Practical Bookbinding Part 13

The paste-down is first cut to size a little less than the book itself and fastened in with thin glue so that the paper is close to the joint but not so close as to cause it to swell. The counterpart of the fly leaf is pasted on to it, both leaves are cut with a knife close along the joint, for back and front, about 1/2 cm. wide, are pushed up, thinly pasted, and pasted into the book up to the pressed joint. The leaves so hinged in are now raised, the under leaf thinly coated with thin glue, the leaf closed and rubbed down under paper with a folder. Immediate pressing is to be avoided, as the thin glue is very easily squeezed out.

After a while the pressing is done, of course, when zinc plates--if necessary, polished boards--should be inserted between the end papers, and not too great pressure applied.

If the boards have been fastened on with paste and without a back, zinc plates are also used, but between the first and last sheets of the book, so as to press these very smooth and to prevent the plates from sticking to the damp end papers.

Half or whole cloth, half leather, or, generally speaking, all bindings which are not pasted down open, are laid upon a board, pasting thinly with thin paste first one side, then turning the book and pasting the other, and then pressing. In doing quant.i.ties, ten may be done before pressing.

Cheap work is often pressed by laying the volumes crosswise upon each other and pressing in batches between boards. Books with a deep joint where the bands are either laid on the board or laced in are always pasted down open. Where cloth or leather jointed, this is done in a similar way to boarding in covers, except that the bands need not be considered here, as they have already been seen to. Working the leather well in the joint and firmly pressing back the board after turning in the head lighten this work and improve the appearance of the joint.

Leather joints are always pasted down open with paste, but must, of course, be left lying longer.

The so-called double end papers, that is, without cloth or leather joint, are very effective. Only the best and strongest paper can be used for these. The double sheet, folded in the middle, is narrowly pasted at the back and fixed in the joint of the book--not in the fold of the joint but in the joint made by pressing. This prevents the bend coming on the place where the paper has already become weakened by sharp creasing, but near it. The half for the fly leaf is at once pasted down; that to be pasted on the board must first be cut to size. The end paper is cut off at head and tail of the book, the book opened, the end paper laid over the board, and with the dividers is marked out on the paste-down parallel with the edges, somewhat less than the book. At the fold marked by the edge of the board at the joint, nick in with the scissors up to the mark made, slip under this a zinc plate, and on this cut the end paper by the mark up to the nicks. It is understood that the end papers should not be cut off right round the book, otherwise they would become too scant at the fore-edge.

A piece of waste paper is now laid under the paste down, thinly coated with glue, the leaf drawn tightly over the board and rubbed down; at the same time a piece of paper is laid over the joint as above. When pasting in the cover, the book is placed square and the joint strongly and briskly rubbed down with finger and thumb of both hands.

Fig. 72--Treatment of tear-off.

A paper having a design must, of course, be laid in the same direction as the book. Where paste-down and fly leaf are to be pasted on separately, it must be so arranged that, after the pasting, one leaf forms the counterpart of the other, that is to say, the design must run through and be broken only by the joint. To effect this it is necessary that the paste-down should be first pasted on; when pasting on the fly leaf the work can be made right.

Silk paste-down and fly leaves are frequently used for extra work, the silk here being stretched over a piece of stout paper and pasted narrowly at the edges.

CHAPTER IX.

HAND FINIs.h.i.+NG.

When the books have been bound they are generally ornamented in gold or in some other way. Although the more elaborate finis.h.i.+ng in gold is not done in the ordinary bindery, but is confined to the art binderies, sufficient instruction will be given here for the simpler finis.h.i.+ng on back and side.

Gold finis.h.i.+ng is only learned at the cost of much patience and long, painstaking practice. Although the technical schools teach finis.h.i.+ng in a comparatively short time--usually in a few months--only the ground-work can thus be acquired, for it takes years of practice to teach all the technicalities and to make an expert finisher, equal to any calls made upon him.

It may also be mentioned here that in most technical schools the work is executed with the very best and most suitable tools and, furthermore, the whole interior arrangement of the workshop is as favourable to the work as can be conceived, and thus all conditions for good work prevail.

