A binding plant for hardcover books, in which each hardcover book is of the type including a hardcover with a pair of cover boards and a book block with a text block of a given thickness, a backstrip (book muslin) with a central portion and lateral binding flaps, wherein the plant comprises a binding equipment having a block input for receiving text blocks and a cover input for receiving covers; the binding plant being characterized in that the book block comprises also a pair of endpapers (33a, 33b) with a free sheet, a paste down sheet and a respective fold, and in which the said binding plant further comprises: a book information detecting or setting device (55, 60, 52) for obtaining book data on the thickness of the text block to be bound; a false cover forming equipment for receiving and reciprocally positioning backstrips and pairs of endpapers (33a, 33b) and carrying out false covers; and an electronic processing unit for controlling the binding equipment and the false cover forming equipment as a function of said book data; in which each false cover is defined by a pair endpapers (33a, and 33b) and a backstrip in which the pair of endpapers (33a, and 33b) are sided to the central portion of the backstrip with the paste down sheets of the endpapers (33a, and 33b) glued to the lateral flaps of the backstrip; the false cover forming equipment is controlled by the electronic processing unit in response to the book data for arranging the folds of the endpapers (33a, and 33b) at a pre-assembling distance associated with the thickness of the text block and gluing respective margins of the paste down sheet close to the fold with the flaps of the backstrips; and the binding equipment is feedable, at the block input, with the text blocks and, at the cover input, with the false covers; and in which the binding equipment is controlled by the electronic processing unit for forming the book blocks, by gluing the central portion of the backstrip of an entered false cover with a binding edge of an entered text block and refolding on the text block the pair of endpapers (33a, 33b), together with the lateral flaps of the backstrip glued to the paste down sheet. a book information detecting or setting device (55, 60, 52) for obtaining book data on the thickness of the text block to be bound; a false cover forming equipment for receiving and reciprocally positioning backstrips and pairs of endpapers (33a, 33b) and carrying out false covers; and an electronic processing unit for controlling the binding equipment and the false cover forming equipment as a function of said book data; in which each false cover is defined by a pair endpapers (33a, and 33b) and a backstrip in which the pair of endpapers (33a, and 33b) are sided to the central portion of the backstrip with the paste down sheets of the endpapers (33a, and 33b) glued to the lateral flaps of the backstrip; the false cover forming equipment is controlled by the electronic processing unit in response to the book data for arranging the folds of the endpapers (33a, and 33b) at a pre-assembling distance associated with the thickness of the text block and gluing respective margins of the paste down sheet close to the fold with the flaps of the backstrips; and the binding equipment is feedable, at the block input, with the text blocks and, at the cover input, with the false covers; and in which the binding equipment is controlled by the electronic processing unit for forming the book blocks, by gluing the central portion of the backstrip of an entered false cover with a binding edge of an entered text block and refolding on the text block the pair of endpapers (33a, 33b), together with the lateral flaps of the backstrip glued to the paste down sheet.