Library Bookbinding Part 9

3. In all other respects the preceding specifications should be followed.

PERIODICALS

There is no place in a small library where good judgment will do more to make the library efficient at a minimum cost than in the binding of periodicals. The use of libraries for reference purposes is increasing and the use of periodicals is made easy by means of the periodical indexes. The enthusiastic librarian who wishes to answer all questions will be tempted to bind more periodicals than are really needed, thus impairing the efficiency of the book fund. On the other hand, to some the cost of binding may seem so great that some useful periodicals will remain unbound. But it is not necessary to throw away unbound periodicals. If they are to be used only now and then in reference work, it is a good plan to wrap them in stout manila paper with stiff boards on the outside, letter carefully on the back and file away on the shelves in their regular places among other periodicals.

Supplement the general specifications by the following:

1. Fly-leaves should be made of white book paper, 80 pounds to the ream, guarded with jaconet on both sides.

2. End papers may be made of special papers used by the binder, but it is wise to have a 100-pound manila guarded with jaconet on the outside and also on the inside of the fold.

3. First and last sections must be guarded with jaconet.

4. Books 10 inches in height should be sewed regularly on four bands or on tapes one-quarter of an inch wide; larger volumes on five bands or tapes. Sew all-along, pa.s.sing needle through center of tapes.

5. A millboard as heavy as the weight of the book will allow must be used.

6. (_a_) Books should be bound in full cloth made according to the specifications of the Bureau of Standards. As light colors, which may be lettered in ink, show dirt very readily it seems better to use a dark color and letter in gold.

(_b_) In large reference or college libraries there are certain periodicals that receive constant use. It would be a mistake to bind such volumes in cloth, because no cloth will endure the wear that they receive. They should be bound in leather, preferably Turkey or Niger morocco. On no account should American russia be used.

7. If leather is used the sides should be covered with Bureau of Standards cloth.

NEWSPAPERS

Because newspapers are printed on wretched paper which it is freely admitted will disintegrate in a comparatively short time, the question when to bind and when to throw away is a hard one to decide. For the small library it is surely unwise to bind any except the local paper, which will be used from time to time for local history. In many cases it may be wiser simply to wrap the volumes to protect them from the light and file them chronologically. The librarian of the large library, however, no matter how disgusted he may be with the poor quality of paper used finds it necessary to bind a number of newspapers. When bound they will last twenty-five years or more, during which time they are sure to be used sufficiently to warrant binding.

Newspapers must be kept away from light, heat and moisture. If possible, keep in a dark closet until ready for binding. Publishers of local papers ought to give a copy for binding.

1. Newspapers must be bound in one-half duck, best quality.

It is never under any circ.u.mstances wise to bind newspapers in leather.

Duck, to be sure, gathers dirt easily, but it seems to be the only material sufficiently strong and long-lived for binding newspapers.

2. Fly-leaves and end papers should be made of extra heavy paper well guarded inside and outside the fold.

3. It is permissible to st.i.tch sections lengthwise before sewing regularly on bands, but oversewing is preferable.

4. Boards of double thickness must be used. It is best, perhaps, to make the boards by gluing or pasting two boards of ordinary thickness together.

5. Corners should be covered with vellum tips.

6. Tight backs must be used.

7. Sides must be covered with paper.

This facilitates the handling of the volumes. If cloth sides are used on newspapers it increases enormously the labor in shelving them and even of using them on ordinary library tables. In libraries that can afford to shelve newspapers on patent shelving with rollers, cloth sides are preferable.

8. Libraries that can afford it should use a fibre-filling preservative on the edges. (See page 116 of the Bulletin of the American Library a.s.sociation for 1912.)

REFERENCE BOOKS

Reference books should be bound in the same way as fiction or juvenile books, except that morocco, instead of cowhide, should be used for books constantly handled. Books used only occasionally should be covered with cloth made according to the Specifications of the Bureau of Standards.

Very heavy, thick volumes, such as dictionaries, should have all the strengthening devices and especially should have the bands and canton flannel on the back placed in split boards or between two boards glued together. It is impossible to bind such books too strongly. In rare cases it may be well to sew heavy books constantly used on raised bands, to have leather corners, and a strip of leather along the bottom of each board.

LAW BOOKS

Some of the professions have conventional ways of binding professional books. In the law, for example, it was formerly customary to bind all law books in full sheep of the natural color. When sheep fell into disrepute, the law publishers began to subst.i.tute cloth similar in shade to the sheep generally used--a decided gain for law libraries.

Supplement the general specifications by the following:

1. End papers and fly-leaves must be guarded with jaconet, as described in specifications for fiction and juvenile books, page 93.

2. First and last sections must be guarded with jaconet.

3. All maps and charts must be backed with muslin and not folded unless necessary.

4. (_a_) Bancroft Legal buckram (the lightest shade made), or Holliston Mills Library buckram No. 32, should be used for covering.

(_b_) Books used constantly should be bound in half Turkey morocco or Niger morocco.

MUSIC

1. The most essential quality of a well-bound book of music is its ability to lie flat wherever opened. It is unwise therefore to use any kind of an overcast st.i.tch in sewing. Regular sewing on tapes, instead of bands, must be used.

2. The square at the bottom of the book should be greater than at the top so that leaves will not catch on the music-rack when turned over.

3. Imperial morocco cloth should be used for covering. If hard usage is expected half cowhide, with sides of some kind of washable cloth, is preferable.

4. Part music for various instruments or solos with accompaniment must have one strong binding for the part which takes the most s.p.a.ce, with pocket on the inside of the back cover to hold the other parts. If these are bulky compensating guards should be inserted in the back of the book.

BOOKS OF ILl.u.s.tRATIONS

Every library finds it necessary to bind a few books, such as Racinet's "Le costume historique," which have very little text and a great number of ill.u.s.trations. It is evident that the ill.u.s.trations in such books are most useful if kept in unbound form in portfolios, but when kept in such a way they are likely to be lost, torn, mutilated or misplaced.

1. Each plate should be guarded with thin, tough paper and the guards overcast.

This insures a good strong sewing; in addition the guard forms a hinge where it meets the plate and the plate will lie flat and can easily be examined when the book is opened.

2. Because of the artistic nature of such books, they should be bound in one-half morocco, taking extra care to see that acid-free leather is used.

3. Canton flannel and bands, or tapes, should be inserted between split boards. If the book is very heavy, it would be wise to line the back with duck or a flesher rather than with canton flannel.