When young workers come from such an inst.i.tution to work under strange conditions, where they have to struggle along with unfamiliar and perhaps unsuitable and antiquated tools, bad light, and other drawbacks, it is not to be wondered at if they--at the outset, at least--do not answer all expectations. Similar inconveniences have less effect upon old and experienced workers, as they have the steadiness and a.s.surance which come to them as the result of long years of work, and they, therefore, never become nervous and fidgety. A cool head and a steady hand are the first essentials in a finisher, and after these the feeling for neatness and exactness.

Gold tooling has evolved from the blind tooling of the 15th century, which up to that time had been the only method of decoration for the exterior of books, excepting where gold or jewels were used. The first application of this method was in drawn lines made by running the heated fillet alongside the rule, and even to-day the fillet, although improved in make, still retains its place as a suitable tool for the decoration of leather backs and sides. Speaking generally, blind tooling is not sufficiently appreciated by finishers, especially in shops doing much hand tooling; to many it is almost unknown, and they would be at a loss if there were any demand for it, and yet it is eminently suitable for simple finis.h.i.+ng with slender resources, to obtain a result at once chaste and striking without excessive ornament, and this without a costly a.s.sortment of tools and other special appliances.

Before proceeding to the details in the work of finis.h.i.+ng, a few preliminary observations may be made.

Blind tooling is the ornamenting of leather with tools without the application of gold. It might also be correctly described as matt tooling. Its peculiarity and beauty consist in its rendering the tooling on the leather in a darker tone. Blind tooling may be executed upon leathers of any colour, but its full decorative effect is seen only upon light colours, especially upon undyed calf and pig-skin and also upon coloured unpolished calf.

To produce the deepest and most uniform tone it is necessary to damp the leather previous to tooling. As it is well that the whole surface to be tooled should retain some moisture it is advisable to damp it evenly with a sponge on beginning the work.

The simplest tools are, as already mentioned, the fillets, which may be single, double, or triple, with lines of equal or different thickness.

The design is carefully traced with dividers, folder, and rule, and the heated tools run along the rule. Before applying the tool, which should be only moderately heated, the line previously marked out should be damped with a suitable brush. The instant the moisture has been absorbed by the leather, the tool should be applied. There should be no hissing, as the tool should be only lukewarm for the first application. The roll must touch the leather at the beginning without any uncertainty and the line made at once and without stopping, as otherwise a darker shade would appear in places.

Figs. 73 and 74--Simple line designs.

Each time before using the roll it is pa.s.sed over a well-greased piece of leather.

The impression should appear uniformly brown; if it is lighter at any part, it has not been sufficiently damped; if darker at another place from the beginning, then that part was too damp. Success depends before everything else upon uniform damping of the leather and correct heating of the tool.

With ordinary cleanliness and care, complete success is a.s.sured in this method of finis.h.i.+ng.

After the surface of the leather has again become dry in all places, the whole design is again gone over, but this time with the roll a little hotter, at the same time rubbing the roll well with the greased cloth.

If there had been unevenness in the depth of colour before, it will hardly be possible to remedy it now, for the light places remain so and the dark ones become even darker.

Where blind filleting is done it is usual to do die tooling at the same time. It is advisable--especially for novices--to apply the die without heat to the damp leather, then to damp specially and apply the die lukewarm as in filleting. Tooling with dies is essentially different from filleting in the method of execution. The fillet polishes whilst running on, the die remains on the one place, and yet every part must receive an equally good impression. In order to secure a good impression from a die it is necessary to apply it promptly, and press without hesitating as to where to begin. To ensure all parts of the tool being well impressed, its surface is slightly curved lengthwise, and according to this curve the die must be rocked to and fro whilst impressing. If too much time is wasted before the die is applied the impression will turn out lighter. By allowing the heated die to remain long on the surface of the leather, the latter loses its moisture at that place and the die could not produce any further deepening of the colour. Such places must be again damped and tooled until a uniform tone is attained.

Care must be taken that this repet.i.tion does not produce "doubling,"

that is, a blurred appearance of the design, and also that it does not lead to indistinctness of outline.

