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Bookbinding is the process of physically assembling a Book from a number of folded or unfolded sheets of Paper or other material. HISTORY The craft of bookbinding originated in India, where religious Sutra were copied onto palm leaves (cut into two, lengthwise) with a metal stylus. The leaf was then dried and rubbed with ink, which would form a stain in the wound. The finished leaves were given numbers, and two long twines were threaded through each end through wooden boards. When closed the excess twine would be wrapped around the boards to protect the 'leaves' of the book. Buddhist monks took the idea through modern Persia, Afghanistan, and Iran, to China in the the first century BC.
The book was not needed in ancient times, as many early Greek texts - scrolls - were 30 pages long, which fits into the hand. Roman works were often longer, running to hundreds of pages. The Greeks used to comically call their books ''tome'', meaning ''to cut''. The Egyptian Book Of The Dead was a massive 200 pages long, but was never meant to be read by the living. Torah s, editions of the Jewish holy book, were also held in special holders when read. Scrolls can be rolled in one of two ways. The first method is to wrap the scroll around a single core, similar to a modern roll of paper towels. While simple to construct, a single core scroll has a major disadvantage: in order to read text at the end of the scroll, the entire scroll must be unwound. This is partially overcome in the second method, which is to wrap the scroll around two cores, as in a Torah. With a double scroll, the text can be accessed from both beginning and end, and the portions of the scroll not being read can remain wound. The first solution invented to overcome this problem was a set of simple wooden boards sewn together - around the 1st Century A.D.. Romans called this simple book a Codex - the Latin for the trunk of a tree. However it was the early Coptic Christians of Ethiopia who made the first breakthrough. They discovered that by folding sheets of Vellum or Parchment in half and sewing them through the fold. They could produce a book that could be written on both sides, and wooden boards held it together, and the whole book was slipped into a goatskin leather bag to be carried. Codices were a significant improvement over Papyrus or vellum Scroll s, in that they were easier to handle. But despite allowing writing on both sides of the leaves, they were still foliated - numbered on the leaves, like the Indian books. The idea spread quickly through the early churches, and we get the word Bible from the town where the Byzantium monks established their first Scriptorium , Byblos in modern Lebanon. The idea of numbering each side of the page - Latin ''pagina'', to fasten - appeared when the text of the individual testaments of the bible were combined and text had to be searched through more quickly. This book format became the preferred way of preserving manuscript or printed material. Early and medieval codices were bound with flat spines, and it was not until the 15th century that books began to have the rounded spines associated with hardcovers today2. Because the vellum of early books would react to humidity by swelling, causing the book to take on a characteristic wedge shape, the wooden covers of medieval books were often secured with straps or clasps. These straps, along with metal bosses on the book's covers to keep it raised off of the surface that it rests on, are collectively known as ''furniture''. Thus, Western books from the 5th century onwards were bound between hard covers, with pages made from or parchment, folded and sewn onto strong cords or ligaments that were attached to wooden boards and covered with leather. Since early books were exclusively handwritten on handmade materials, sizes and styles varied considerably, and each book was a unique creation or a copy of it. Arabic books were somewhat different for they were designed for nomads and 6th century manuscripts were designed to be mobile. The discovery of Paper making enabled the Arabs to make the books lighter - sewn with silk, and bound with leather covered paste boards, they had a flap that wrapped the book up when not in use. As paper was less reactive to humidity, the heavy boards were not needed. With the arrival (from the East) of rag paper manufacturing through Europe in the late Middle Ages and the use of the Printing Press beginning in the mid- 15th Century , bookbinding began to standardize somewhat, but page sizes still varied considerably. With printing, the books became more accessible, and were stored on their side on long shelves for the first time. Clasps were removed, and titles were added to the spine. The reduced cost of books facilitated cheap lightweight Bibles made from tissue thin oxford paper, with floppy covers, that resembled the early Arabic Korans, enabling missionaries to take portable books with them around the world, and modern wood glues enabled paperback covers to be added to simple glue bindings. Forms of binding include the following:http://www.futureofthebook.com/stories/storyReader$581
Some books have even been bound in Human Skin . This practice is called Anthropodermic Bibliopegy . MODERN COMMERCIAL BINDING There are various commercial techniques in use today. Commercially-produced books today tend to be of one of four categories:
The covers of modern hardback books are of thick cardboard. Until the mid 20th century those of mass-produced books were covered in cloth, but from that period onwards most publishers adopted Clothette , a kind of textured paper which vaguely resembles cloth but is easily differentiated on close inspection. A variation of the hardcover which is more durable is the Calf-binding , 'half-calf' or 'full-calf' (also called 'full-bound' or simply 'leather bound') where the cover is either fully or half clad in Leather , usually from a Calf .
