy-books, and books of education, or in rare and scarce books. This is the case, to a limited extent, in the United States, although our booksellers commonly keep an a.s.sortment of miscellaneous publications, as well as various articles in the stationary line; such as paper, quills, inkstands, and blank work.

[Ill.u.s.tration: The ARCHITECT.]

THE ARCHITECT.

1. Architecture, in the general sense of the word, is the art of planning and erecting buildings of all kinds, whether of a public or private nature; and it embraces within its operations a variety of employments, at the head of which must be placed the Architect.

Architecture is of several kinds, such as _civil_, _naval_, _military_, and _aquatic_; but it is the first only that we propose to notice in the present article.