The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1901-09-29
BINDING OF BOOKS
MOST OF THE WORK IN THIS LINE
IS NOW DONE BY MA
CHINERY
EQUAL TO WORK DONE BY HAND
The Process by Which a Book Is
Made Ready for the Mar
ket-Hand-BOund
Rocks.

Bookbinding, an art almost as old as
the art of printing itself, has undergone
few changes in many respects since the
hrst volume was compiled by the an
clients, says the indianapolis Journal In
the earlier days the work was done by
hand and even as late as 1875 machinery
had little to do with the binding of books
Since then there has been revolution
in the bindery. The work that required a
small army is now done by few close
and compact machines, yet the method
mas not changed and the backs of the
books are pasted and fastened on by
hand the same as they were hundreds
of years ago. Some few large houses
use machinery for putting the backs on
books, but most firms choose to have the
work done by hand, as no machinery
has yet been invented that will fit
pack to the printed volume with the
nicely of a skilled buokbinder.
In these days of modern machinery
and new methods much is said about
hand-bound books, particularly among
book lovers. A hand-bound book is
dotted on by literary folk and is usually
SHOWN with pride to friends not for
tunate enough to possess the expensive
drucle trip through a book bindery
where all of the work, or nearly all of it
is done by machinery, would convince
these hand-bound book lovers that their
hobby is founded principally on imagina.
tlon and that the only real difference
between a hand-bound book and a ma
ehlne-bound book is the fact that per-
haps five persons were employed on the
zhand-bound book where one did the
work of the five with machinery. AS
TO the work that is done by machinery it
is not hard to discover that hand work
is, If anything, inferior. Such discovery
would disappoint many and the only sat
fsfaction they would afterward derive
from hand-bound book would be its
individuality" or the knowledge that.
somebody had accomplished a very te-
dious task
Beginning with the binding of books
a1ter the matter leaves the press, -4ere
Is little difference in either method The
first thing to be done is to fold the large
sheets so that the pages will come right
In the book. To fold these sheets over and
over, and at the same time keep all of
the pages in proper order, is a slow and
with inexperienced folders a sometimes
troublesome undertaking. Each fold
must be exact in order that the margins
at the top, bottom and edges of the
pages shall be even after they are
trimmed. A slight variation will throw
page out of line when the book is
pound. If the fold is not exact at the
nrst attempt and the paper is creased
1t has ruff1ed appearance and spoils not
only a page, but perhaps a whole sheet
containing many pages
Folding by machinery is different. When
the large sheets are being printed the
press marks the places as guides for the
folding machines. The sheets are placed
on the folding machine, if feeding is
done by hand, with these marks over
certain points, and the machine does the
Iolong IN second and as nicely as two
hands could do it if they fumbled over
1t for an hour. Better still is an auto.
matte feeder, which is so intricate in
adjustment that but one sheet at a time
can be fed inc the machine and folded.
80 lar as comparison will show. hand
1oldlng cannot possibly be better than
machine folding, and when time now
the all-important factor in any industry
is considered there is absolutely no
comparison. A hand-feeding machine will
fold LOCO sheets an hour easily, whereas
ESQ is good hours work for any hand
workman The automatic folder will fold
from 1900 to 5000 an hour and so il
goes, the more improved the machinery
the better and quicker the work.
After the sheets are folded they are
CdiieU signatures, ana nave to be gath
cred into books. These must be gathered
consecutvely, according to their places
in the book. Most of the gathering in
binderies is done by hand, the same as
If the books were being bound by hand
so there is no difference in this part OF
the work between hand and machine
bound. books. But there are gathering
machines, which are more accurate and
again there is no comparison in speed
Gathering by hand is usually done by
girls The signatures are placed along
the edges of long table, consecutively
numbered, and the girls have to march
around this table hundreds of times a
day. One round trip represents one book
When tho books are gathered they
must be sewed. This part of bookmak.
ing is a gigantic proposition if done By
hand. BY machinery it is simple, fast
and sure. Each signature is sewed with
speed almost as great as that of the
average job press, and the sewing will
stand comparison with any hand work
Besides this the sewing machine fastens
each signature together so that the book
is complete and ready for the first pro-
cess in binding without further handling
From the machine the books 60 to the
binder. The binding is generally done by