Library Bookbinding Part 4

Tr.i.m.m.i.n.g

Binders should be instructed to trim as little as possible. This is important for all books, but most of all for periodicals. In fiction and juvenile books it is important to have wide margins, because the text will remain legible for a longer period of time if protected by a margin from the contact of hands. Non-fiction books which are likely to remain in use for a longer period of years may need to be rebound and trimmed again. Therefore wide margins are essential to good wear as well as to good appearance.

It is customary to bind front covers of periodicals. Sometimes it is desirable to bind advertising pages, and it is necessary to do so when the publishers follow the pernicious practice of continuing regular articles on advertising pages. Covers and advertising pages are generally printed with much narrower margins than the body of the magazine and unless great care is taken in tr.i.m.m.i.n.g parts of the printed matter will be cut off.

HEADBANDS

Cotton headbands can be added during the forwarding but inasmuch as they are simply pasted on they add nothing to the strength and very little to the beauty of the book. When silk headbands are carefully sewed on they add both strength and beauty. An excellent description of the process of putting on headbands will be found in c.o.c.kerell's "Binding and the care of books," page 147.

HOW TO RECOGNIZE A WELL BOUND BOOK

The ability to recognize a well bound book is necessary when comparing the work of different binders. A book should be bound in material suitable for the use which the book is to receive and in such a way as to give the maximum amount of service. It should also be as attractive in appearance as is compatible with these two requirements. In deciding whether a book is suitably bound for library use the following points should be kept in mind:

1. A volume must show evidence of neat and careful workmans.h.i.+p.

2. If the book is to be used constantly leather is essential; if occasionally only, leather is an element of weakness.

3. All books that receive hard usage should have end papers and fly-leaves guarded with cloth. If sewed regularly the first and last signatures also should be guarded.

4. Saw cuts should not be deep.

5. The book should be flexible and stay flat wherever opened. (This is not always possible in the case of overcast books or books printed on stiff, brittle paper.)

6. When the book is lying flat the top should remain flat. When standing on end the sections should not separate slightly at the back.

7. The book should feel firm and compact to the hand.

8. When opened the volume should not make a crackling noise due to too much glue on the back.

9. The book should have a well rounded back and the cover should fit well at the joint. Flat backs are not desirable.

10. Margins should be wide and cut straight. Periodicals should not be trimmed so that printing on covers or advertis.e.m.e.nts is cut off.

11. The book should have French joints.

12. The cover should not separate easily from the book when pressure is applied.

13. Lettering on the back should be legible and put on straight.

14. On opening the book sections at the back should be perfectly smooth, showing that they have not been crushed in backing.

15. Guards for plates, maps, sections, etc., should be so applied as to leave the paper unwrinkled.

CHAPTER IV

MATERIALS

In a recent pamphlet issued by the Government Printing Office, containing a list of materials and articles used in the printing and binding of public doc.u.ments, the number of items for binding alone reaches the surprising total of 171. Many of these are materials used in marbling, others indicate slight variations of color and weight in standard leathers and cloths. But exclusive of all these the number of materials called for is over forty.

It is not the writer's purpose to discuss all of these forty or more materials, but it seems necessary to mention that many materials other than those used in covering books (always some kind of cloth or leather) are used in binding. Furthermore, the strength of the book after it is bound will depend almost as much upon the materials used in its inner construction as upon those used in covering it. The inner materials, if not wisely selected as to quality or in reference to the kind of service which the book is to receive, may cause an otherwise excellently bound book to give poor service.

In general, however, a reference to binding materials means those which are used in covering books. It is the cover which renders a book attractive or unattractive, and which contributes more than any other one item, except possibly sewing, to the long life of the book. We should therefore know the initial cost of different covering materials and the length of service which each material will give under different conditions. When they are not imitations we should be able to recognize the best-known materials, either on or off the books. An unscrupulous binder can easily take advantage of ignorance of these matters.

So far as the librarian is concerned only two cla.s.ses of materials need be considered for the covers of books--leathers and book cloths. This does not indicate a restriction of choice, for when we consider that leather comes from a large number of animals, that there are a great many different kinds of cloth, that cloths and leathers can be obtained in a great variety of colors, there seems to be an embarra.s.sment of riches. As a matter of fact most librarians confine themselves to four kinds of leather and four or five kinds of cloth, each in three or four different shades.

LEATHER

The most expensive materials used in covering books and those which vary most in quality are leathers, the skins of animals which have been tanned and made flexible. The best bookbinding leathers are those which are flexible both in the skin and on books, and the surface of which is not easily damaged by friction. Owing to the many kinds of leathers and their variation in quality, it is difficult to learn to know them well.

The skins of all sorts of animals have been used for covering books.

