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Bookbinder

Teacher note: A number of students contributed to these pages on Colonial times. Each contributed deferent information or a different perspective. You may find that each article adds to your understanding and research base.

By Nazanine B. (2002)

The craft

The name of the business we are researching is bookbinding, which is the craft of making books by attaching the paper together and adding a cover. There are many steps to take to make a book that bookbinders have to do. The first step is to assemble the pieces of paper to their proper size. They should be folded into a 4 by 16 grid for each of the sheets, placed one on top of another and sewn together. The next step is to press down the paper with a heavy hammer to smooth and flatten, in order to make solid. Glue is placed on the spine of each signature (which is what a group or set of pages is called). A signature is a chunk odd numerous pages (4-16) sewn together. The third step is to lay all the signatures in the sewing press by aligning the chunks of paper in the middle of the press. The threads go through the spines of the signatures, attaching the signatures together, in chronological order. Then, the glue is placed on the first and last pages to cover boards to attach a cover. The fifth step taken for bookbinders is to apply dry leather lining to cover the boards with glue. The last step is to decorate; if you wish a design on the leather cover by using stamps and ink, this is the time to add it. Fancy paper is also used for the inside of the covers.

Tools of the trade

• Sewing frame- a plain frame to hold cords where the signature are sewn to two
• Finishing press- wooden blocks that are pushed together by turning screws
• Knocking up hammer- a heavy hammer used to flatter and solid papers and gives a “ round the back” look to the spine
• Trimming plough- trims paper as they go through the finishing press
• Hot glue pot- a pot used to heat the flexible glue used by bookbinders
• Brushes-a tool that spreads glue and uses paint to stain leather covers
• Leather tools- paring knifes, polishing tolls, trimming scissors, etc. As components of a book
• Book presses- a wooden, vertical press, which can press down the book to become whole
• Gliding tools- tools that add decorative designs on the book cover
• Paper
• Thread
• Surplus cords- the cords that hold the spine of the book together
• Cover boards- boards that cover a book
• Leather
• Stamps
• Wooden rollers
• Ink
• Fancy paper

Setting

Bookbinding can be a business in town in a shop, especially, in a large town or city like colonial Boston or Williamsburg. It would be in the center of town. Bookbinders usually work in towns because that's where everything is active and they will have more customers.

Required skills

The skills this person had to know was to be useful with their hands, to have patience, training, dedication, and they had to be organized. Bookbinders do need to know more than just the craft to run a business because they need to sell their product, which needs some kind of math knowledge, and they need to know how to advertise. Growing up watching the craft, they were assigned to an experienced craftsman. The person first got the skills by going through apprenticeship. At around the age of seven they stared apprenticeship. Then they continued to work until they reached the level of master craftsmanship.

In the community

The society depended on this craft for education purposes and knowledge. This craft was a luxury to the people in some areas of the country and a necessity in New England. It relaxed them and gave then something to do when they were bored. It was also necessary if you were going to be good in your church. It was mostly useful to the middle and upper class of people because they were taught to read. This craft was necessary to the society because it brought knowledge.

Today

This craft would be satisfying because it benefits society in educational purposes. This craft person might like doing this line of work because it has to have some skill dealing with your hands and creativity. Today book-publishing companies would do the art of bookbinding. We use bookbinding today but we have high tech machinery to bind the books for us.

Extra information

The craft of bookbinding was first located in Boston Massachusetts. The earliest settlers in Plymouth did it. It first came to the colonies of Boston when it started to develop. The resources needed for this craft were skilled manual labor, a shop and all the materials listed above. The construction of books was not widespread at first because it took a long process to produce and attack a lot of tolerance and persistence. As time went on the making of books was created in an easier way and the people started to become more educated. The Pilgrims and Puritans both believed that everyone needed to be able to read the Bible for himself. To do that, people needed their own copy of the Bible and the education to read. Thus there was an increase of the production of bookmaking and public schools. Men didn't do all the crafts, but men did a majority of the crafts.

