Graphic science and arts ( tle 50 )

TLE 50

Graphics, Science and Arts

Bookbinding

• is the process of physically assembling a book from a number of folded or unfolded sheets of paper or other material. It usually involves attaching covers to the resulting text-block.

Hardcover binding

• A hardcover, 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 signitures bound together. When the book is opened in the middle of a signature, the binding threads are visible. Signatures of hardcover books are typically octavo (a single sheet folded three times), though they may also be folio, quarto, or 16mo. Unusually large and heavy books are sometimes bound with wire.

Methods of hardcover binding

There are a number of methods used to bind hardcover books, from them:

1. Oversewing where the signatures of the book start off as loose pages which are then clamped together. Small vertical holes are punched through the far left-hand edge of each signature, and then the signatures are sewn together with lock-stitches to form the text block.

2. Sewing through the fold- where the signatures of the book are folded and stitched through the fold. The signatures are then sewn or glued together at the spine to form a text block. In contrast to the previous method, through-the-fold books have wide margins and can open completely flat.

3. Double-fan adhesive binding -starts off with two signatures of loose pages, which are run over a roller--"fanning" the pages—to apply a thin layer of glue to each page edge. Then the two signatures are perfectly aligned to form a text block, and glue edges of the text block are attached to a piece of cloth lining to form the spine.

Pictures on making the book binding