# oversewing, where the signatures of the book start off as loose pages which then get clamped together. Small vertical holes are punched through the far left-hand edge of each signature, and then the signatures are sewn together with lock-stitches to form the text block. Oversewing is a very strong method of binding and can be done on books up to five inches thick. However, in punching holes and stitching the signatures together, the margins of oversewn books are reduced. Also, the pages will not lie flat when they are opened. # sewing through the fold, where the signatures of the book are folded and stitched through the fold. Then the signatures are sewn and/or Glued together at the spine to form a text block. Sewn through the fold books have wide margins and can open completely flat. However, the text block of a sewn through the fold book is not very secure, which can cause some signatures to come loose over time. Many varieties of sewing stitches exist, from basic links to complex decorative stitches. While Western books are generally sewn through holes punched along the fold, some Asian bindings, such as the Retchoso or Butterfly Stitch of Japan, use small slits instead of punched holes. # double-fan adhesive binding starts off with two signatures of loose pages, which are run over a roller ("fanning" the pages) to apply a thin layer of glue to each page edge. Then the two signatures are perfectly aligned to form a text block, and glue edges of the text block are attached to a piece of cloth lining to form the spine. Double-fan adhesive bound books can open completely flat and have a wide margin. However, certain types of paper do not hold adhesive well, and with wear and tear, the pages can come loose. (Parisi 1993)
Magazine s are considered more ephemeral than books, and less durable means of binding them are usual. In general, the cover papers of magazines will be the same as the inner pages (self-cover {Link without Title} ) or only slightly heavier (soft cover).
MODERN HAND BINDING Modern bookbinding by hand can be seen as two closely allied fields: the creation of new bindings, and the repair of existing bindings. Bookbinders are often active in both fields. Bookbinders learn the craft through , and the North Bennet Street School ; by taking classes in the course of university studies, or by a combination of those methods. Some European countries offer a ''Master Bookbinder'' certification, though no such certification exists in the United States. Hand bookbinders create new bindings that run the gamut from historical book structures made with traditional materials to modern structures made with 21st century materials, and from basic cloth-case bindings to valuable full-leather fine bindings. Repairs to existing books also encompass a broad range of techniques, from minimally invasive conservation of a historic book to the full restoration and rebinding of a text. Though almost any existing book can be repaired to some extent, only books that were originally sewn can be rebound by resewing. Repairs or restorations are often done to emulate the style of the original binding. For new works, some publishers print unbound manuscripts which a binder can collate and bind, but often an existing commercially-bound book is ''pulled'', or taken apart, in order to be given a new binding. Once the textblock of the book has been pulled, it can be rebound in almost any structure; a modern suspense novel, for instance, could be rebound to look like a 16th century manuscript. Bookbinders may bind several copies of the same text, giving each copy a unique appearance. Hand bookbinders use a variety of specialized hand tools, the most emblematic of which is the Bonefolder , a flat, tapered, polished piece of bone used to crease paper and apply pressure3. Additional tools common to hand bookbinding include a variety of knives and hammers, as well as brass tools used during Finishing . When creating new work, modern hand binders often work on commission, creating bindings for specific books or collections. Books can be bound in many different materials. Some of the more common materials for covers are ). Those bindings that are made with exceptionally high craftsmanship, and that are made of particularly high-quality materials (especially full leather bindings), are known as ''fine'' or ''extra'' bindings. CONSERVATION AND RESTORATION Conservation and restoration are practices intended to repair damage to an existing book. While they share methods, their goals vary. The goal of conservation is to slow the book's decay