Binder

“ Having decided on the pattern of decoration he wished to apply, the binder heated the appropriate brass tools to “blind in” the design. The tools had to be hot enough to make a sharp impression in the leather, but not hot enough 30 to burn it. Each had to be pressed into the leather with just the right weight—not too much and not too little—to produce the desired effect. ”

“ Sometimes the book’s back is still further reinforced by pasting or gluing to it a piece of vellum, leather or heavy cloth before the process of putting on the cover begins.
Set rules for sewing books should not be laid down. Each book is treated by the skillful binder, or should be, in accordance with the character of its paper, the number of inserts, the thickness of the paper, the size of the signatures, the size of the leaves, the use it is to receive, and other facts. The good binder binds each book well according to its kind. ”

“ C-cover has a metal hinge or clamping-bar, perforated for the wires, with lugs to hold the wires when bent down, and a pocket for the back to slide into.
D shows the complete book, made without the objectionable bulging back of other binders.
The back (B) , when in the pocket, forms a complete book with one sheet or any thickness of paper placed in the binder. The wires are toughened by a process, and will not break.
We are gratified at being able to call the attention of our subscribers to an Improved Binder that we know will give entire satisfaction. ”

“ The String uses a string or elastic band to hold the magazine. In the one called the Springfield, first used in Los Angeles in 1890, the string passes through the magazine, between sections, and through three holes in the back of the binder in a binder’s stitch.
The Newark Library has tried many kinds of material for binders. Thin book cloth soon wears out. Heavy and strong cloth soon gets soiled. Full leather is very expensive, unless the leather used is light and poor, and then it soon wears out. Good leather backs outwear sides of any cloth. ”

“ That this circular work was not the haphazard freak of a single binder we can see from the fact that several of the dies are wider at the top than at the bottom, so that when placed together side by side they would naturally work round to a circular form, like the stones forming the arch of a bridge. These dies are in many cases foreign in design and may have been introduced by Rood, the first printer, but the style of binding is essentially English. Some bindings of a rather similar appearance, though never with any circular ornament, were produced in the Low Countries. ”

“ There is a show of justice in the modern book collector’s expression of due praise to the binder of the magnificent folio or shining duodecimo, made to sleep upon an eider-down pillow, but it will not atone for centuries of ingratitude. ”

“ The owner will, of course, implore the binder to spare the margins; and, almost equally of course, the binder, durus arator, will cut them down with his abominable plough. One is almost tempted to say that margins should always be left untouched, for if once the binder begins to clip he is unable to resist the seductive joy, and cuts the paper to the quick, even into the printed matter. Mr. Blades tells a very sad story of a nobleman who handed over some Caxtons to a provincial binder, and received them back minus £500 pounds worth of margin. ”

“ CHAPTER IV. Marbling, Gilding, &c., the Edges and Headbanding.
The edges of a book are nearly always finished off in some way or another, as the plain white edges would quickly become soiled. As a matter of fact, the binder always uses a covering of gold or colour for this purpose, and care should be taken that this way of treating the edges is decorative and not the reverse.
In small binderies the edge is most usually sprinkled. A small brush with a handle (such as is used for blacking shoes) is dipped into a very thin coloured liquid and rubbed over a fine sieve which is fixed in a frame. ”

“ Let the young binder especially bear this in mind: it is a defect which nothing can effectually remedy; instead of an embellishment it is a detriment to the binding, and his reputation as a clever workman is consequently placed in jeopardy.
Preparatory to gilding, the back must be compassed off and carefully marked with a folding-stick and a straight-edge or piece of vellum, wherever it is intended to run a straight line. This serves as a guide when the gold is laid on. For work of the best class, the fillets must be first put in blind, and the tooling done in the same manner. ”

“ Shoe strings or tape may be used. Costs from 25 cents up.
6. The Chivers Binder, made by Cedric Chivers, Bath, England, and Brooklyn, N. Y., is like the Springfield cover, but with a separate flat brass rod around which the magazine is sewed into the cover.
7. The Weis Binder, made by the Weis Co., Toledo, Ohio, has metal grooves in the back which hold the magazine.
8. The Buchan Binder, made by Buchan Mfg. Co., Newark, N. J., has a steel back which consists of a hinge regulated by a screw. One or more magazines may be kept in the binder. Good for magazines that are poorly put together. ”

“ While librarians should be able to give suggestions to binders who are not accustomed to library binding, and failing that should exercise good judgment in selecting a binder at a distance, they should not expect the impossible. The writer has seen books sent to binders which were in such bad condition that no binder could bind them satisfactorily. Some librarians expect too much of a binder; others do not realize that they are not demanding all that they should receive. ”

“ My binder soon made for them a neat wooden box in the shape of a book, with morocco back properly lettered, where I trust the originals will be preserved from dust and injury for many a long year.
Old covers, whether boards or paper, should always be retained if in any state approaching decency. A case, which can be embellished to any extent looks every whit as well upon the shelf! and gives even greater protection than binding. ”

“ The paper-maker, the printer and the binder would be more likely to work intelligently if they had some mutual knowledge of each other’s needs and limitations. The habit has been growing for some time of looking on the binding of a book as the most important thing in connexion with it. ”

“ If a binder receives a book with a volume number and has no record of previous volumes, he should ask the librarian for a sample volume, unless it is obviously a book for which there could be no sample, such as the first volume of a periodical giving contemporary dates.
32. The binder is expected to paste in book-pockets and book-plates when furnished by the library but may charge extra for the work.
33. The best gold leaf must be used in lettering unless cover is light enough in color to take ink. Leather labels should never be used. ”

