Hardback (cased) bookbinding

As in paperback binding, the process starts with the sectioi being folded and collated. Then the endpapers are glued on the first and last sections. Where the paper is strong enough, 'se! endpapers' (usually known as 'self-ends') are used; in other words, the first page of the first section and the last page of the la section act as endpapers and are glued down to the case.

If the book has plates printed on a different paper to the te? these can be incorporated either as sections of 8, 16 or 32 page or as 'wraps and inserts', where four or more pages are wrapped around the outside or inserted into the centre of a section. The latter process is more expensive, but spreads the plates more evenly through the book. More expensive still, and consequently little used today, is 'tipping in' where a plate is printed on a sing! separate leaf and fixed to a text page by pasting along one edge.

The books are then sewn, as described above. The next operation is 'lining', where a strip of paper or linen (mull) is glue to the spine to help reinforce the joint when the case is applied. Head- and tailbands (folded strips of plain or striped cloth inserted at the top and bottom of the spine beneath the lining) can be applied at this stage; these do not really add any strength to the book, but look attractive and cover up the tops of the sections. The book block can then be left with a flat spine ('flat back' or 'square back¹) or can be rounded and backed. The rounding and backing operation gives a firm grip to the sections and helps to prevent the middles of the sections dropping forward.

The book block is then cased-in; that is, it is glued into the case and pressed to make it firm and flat. Jackets, if required, are then wrapped around the book; this can be done by hand or machine.

Although many hardback books are still sewn, an increasing number are perfect or burst bound, as the strength of these techniques improves. Another technique used is 'thread-sealing', where, instead of sewing, plastic threads are inserted through the

spines of the sections to hold the pages together and the book block is glued at the spine to hold the sections together.

Casemaking and blocking For hardback books, the case made separately on a casemakmg machine. This wraps cloth or imitation cloth around the three pieces of board (front, spin back) and glues it to make the case. Often the cloth is pi colour, but it can also have a design printed on it.

Blocking is the method used to stamp such things as the title and publisher's imprint on the spine and sometimes the front of the case. A 'brass' is made — very often reproducing part jacket artwork. The brass (there is a cheaper version called a Chemac) has the image area raised above the background rather like a letterpress block. On the blocking machine, the brass is heated and pressed through metallic or coloured foil the case.

Hand binding De luxe or very limited editions are bound by hand, using leather or real cloth (as opposed to imitation). '. all the operations described above for cased binding are carried out by hand, even down to the title on the spine being blocked one letter at a time. There is a shortage of skilled labour in this area and good craft binders are much in demand.

Exercises :