The craft of bookbinding was a male job because it was his strength that was needed to work the heavy machinery. It was hard labor, but women could make the paper need for a book and they could sew the sections and spines together. Some examples of the crafts, which could be done either by women or men, are pottery, clothes making (tailor), and cooking (chef).

The sites I visited were:

• http://www.cs.uiowa.edu/jones/books/sew.html
• http;//palimpsest.stanford.edu/don/toc/dontoc-b.html

Bookbinder

By Courtney S.

The craft

Bookbinding is the craft of making books. The steps of bookbinding in the early settlements were long. First, you has to fold the paper into signatures. Each signature contains pages that were folded into sections made up by 4 by 16 rectangles. The signatures are put together and pressed down with a hammer or press to flatten the pages and solid the signatures. The signatures are sewn together at the spine by a sewing press or by hand in chronological order. Then, you glue the first and last pages of the book to cover the boards to keep the book straight. Next, you apply glue to the cover boards and add leather book covers. Finally, you would add decorations on the leather by stamps and ink.

Location and training

Bookbinders usually would do their craft in a shop, house, or barn. The first choice for a location would be a shop. Not only do you need skills with your hands, patience, training, being organized and having dedication but you need to be good at advertising to sell the books and good math skills. You get the training by being an apprentice and studying with a master of bookbinding.

Conclusion

The society benefited from bookbinding for educational purposes and being able to read when you relax. Only the people who could read benefited from this craft. Doing the craft today would be a lot easier because of the machinery. Doing the craft today would be more satisfying because more people can read and benefit from this craft. The craftsperson may like bookbinding because it gives you patience and helps with your skills with your hands. Today, publishing companies have big machinery so it isn't done with your hands. The craft first really began in Boston when the cities like Boston got bigger. The bookbinding basically manual labor. Woman could do a lot of this job that may be more physically strenuous. Now, books are much more popular to make when we got the machinery to bind them for us.

Tools of this Trade

• Sewing frame – a plain frame that holds the cords where the signatures are sewn together.
• Finishing press – two wooden blocks that are pushed together by screws
• Knocking- up hammer – a heavy hammer used to flatten and solid papers and give a “round the back” look.
• Trimming plough – trims papers as they go through the machine.
• Hot glue pot – a pot used to heat up and store the hot glue used by bookbinders
• Brushes – brushes used to spread glue and use paint to stain the leather.
• Leather tools – paring knives, polishing tools, trimming scissors, etc.
• Book pressing – a wooden vertical press which can press down the book to become whole.
• Gilding tools – tools that add decorative designs to the covers.
• Paper
• Thread
• Surplus cords – the cords that hold the signatures together.
• Cover boards – boards that cover the ends of the book
• Leather
• Stamps
• Wooden rollers
• Ink
• Fancy paper

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Bookbinding

Text By: Tim O. & Michael B.

Picture By: Teena E. & Aaron G.

The craft of bookbinding is a complicated craft which is done in a long process . A bookbinder takes all of the printers papers and beats them with a heavy hammer to make the sheets lie close. Then arrange them on a sewing frame and stitched together at the back fold with linen thread . As the bookbinder sews he loops the strands around thick hemp cross threads . The threads create a characteristic horizontal ridges across the spine , and unify the assembly . Then dyed leather was drown onto boards and glued to heavier endpaper to cover the volume . The covers of better books were made of fine leather that was tooled stamped and decorated with designs sometimes rendered in gold leaf .

The skills required for bookbinding is to be skillful with your hands . To be able to work with small materials , and to have patience . A person in the bookbinding craft must have had some kind of training in putting together a bookbinding and cover . They must must know how to sew and glue small pieces together . Bookbinding was needed because it was the only way of putting together important information in an orderly fashion . Books kept important government information along with knowledge . It was used for schools , colleges, and the government . And to expand the availability of books to the public .

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This site is created and maintained by Holly Geddes.
Last updated on March 12, 2003