Book Binding School

Last month I attended a book binding workshop in order to learn how to replace and rebuild a hardcover. It was much more intense process than I ever imagined. Before beginning the workshop I thought, perhaps like you, that a cover was simply cloth-covered cardboard that is glued to paper pages. I couldn't have been more wrong! There are so many more components - bookcloth wrapped around binding board, peach board, paper tubes, endbands, ribbon bookmarks, two different kinds of tissue paper linings, paste, glue, and fabric.  Making a book also requires numerous tools including two kinds of presses, board shears, two kinds of scalpels, and rulers and other measuring devices just to name a few.

My introductory education into book binding was a two-day process in which an instructor demonstrated the techniques and tools required. By following along, I was able to repeat these steps on a book of my own.  By the end of the workshop I had completely rebuilt my book and made it stronger than ever.

A result of my education was a deeper understanding of how the construction of books affects their preservation.  For example, when applying the book cloth to the binding book (ie the outer most layer of the cover) I folded the fabric incorrectly resulting in a small bulge at the corner of the cover.  In the future that bulge will likely result in a hole in the cloth because of the increased friction as the book slides on and off a shelf. It is this level of minutia detail that I was previously unaware of and did not know how to look for. I believe that this workshop will make me a better archivist as I continually seek to preserve DSU's collections. It may also inspire a new hobby.

My book was stripped of its original cover and all of the
glue and linings that held it together. Here it has been
reduced to the text block which is held together only by stitching.

After a new cover was measured and cut, my book was placed in a
nipping press where it was "trained" to form the
characteristic dip or crease between the spine and the covers. 

In addition to building a cover, I also learned to set type
in order to print the gold leaf title for a spine label.