 | A series of talks on the history of the written word 16. Bookbinding. |
16 September 2020
World Book Heritage. 16. Bookbinding.
The bookbinder
from: Amman, Jost. Eygentliche Beschreibung aller Stände auff Erden, 1568
- Forwarding
- Collating, pulling, folding
- Pressing
- Marking up
- Sewing.
Working at a sewing framedifferent styles of sewing
Two cords - the strongest, form popular for large format medieval volumes
Single cord - most common in earlier hand period, especially for smaller formats
Recessed cords - popular from later 18th century when spines gold tooled
Tape - results in flatter spine for decoration
Stab sewing - often used for pamphlets as issued by printer
Overcasting - used to gather together larger format individual sheets, especially those with engraved illustrations or maps
Headbands - sewn in to sections for added strength rather than pasted on as strip of fabric - Gluing up
- Rounding and backing:
rounding of spine
lying press (from: Cockerell, Douglas Bookbinding, 1906).
Types of spine - Attaching boards - various techniques, traditiojal one threading each cord through two holes in the board, pegging in and cutting off end
- Cutting in boards - done on machine called plough rather than guillotine. Normally done after boeards attached.
- Colouring edges - by gilding or sprinkling
- Covering - skin drawn over boards, folded in and volume tied in press until dry
- Finishing
- Blind tooling - main form in medieval times - use of stamps or rollers
- Gold tooling - introduced in 16th century. Often very elaborate with onlays and inlays of different colours (Grolier bindings of 16th cent. France)
This page updated 16 September 2020.
