Today's books are mass-produced By automated equipment, But before the industry was mechanized, Book pages were hand-bound, Their covers meticulously hand-crafted One at a time by talented book binders. This skilled trade still exists, but is now a specialty service. Book binders are part artist, part restorer, Because they craft new bindings, yet also repair originals. Before rebinding a book, the book binder has to unbind it. She uses a surgical scalpel To cut the strands of old binding thread. This separates the covers and the sections of assembled paged, Called signatures. Using a paper cutter, she trims the components Just enough to make their edges neat and smooth. Then she positions the signatures in a vice, Sandwiched between cardboard for support.
She draws lines across what will be the spine of the book. Then she carefully saws a groove in each line. The groove is just big enough To fit a piece of hemp binding cord. One at a time, She reconnects the signatures on a sewing frame. The frame has binding cords That correspond to the grooves she sawed into the signatures. She sews a linen thread horizontally, Looping it around the cords. A chain stitch on each end Links each signature
to the neighboring one. When she's done, she coats the sewn area with glue. She then lays a thin cloth backing over the glue, Then closes the vice tightly to round the back And form joints into which the book's covers will fit. She perfects the joints using a hammer. Next, she weaves the binding's headband By wrapping threads around support sticks In a specific pattern.
She does this on both the top Of bottom of what will be the book's spine. Next, by folding and gluing pieces of paper, She constructs a tube the exact width and length of the spine. She glues the tube to the spine. Now for the book's front cover. She layers pieces of cardboard to create a design, Then glues it onto a rectangular piece of leather. She presses the leather against the cardboard With a plastic tool called a bone folder. Next, she cuts a strip of thick paper The width of the book spine And glues small bands across it. Then she glues this onto the leather, Right next to the cardboard. Using the bone folder again, she presses the leather down.
After adding a second cardboard for the back cover, She glues and folds over the edges. Then she makes two swift incisions To remove a triangle of leather. This produces perfect corners every time. Next step -- to embellish the cover and spine With gold-embossed decorations and lettering. She lays down a sheet of genuine gold foil And hot-stamps the design onto the surface. After attaching the bound pages With leather hinges that match the cover, The book binder applies the finishing touch -- Decorative paper on the inside covers. From such traditional styles to ultramodern fish-skin bindings, It's hard not to judge these books by their covers.
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