and restore it to a ''usable'' state while altering its physical properties as little as possible; the goal of restoration, however, is to return the book to a ''previous'' state as envisioned by the restorer, often imagined as the original state of the book. Books requiring conservation treatment run the gamut from the very earliest of texts to modern bindings that have undergone heavy usage. For each book, the conservator must choose a course of treatment that takes into account the book's value, whether it comes from the binding, the text, the Provenance , or some combination of the three. Many professional book and paper conservators in the United States are members of the American Institute for Conservation of Historic and Artistic Works (AIC), whose guidelines set forth in the AIC's Code of Ethics are generally considered to outline an appropriate approach to the treatment of rare or valuable materials. In restoration hand binding, the pages and book covers are often hundreds of years old and the handling of these pages has to be undertaken with great care, and a delicate hand. The binding archival process can extend a book’s life for many decades, and is necessary in order to preserve books that sometimes are limited to a small handful of remaining copies worldwide. It is vitally urgent that such books are cared for in the most loving manner befitting the books’ rarity and subject matter. The first step in saving and preserving a book is found in its deconstruction. The text need to be separated from the covers and only if necessary the stitching removed. This is done as delicately as possible, all restoration is done at this point, be it the removal of Foxing , ink stains, page tears etc. Various techniques are employed to repair the various types of page damage that might have occurred during the life of the book. Master Bookbinders are qualified to undertake restoration and traditional hand binding, and use great care to make sure this process does not further damage the pages, then they are added to the various groups of page signatures, which when collated are beaten flat and pressed. The preparation of the "foundations" of the book could mean the difference between a beautiful work of art and a useless stack of paper and leather. The sections are then hand sewn in the style of its period into book form. The next step is the creation of the book cover; vegetable tanned leather, which is dyed using natural dyes, and hand-marbled papers can be used. Finally the cover is hand-tooled in gold leaf. The design of the book cover involves the hand-tooling, where an extremely thin layer of gold is applied to the cover. Such designs can be lettering, symbols, or floral designs, depending on the nature of any particular project. TERMS AND TECHNIQUES
SPINE ORIENTATION AND TITLING CONVENTIONS pattern.]] In left-to-right read languages (like English), books are bound on the left side of the cover; looking from on top, the pages increase counter-clockwise. In right-to-left languages, books are bound on the right. In both cases, this is so the end of a page coincides with where you flip. (Some English-language books are bound on the right side of the cover. By far the most common examples are English-language translations of Japanese Comic Books . Since the art is laid out to be read right-to-left, this allows the art to be published "unflipped".) In Japanese, literary books are written top-to-bottom, right-to-left, and thus are bound on the right, while text books are written left-to-right, top-to-bottom, and thus are bound on the left. Early books did not have titles on their spines; rather, they were shelved flat with their spines inward, and titles written with ink along their fore edges. Modern books, however, have their titles on their spines. In languages with Chinese-influenced writing systems, this is naturally written top-to-bottom (as the characters don't change orientation, and the language is generally written top-to-bottom), but in left-to-right (and right-to-left) languages, the spine is usually too narrow for the title to fit in its natural orientation, and conventions differ. In the United States and England, titles are written top-to-bottom; when placed on a table with the front cover upwards, the title is correctly oriented left-to-right on the spine. On continental Europe, the general convention is to print titles bottom-to-top on the spine, which allows a natural left-to-right reading of a multi-line title while the book is shelved. SEE ALSO
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