Blind tooling upon light leathers is to-day called upon to satisfy the needs of the less wealthy just as it was 300 years ago, for in such a style of decoration the utmost durability and moderate cost are combined, and its very simplicity enhances its beauty.

Fig. 75--Half-calf extra tooled in blind.

Fig. 76--Leather binding with simple design in blind.

Now for the hand finis.h.i.+ng. It is first of all necessary that we should be able to letter straight, at first upon a board. For the tooling of long straight lines, dotted lines, or other style of lines upon the sides, rolls are required, upon the circ.u.mference of which the design is engraved, whilst for tooling upon the back the so-called fillets are generally used, which likewise are used only for lines or patterns.

Besides, certain kinds of ornaments are here printed with dies--the rows of letters with the type-holder in which these are set. All these tools are heated over a flame--best over gas--to the temperature suited to the material operated upon. To make the gold adhere, the material to be tooled is sized or "glaired" with one part vinegar to three parts white of egg well whisked or beaten and filtered, as is done in blocking.

Other materials for sizing will be dealt with later.

Fig. 77--Simple gold tooling on sides.

Lines are made along the sides and at corners of the boards, especially on paper-covered boards; this is called "running a line up" or "filleting."

The line to be gilded is clearly marked with a sharp folder, picked out with glair, and the gold, which is taken up on the roll, is printed in.

Fig. 78--Tooled cover.

The gold leaf is cut on the cus.h.i.+on into narrow strips about 1 cm. wide, and the warm (each time wiped clean) and slightly greased roll is lightly pa.s.sed over it so that the strip of gold adheres to the circ.u.mference of the roll, and then rolled off with a firm and even pressure on to the place intended.

This is now gone over with a wool rag (or gold rag), and only the printed line is left; the surplus gold remains in the rag.

Fig. 79--Specimen of tooling done in the Dusseldorf Technical School.

Near the finis.h.i.+ng stove should stand--as also for blind tooling--a shallow saucer containing water and also a common brush similar to those sold with bottles of gum. A drop of water is thrown from this brush on to the hot tool in order to test its heat. Cloth is printed with fairly hot tools; they should hiss a little when tested. Goat-skin requires a heat almost sufficient to produce hissing, whilst hissing would indicate too hot a tool for use on morocco, and all sheep-skins will bear only moderate heat. If the roll was too hot, the gold would have no brilliance, and if too cold, would appear broken. Calf requires the same heat as cloth, but quick working, especially on first applying the tool.

The roll has a long handle which rests against the shoulder whilst held in the right hand. When getting into position for an impression the thumb-nail of the left hand is used as a guide and support.

Fig. 80--Leather binding by Oswald Kob, Bozen.

A line around a cover is marked out correctly with dividers and folder, picked out with size, and printed in gold in the same way. The rolls have a notch, which is for starting and ending at the corners; these must always be joined exactly. Rolls for two or more lines must print the corners perfectly diagonal, and for this purpose such rolls are cut so as to print a true diagonal corner; one corner being made for the beginning and the other for the end. Of course it is impossible to print long lines with only one revolution of the roll. The roll is run along the line from starting point until near the end, lifted off, and again placed on the spot just quitted, a little behind the starting point of the roll, so that this part does not show. This is repeated as often as the length of the line necessitates. In order to secure good corners, the roll is lifted just before reaching the corner and a corner tool is used for the corner itself. At no point should one be able to see where the roll was set on or taken off, and the result should be a straight, even line, showing no trace of inequality.

Fig. 81--Cover with laurel motive done in the Dusseldorf Technical School.

For single lines, the gold is generally taken up on the previously heated roll; but in using wider rolls it is better to lay the gold on with the tip and press it well down with surgical cotton wool.

Places where the gold did not stick or which look gritty must be sized afresh and once more tooled. The beginner generally finds that the gold does not stick at the point where he begins, a sure sign that he hesitated too long on commencing.

It has already been said that white of egg is used for making the gold adhere, and there are, indeed, very few materials requiring any other treatment, yet we know of a number of cases where white of egg alone is insufficient to fulfil this purpose--not, indeed, because it is unsuitable, but because the quality of the leather is such that the white of egg would be absorbed too quickly (calf, tanned sheep) or that it would take badly and unequally.