bookbinding.pdf

Exerpt from How To Make Your Own Book By Harvey Weiss

Binding: Stapling and Sewing

The term ‘binding’ is sometimes used to describe the

cover of a book. For example, you might refer to a book as hav-

ing a binding of leather, or being bound in linen. But binding

also means the act of attaching many pages to one another to

produce a book. For example, if you are stapling pages together

as described below you are binding a book.

There are several different ways to bind a book. The two

most common ones are explained here.

Stapling

al pages to exactly the same size. Pile them up. Then staple down

along one edge. That's all there is to it. The staples may not look

very neat and this edge of your book may have a somewhat unin-

ished look. But this can be easily ixed by pressing on a piece of

cloth adhesive tape over the bound edge. This tape is strong and

sticks well. It comes in a roll and can be found in mloth adhe-

sive tape over the bound edge. This tape is stost art or stationery

stores. A common brand name is Mystik tape. It comes in vari-

ous widths and in many beautiful, bright colors. A 2-inch width

is best for our purposes. Another way to hide the staples is by at-

taching a separate cover as explained in the chapter on Covers.

There are two disadvantages to this kind of binding. One

is that the inished book will never open up completely. The sta-

ples are pinching it closed along the bound edge. You can't lay

the book down on a table and have it stay lat unless you hold it

down with your hands. The other dificulty is that there is a limit

to how many sheets of paper the stapler will fasten. The heavier

the paper the fewer sheets you can use.

If your book is very small (about 3 inches wide) you

can make it out of four-page sections and staple the sections

together through the fold. This will take care of the two dificul-

ties, but a 3-inch-wide book has very limited uses. (It is a size

for pocket memos, tiny pictures, short poems, etc.) There are

special staplers which have a very long arm. These will let you

staple through the fold of a normal size book. But such staplers

are rather hard to ind and not worth buying unless you plan to

go into the bookmaking business.

Sewing

This is a neater and more permanent way to bind a book.

It is suitable for a hundred pages or for eight pages. A book that

is bound this way is" center-sewn." The drawings on the next

page show how it is done.

If you are sewing only a few pages together you can

use a plain, heavy, button thread. But if you are binding

a rather large book, or making a book that you expect will get

hard use or using heavy paper it would be a good idea to use a re-

ally heavy, strong thread, doubled up if necessary. I have always

used a thin, braided nylon ishing line which is called squidding

line. It looks nice and is almost unbreakable. Any isherman is

liable to have some. (Three or four feet is enough for several

books.) Or you can buy a roll in any sporting goods store. Get

the thinnest. (Don't use the glassy-looking monoilament ishing

line which is hard to knot.)

When several four-page sections have been sewn

together you'll ind that the pages which are in the center

will tend to project out slightly beyond the outer pages as

shown below. This is of no consequence if you are mak-

ing a book of only twenty or thirty pages. But if your

book uses heavy paper and there are many pages you may

prefer the edges lush and even. In this case you will have to do a

little trimming. Use a metal ruler and a single-edge razor, or a very

sharp knife. Press down hard on the ruler so that the paper won't

shift. Take your time and make as many passes with the blade as

necessary. This is a rather delicate operation and must be done care-

fully. But when you are through the entire book will have a neat,

professional look and you will no doubt decide it was worth the

effort.

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