“ The volume must not only be well protected, but seem so. It should be solid, compact, square-edged, and enclosed in firm boards of a stoutness proportionate to its size, and these should be covered with leather at once pliable and strong. Unless it present this appearance, it will be unsatisfactory in spite of the richest colours and the most elaborate ornament. Thus far the mere mechanical skill of the binder goes. In the choice of his style of binding, and in the decoration of his book, if he perform his task with taste and skill, he rises to the rank of an artist. ”

“ This same binder, on another occasion, placed a unique fifteenth century Indulgence in warm water, to separate it from the cover upon which it was pasted, the result being that, when dry, it was so distorted as to be useless. That man soon after passed to another world, where, we may hope, his works have not followed him, and that his merits as a good citizen and an honest man counterbalanced his de-merits as a binder. ”

“ The binder should impart a stiff clay-like quality to the metal or ceramic mass and permit easy manipulation, have a sufficiently low volatility under the desired working conditions to allow a reasonable working period, and leave no residue following the completion of sintering. ”

“ To claim that the binder prevents hemorrhages is absurd. Our personal rule is to put one on if the patient wants one, or if she has previously had one. To be effective, in any sense, the binder should extend from the waist line down to halfway between the hips and knees and should be snugly, but not too tightly pinned.
Sanitary Napkins.—These can be purchased already prepared in most drug stores, or they can be made in the following manner: Take an ordinary grade of cheese cloth, wash it, and when dry, cut it into half yard squares. ”

“ Some libraries have an elaborate binding slip, giving on one side the different materials, colors, etc., and having the other divided into panels for lettering. A slip is made for each book and the binder follows it carefully. Some libraries arrange an arbitrary system with the binder making one letter or figure indicate much that otherwise would have to be written in full. For example, "C" under such an arrangement might mean "Bind in one-half red cowhide with green cloth sides." Some librarians give a general blanket order to bind all fiction in one way and all juvenile books in another. ”

“ Will you want a new binder or a back-set plow this fall?"
"We'll want a binder," answered his hostess, who was a woman of somewhat yielding nature. "Still, I guess we'll get it from Grantly."
"His things are good enough, though he stands out for the top price," responded Nevis, who was too wise to disparage openly a rival's goods. "Just now, however, I'm rather loaded up, and the orders aren't coming along, so I'm making a special cut. I'll knock an extra four dollars off the list figure for the binder, and wait for the money until you have hauled in your wheat." ”

“ As the large libraries have a good deal of work which the average commercial binder does not care to take, like map mounting, rare-book mending, and ordinary book repairs, the ideal condition for them would be a small bindery with two or three hands, in the building; a contract for all ordinary binding and rebinding with an outsider, and the purchase of many new books especially bound direct from the sheets. ”

“ Just as the printing office of William Parks and his successors stood on Duke of Gloucester Street in Williamsburg two centuries ago, so it stands again today on its original site. Again today it includes a bindery where gentlemen and ladies may bespeak books to be bound or rebound in the most exact manner and the most elegant taste. The master binder assures his patrons that he uses only the best materials and can, if they so wish, decorate a volume with the egg, the Mousetrap, or any other roll or ornament in his stock that pleases their fancy. ”

“ It does not mean that the leaves are "not cut open," as so many people appear to think, but simply that the binder, with a fine sense of what is due to a volume of importance, has for once kept his shears in his pocket. The value of a book which has been cut is reduced to an extent proportionate to the quantum of injury inflicted: from 50 to 75 per cent. is the usual reduction, but many works are altogether destroyed. If a scarce book is sent to be re-bound, the binder should have the clearest instructions, in writing, that he is not to trim the edges. ”

“ A certain number of these bindings have been settled as the work of a certain man in another way. When the binder was a printer, or a stationer of sufficient importance to have books printed for him, [Pg 119] then we can identify the mark on his bindings by means of the mark used in the books.
For instance, to take an early example. We have bindings by Julian Notary, the printer, which bear his initials and mark, and the mark, of course, is the same as the one he uses in his books, while in them his name is in full. ”

“ If book is not oversewed the first and last sections must be guarded with jaconet.
5. Nearly all books should be sewed with some modern method of overcasting.
It is probable that in every lot of books sent to the binder there will be some fiction and juvenile books which could be sewed in the regular way through the signatures either on bands or on tapes, but the number is so small that the binder finds it easier to sew all the books alike. ”

“ The outside binder knows that the librarian who operates a bindery in his own building knows something about the cost of binding, and he realizes that unless his prices are reasonable and his work good he need not expect to be favored. ”

“ It is generally the first thing the binder has to do with a book. The sheets are either supplied by the publisher or printer (mostly the printer) ; should the amateur wish to have his books in sheets, he may generally get them by asking his bookseller for them. It is necessary that they be carefully folded, for unless they are perfectly even, it is impossible that the margins (the blank space round the print) can be uniform when the book is cut. ”

“ It often happens that books are purchased in old sheep, calf, or even morocco bindings with the hinges so broken that the boards are either entirely off or held only by weakened cords. Such books may be properly entrusted to a good binder for rebinding in substantial leather. ”

“ Very little the binder had done so far would be visible in the finished product. But at this point he could begin to put his artistry on display. Selecting silk thread in two colors to suit his taste, he bound a narrow piece of leather across both the top and bottom of the spine, completely covering them with something like a buttonhole stitch. These “headbands” added little to the strength but much to the appearance of a book. Careful binders said that a book should no more be seen in a library without headbands than a gentleman should appear in public minus a collar. ”