Certain ones, not suitable for library binding, are still used for the purpose in various parts of the country, so that librarians need to become expert in their knowledge of which leathers may be employed and which ought to be rejected.

Variations in the same kinds of leathers are caused by:

(_a_) _Age._ Skins of animals which have not reached full growth should not be used for binding library books. Since they are immature, the fibres have not become tough, and they have not reached their maximum thickness. If the skins which the binder is using are exceptionally small, it is probable that the animals from which they were obtained were too young. On the other hand, the skins of very old animals should not be used, since the fibres of the skins have lost something of their flexibility and strength. They cannot be readily detected, but they are sure to give poor service. As an ill.u.s.tration of the effect which age has upon leather it will be sufficient to note the well-known fact that calf skin is useless for library purposes, while cowhide within certain well-defined limits is exceedingly useful.

(_b_) _The s.e.x of the animal._ It has been proved beyond question that the skin from the female of some animals, notably goats, does not wear as well as that from the male.

(_c_) _Country from which they come._ It is an interesting fact that the skin of a sheep which comes from Persia is not the same kind of a skin as that of a sheep which is raised in the United States. In general, it may be said that skins from animals inhabiting warm countries are more likely to be serviceable than those from the same kind of animals inhabiting cold countries. In the cold countries more of the strength goes into the fur or hair which protects it, while in warm countries a greater amount of strength goes into the skin itself.

In addition to variations due to these causes there is likely to be a certain amount of variation in different parts of the same skin. That part of the skin which comes from the back of the animal is tougher than that which comes from the abdomen. The difference is very noticeable in the skins of some animals, less so in others.

_Decay of Leather._ Of late years there has been much dissatisfaction expressed over the decay of modern leathers. In many cases leathers 100 years old or more are in a fair state of preservation, while many leathers--perhaps we should say most leathers--30, 20 or even 10 years old, show signs of decay, and some have rotted away almost entirely. In no way is the decay of modern leathers shown more conclusively than in a long file of the sheep-bound set of the United States Public Doc.u.ments. The earlier volumes, covering the 15th Congress up to the 36th, will in general be found to be in a good state of preservation.

About the year 1860, however, marked deterioration appears. In some cases it seems as if the backs had entirely disintegrated. While a sheep-bound set is the best example of the decay of modern leathers, many libraries have been greatly annoyed by the decay of other leathers which are supposed to be much stronger than sheepskin.

So great was the dissatisfaction with modern leathers that in the year 1900 the Society of Arts in London appointed a committee to investigate modern leathers and to ascertain the best methods for preparing leathers for binding. The report of this committee was published in 1905, and a general knowledge of its contents is necessary for those who wish to know why leathers decay and how they may be preserved. Another valuable work which should be carefully studied is ent.i.tled "Leathers for libraries," published by the Sound Leather Committee of the Library a.s.sociation in England. In a chapter of this book J. Gordon Parker, Ph.

D., Director of the London Leather Industries Research Laboratories, tells us that the chief causes of decay are as follows:

1. The introduction of tanning materials other than oak and sumac, stronger in tannin, and more rapid in their action. Many of these tanning materials are unstable, and the leather produced disintegrates on exposure to light and air.

Tanning is the process of changing hides, which are animal matter subject to decay, into material which is strong and flexible and which is not subject to decay. There are two groups of tanning materials. The one called the pyrogallol group, which includes sumac, gall nuts and oak bark, is commended by the Committee of the Society of Arts. The other is called the catechol group and is strongly condemned. Among the materials belonging to the catechol group are hemlock bark and larch, used chiefly in this country, and turwar bark used largely in tanning East Indian goat and sheep skins.

The United States Government Printing Office proposals call for leathers tanned with a pyrogallol tannin, since it has been proved that such leathers prove most resistant to the evil effects of light, heat and gas. If a skin has been tanned with sumac, or sumac in combination with oak bark, it has received the best possible preparation for its life as a bookbinding leather.

It is not possible, neither is it necessary, to have all leathers tanned with sumac. Those leathers which are intended to remain on the shelves for many decades, should be in this tannage. Those which will be discarded in a few years may be tanned in a less expensive manner. Even some of the quick, modern materials, which accomplish in a few hours what once would have taken weeks, are not too poor for leathers which are not to be kept indefinitely.

Even the expert cannot detect skins which have not been tanned and dyed properly, but leathers which last a short time may be suspected either of being improperly tanned or of having some kind of injurious acid in their composition.

2. The use of dried and cured skins of variable soundness imported from abroad. Goat, calf and sheep skins are imported into this country (England) from all over the world; some are simply dried in the sun, some salted, whilst others are cured with various ingredients.

3. The use of infusions of acids and other bleaching agents to produce bright and even shades of colour.