The earliest known
books were written on dried, treated leaves and sewn together. Before this,
there were scrolls, but since I’m focusing on bookbinding, I’m starting with the
invention of pages being held together on one side.
BOOK = a
written or printed work consisting of pages glued or sewn together along one
side and bound in covers.
For this post,
I’ll be focusing on that “glued or sewn together along one side” bit.
Once the
written word transitioned from scrolls to flat pages, a binding method was
needed to keep the pages together and in order.
Back when
monks copied individual books by hand, books were also bound by solely hand,
sewing the pages together. This process was very time consuming. So not many
books were made, and those that were could only be afforded by the wealthy.
Another
method for reproducing books was by using carved wooden blocks. A drawing or
page of words was carved into a block of wood—backward of course—inked up then
printed onto paper of some sort. The same group of pages could be printed over
and over, relatively quickly. As compared to hand copying each page. Carving
the blocks took a long time. One slip and the whole block would need to be
started over. The larger sheet of paper was cut into pairs of pages and groups
of pages were folded together to form a signature.
This is a picture
of a small journal, but the signatures are very defined.
This is sewn
together with a pamphlet stitch that goes right through the cover spine.
Most often these are straight on the outside, but this one is a little fancier with the outside stitches crossing.
Most often these are straight on the outside, but this one is a little fancier with the outside stitches crossing.
A regular
book is sewn differently with a kettle stitch. The signatures are stacked and
held together in a long wooden vise. Several grooves are cut into the folded
edges of the collection of signatures. These grooves allow a thin cord to sit
recessed there from one signature to the next. Then the signatures are sewn to
the cord and each other.
 |
| Image by Tomas Astobiza from Pixabay |
The middle of each signature looks like this.
Here you can see the threads that go between the signatures, linking them together.
Here is the spine edge of the signatures in a regularly bound book.
See how the
spine curves.
This is not
by accident. The folded edge of a signature is always thicker than the cut
edges. Once all the signatures are sewn together, the whole bundle is put into
a long vice with only the folded edges sticking out a ¼” or so. Then a mallet
is used to beat the folded edges into this kind of curve. Where the first and
last signatures fan out beyond the flat part of the pages is nestled into the
gap between the thickness of the cover board and spine board. You can see this
in the picture above.
Once the
spine is sewn and pounded into shape, glue is applied and various layers of
fabric and paper are added. Some of the paper, as well as the ends of the thin cords,
extends beyond the spine to allow it to be glued to the cover-boards.
Here you
can see the fabric and some layers of paper.
At the top of
the spine, a cording is created with two or three colors of thread. This helps
protect the spine.
On the above book, white and golden colors were used. The one below has green and gold. The layers of paper and fabric that had been glued to this spine are also visible.
With the
advent of the printing press in 1439, books could be more quickly produced, so the
demand for binding books rose dramatically.
Before the
1820s, most books were sold unbound by the publisher. Instead, they were sold
to customers in paper wrappers or to booksellers with a simple binding. Seriously,
you would order Romeo and Juliet and
a stack of papers would arrive. Then, if you wanted your book bound, you would take
it to your local bookbinder to have it stitched together and a cover of your
choice put on it. So one person could choose a green leather cover with one
kind of ornamentation and their neighbor down the street could have a blue
cover with different decorations on it. Same book, different covers. No uniformity.
This video
shows the process of bookbinding.
As
modernization improved, some of the steps in binding a book that were done completely
by hand became semi-automated. Where once the front, top, and bottom edges were
shaved down even with a hand tool could now be cut by a machine more quickly.
Machines were invented to assist in the sewing and other aspects of the
process, making bookmaking faster and cheaper.
This video
shows the differences between earlier bookbinding with hand tools and later
with some modernization.
As flexible glues improved, book pages could be cut as single sheet, not needing to be folded, and the spine edge be completely glued together with no sewing. With gluing, there wasn’t a need for the spine to be rounded to accommodate the folds that were now eliminated.
Today, most
all paperbacks are glued as single sheets, those that don’t have some sort of a
ring or coil binding. Hardbacks can be glued or sewn.
Go to your
bookshelves and see what you have. Looking at the end of the spine at the top or
bottom should allow you to see if the book has signatures or single sheets.
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MARY DAVIS is a bestselling, award-winning novelist of over two dozen titles in both historical and contemporary themes. Her 2018 titles include; "Holly and Ivy" in A Bouquet of Brides Collection, Courting Her Amish Heart, The Widow’s Plight, Courting Her Secret Heart, and “Zola’s Cross-Country Adventure” in The MISSAdventure Brides Collection. Her 2019 titles are Courting Her Prodigal Heart, The Daughter's Predicament and "Bygones" in Thimbles and Threads. She is a member of ACFW and active in critique groups.
Coming June 2020! The Damsel's Intent book 3 in the Quilting Circle series.
A hermit comes down from the mountains to snag a husband.
Coming June 2020! The Damsel's Intent book 3 in the Quilting Circle series.
A hermit comes down from the mountains to snag a husband.
Mary lives in the Pacific Northwest with her husband of over thirty-four years and two cats. She has three adult children and two incredibly adorable grandchildren. Find her online at:
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