The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1901-09-22
THE BINDING OF BOOKS
MOST OF THE WORK Is NOW DONE
BY MACHINERY.
The Process by Which n Book Is
Made Ready for the Market
Hand-Bound Books.

Bookbinding, an art almost as old as the
changes in many respects since the first
volume was compiled by the ancients. 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 a revolution in
the bindery. the work that required a small
army is now done by a few close and com
pact machines. yet the method has not
changed and the backs of the books are
pasted and fastened on by land the same
as they were hundreds of years ago. Some
few large houses use machinery for put
ting the backs on books, but most firms
chose to have the work done by hand, as
no machinery has yet been invented that
Will fit a back to the printed volume with
the nicely of a skilled bOokbinder.
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 now fortunate enough To
possess the expensive article. A trip
through a book bindery, where all of the
work, or nearly all of it, is done by ma
chinery, would convince these hand-bound
book lovers that their hobby is founded
principally on imagination and that the
OilS Icdl ullleTCIlCC DGINcen q HdHO-DOuIAO
book and a machine-bound book is the fact
that perhaps five persons were employed
on the hand-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,
II anything, inferior. Such a discovery
would diSappoint many and the only salts
faction they would afterward derive from
a hand-bound book would be its ''individ-
%uality," or the knowledge that somebody
had accomplished a very tedious task.
BINDING OF BOOKS.
Beginning with the binding Of books after
the matter leaves the press, there 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 inexperi-
enced folders, a sometimes troublesome UNI
dertaking. Each fold must be exact in or
der that the margins at the top, bottom
and edges OF the pages shall be even after
they are trimmed. A slight variation Will
throw q page out of line when the book is
bound. If the fold is not exact at the first
attempt and the paper is creased IL has
a ruffled 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
mana, WITH IneSe marks over certain points,
and the machine does the folding In a
second and as nicely as two hands could do
it IL they fumbled over 1t for an hour.
Better still is the automatic feeder, which
is so intricate in adjustment that but one
sheet at a time can be fed into the ma
chine and folded. So far as comparison
will show, hand folding 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, where
as 25O is a good hours work for any hand
workman. The automatic feeder will fold
from 1000 to 5000 an hour, and so it goes,
the more improved the machinery the bet
ter and quicker the work.
After the sheets are folded they are called
signatures and have to be gathered into
books. These must be gathered consecu-
lively, according TO their places in the book.
Most or the gathering in binderieS is done
by hand, the same as If the books were
being bound by hand, so there is no diff
ference in this part of the work between
hand and machine-bound books. But there
are gathering machines, which are more ac-
curate, and again there is no comparison in
by girls. The signatures are placed along
the edges Of a long table, consecutively
numbered; and the girls have to march
around this table hundreds of times a day.
One round trip represents one book.
MUST THEN BE SEWED
When the books are gathered they must
be sewed. This part of bookmaking is a gi-
gantic proposition if done by hand. BY
machinery it is simple. fast and sure. Each
signature is sewed with a 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 ma
chine faStenS each signature together so
that the book is complete and ready for the
first process in binding without further
handling.
binder. The binding is generally done by
hand, although machinery is used to put on
the backs. In preparing the books for the
backs they are pressed, trimmed and round
ed, which gives them the curved shape, all
by machinery. Then the binder takes the
books, fits them to the backs and gives
them the finishing touches. After books
are thoroughly dry and the back is firm
they are stamped by machinery and then
they are ready for the market This is the
process of binding the average-priced book.
and the costlier ones generally increase in
price according to the quality of material
used and the care exercised in binding, al
though il is still done by machinery.
The value of hand-bound books comes in
the tooling and illumination, which is lone
after the book is bound, and could as we'll
be done on a machine-made book as on a
handmade book. So far as the mechanical
construction OF a book goes hand work does
not improve machine work. The ONLY diff
ference is in the artistic features and occa-
sional irregularities incident to art. which
gives the book its individuality" Art
work may as well be done on a neat and
perfect machine-bound book as on a hand
! bound book. and the effect, when ii is done.
would perhaps be more pleasing to the eye
If 1t was not known that the book was
made by machinery.
Really expensive books are seldom made
by machinery. The reason for this is that
the demand for expensive books is so linn
tied that it would not pay TO get them out
by machinery. while, if the work is done bv
hand, the number of books makes no differ
ence to the maker, whether it be one or a
hundred. Only one can be made at a time
by hand and a small order is turned out
slowly. The stock that is made up by. hand
bookmakers is such a small consideration
for a big bindery that it would not pay to
hold the machines back. For this reason
handsome machine-bOund books are not
plentiful. and not because they cannot be
made just as beautiful as by hand.