americans at work in an art that is the preservation of all arts the making of books these men are masters of their tools from the most primitive instruments to the latest equipment of the machine age with other craftsmen these other people w as history began with writing it is continued with printed record books with a great treasures of the earliest civilization today they are the great means of communication between people and nation even in the most modern bookbinder is americans pursue a craft steeped in the tradition of ancient guilds although the books most of us by our machine made all qualified german bookbinders must know how to take apart and put together a book by hand books from collections of an earlier day must be restored and this is a loving are regarded almost with reverence by its practitioners a well worn inheritance must be carefully under remove the broken cover and string the worn out thread take the precious publication back to the beginnings of a book this is a work  infinite patience of painstaking attention to detail of fingered skill that is equal to the occasion good books are constantly given rebirth by workers like put the pages back together again so them again for another generation of life everything must be redone except for the printing this must be kept as it was for the type of graffiti may make the book a collector's item this is a happy marrying of antique values with modern practicality and these workers know that the wearing out of a book from rereading is a truer estimate of its worth than any review by a  hammer the book into a shape better than when it was new make it last longer this time no matter how easy it looks there's a knack to this that must be learned and the down applied thoughtful carefully hand rounded seemingly hopeless specimens can be restored to usefulness but will outlive their owner the design is transferred to the book by dipping its trimmed edges top bottom and side for exactly the right length of time in exactly the right manner it would be impossible to get the same effect by any known printing process if you think it's easy try it but please not on a cherished first edition then the most fascinating part to the uninitiated lettering the back with nothing to guide him but his mind's eye and the skill of his fingertips the artisan lays on  a masterpiece of the modern bookbinders art the restored volume is ready for the reader who would make the most of his literary inheritance today large sheets bearing several pages come out of the printing press traditionally the sheets are just about the size of the skin from one sheep used for printing long before paper was a practical possibility the uncut sheets go to the folding machines which fold them to desired size is called folio korto and octavio depending on the number of fol these machines can fold from four to seventy two pages as fast as you can turn a page the folded sheet is called a signature almost faster than you can follow the action nimble fingers gather the signatures in the proper order and by foot action of a woman operator feed them to a sewing machine it is here almost miraculous that the various sections of the book got fastened together from back to front the seamstresses of the printed word can make no mistakes all the book will be entirely out of kilter since the resulting sound portions of the book form a spongy collection of pages they are put in a mashing machine to press them more tightly together in uniform a trimming machine shaves the edges of the pages to get the clean smooth look and feel that you know in the finished book this tumble type trimmer somewhat resembles the cold cut slicer of your butcher it is this process that makes it possible while the body of the book is in production the cover is being prepared elsewhere in the plant first the board as they are called are cut to size these will become front and back parts of the c proceed on their way to becoming covers the boards may be imprinted with title and artwork the operators have a stripping machine connected to board with a strip of cloth which will later become the back of the cover technically what most of us call a book cover is referred to by the bookbinder as a case without it the hard bound book would not last long several more steps are necessary before the book is ready for its cover a kind of merry go round has been devised by the practitioners of this trade to combine the step center supplement their manual ability this machine does many of the things we saw earlier being done by hand but while handicraft sets the standard of quality these workers control expertly the machines needed today well modern mass production at this stage the back is rounded into it f you can conveniently turn the pages it is lined and glued in readiness for the cover it is here that the men who feed intend this machine must feel the most the truth of the biblical statement of the making of many books there is no an the greatest act in perception of timing and perfection of performance is reserved for the last under the supervision of experienced hands the casing in machine applies the covers to the books the train craftsman is especially needed at this point each book with its cover must that a spy inspectors that it will not fall apart in your hands and while the total job must be given final shape the complete assembly of pages uncover is put into a press where it is kept on till fairly dry then the book is ready for you a large publishing house may have as many as ten thousand jobs going through it at any one time making the rules pages of notebooks and ledgers is a fascinating aspect of this trade the paper ruler here has an arsenal of implements at his disposal for some forms the uses disks or others he uses pen points to spread the ink that divides the page into countless different patterns a seemingly endless river of paper may be printed on both sides simultaneously when this craftsman makes an ingenious adjustment of either desk or pen above and below it is doubtful that the bookkeeping of our industrial world could be carried on without this activity did you ever wonder how a spiral notebook was made no more complicated than that if you had deft fingers and the right equipment the wire bindings are attached almost faster than you can watch the action sent on our way and locked into place at the end of a moving belt and there you have another indispensable tool of the business world the stenographers type modern accountancy is indeed dependent upon these forms and record books with their single double and triple lines needed to separate the a numerable items that might be added in the spaces between the art of bookmaking is older than printing by many centuries yet today's members of the brotherhood of bookbinders artists of the a f l cio are able to supply the demand for the most important ingredient of the modern world literacy following a crafter the ancient us cave drawings these union workers of the book industry are second to none in keeping pace with progress the ingenuity which has been passed down to the folders gatherer sours trimmers liners in case makers in a proud profession is constantly at work for you to produce our greatest treasure knowledge