A Manual of the Art of Bookbinding. James B. Nicholson
of taste and lovers of the art in this country; and, in speaking of the productions of French artists, it is to these that we refer. As a binder, Lortic appears to be the least known; but he will probably become more so. Capé is rapidly growing into favour. Duru is celebrated for the excellence of his forwarding. In this respect he cannot be surpassed. The full morocco specimens that we have seen have generally been bound à la Janseniste, and were truly exemplars. In exterior gilding he is not so happy as some of his brethren. Niédré possesses fine taste; his styles of finishing are varied and graceful in design, and the execution admirable. The reputation of Trautz et Bauzonnet has been established principally by the senior partner, Bauzonnet, Trautz being his son-in-law, and whose name has recently been placed at the head of the firm, perhaps to anticipate others in claiming to be the inheritors of the skill, and pupils of his father-in-law's school. Bauzonnet's bindings combine excellence in every department. They are specimens of the art in its highest state, being solid, firm, and square in every portion of the forwarding department. The covering, joints, and inside linings are matchless. The finishing may safely be pronounced perfection, so far as any thing produced by human agency can be. In style of finishing he generally confines himself to modifications of the Grolier, or to a broad border, composed of fine tools; and in the tooling the execution is faultless. Those who are accustomed to English bindings are apt to find fault with the firmness of his backs, as they do not throw out like English loose backs; but this subject of loose backs is but little understood; for, when it is known that what is generally esteemed an excellence is often but an indication of weakness—that, in order to make the book throw out and lie open flat, the substance by which the sheets are secured together is a single strip of paper—and that, where the band upon which the book is sewn can be plainly seen upon the opening of the volume, there is a strain upon it, the result of which must be its breakage, if in constant use, (a catastrophe that will never happen to one of Bauzonnet's books,)—the firm back will be preferred. In tracing the progress of the Art, and upon comparing the merits of artists of ancient and modern times, it is to the moderns that we assign the palm of superiority, especially for perfection of detail in the ornamentation.
* "The antiquity of illuminated missals has been traced, conjecturally, even to the time of the apostles themselves. At the beginning of the Christian era, missive letters were usually written on tablets of wood, hollowed so as to present something of the appearance of a boy's slate in a frame. Two of these were placed face to face to preserve the writing, which was on wax, and a pair of boards thus prepared was called a Dyptich. The Epistles of St. Paul and the other apostles to the primitive churches were, in fact, missive letters despatched to their distant congregations; and there is every probability that imaginary or real portraits of the writers accompanied the letters, and headed the contents of the Christian dyptichs, in order to insure to them the same degree of reverence which was paid to the missives of the government when headed by the imperial effigies.
"The compact form of the dyptich suited the purposes of a movable altar-piece admirably. And the names dyptic or triptic, which implied at first but a double or triple page, came with time to designate those folding altarpieces so frequently found in the earliest Christian churches."—Lady Calcott's Essay.
† Leland's Itin. vol. ii. p. 86, Oxford, 1769.]
MANUAL
OF THE
ART OF BOOKBINDING.
PART I.
SHEET WORK.
As the gathering of the sheets of a book, after they have been printed and dried off, is nearly always performed at the printer's, it will not be necessary to enter into any details on that subject, but to consider, as the commencement of binding, the operation of
FOLDING,
which is of great importance, the beauty of a book depending on its being properly and correctly folded, so that, when it is cut, the margin of the different pages may be uniform throughout, and present no transpositions, to the inconvenience of the reader and deterioration of the work.
The various sizes of books are denominated according to the number of leaves in which the sheet is folded; as folio, quarto, octavo, 12mo, 16mo, 18mo, 24mo, 32mo, &c. Each form presents a certain number of pages, so disposed that, when the sheet is properly folded, they will follow the numeric order. In commencing the folding of any work, particular attention should be paid, in opening out the quires or sets, to observe that the signatures follow each other alphabetically, and, if consisting of two or more volumes, that the whole of the sheets belong to the right one.
Although each form is folded in a different manner, it will not be requisite to detail the whole, as a description of the octavo and twelvemo will amply furnish an idea of the proper way of folding the larger and smaller sizes.
Octavo.—The sheets being placed on the table with the signature, which will be seen at the bottom of the first page, turned towards the table at the corner nearest to the left hand of the workman, will present pages 2, 15, 14, 3, below, and above, with their heads reversed, pages 7, 10, 11, 6, (reading from left to right.) The sheet is then taken with the left hand, by the angle to the right, and creased with the folder in the right hand, in the direction of the points made in the printing, taking care, by shading to the light, that the figures of the pages fall exactly one on the other, which will be 3 upon 2, and 6 upon 7, and thereby presenting uppermost pages 4 and 13, and above 5 and 12. The top part of the sheet is then brought down, with the left hand, upon the lower, pages 5 and 12 falling upon 4 and 13, directed properly, and again folded. The sheet then presents pages 8 and 9, which are then folded evenly, 9 upon 8, forming the third fold and finishing the sheet.
Twelvemo.—The signature to this size, when placed before the workman, should be at the top, on his left hand, and towards the table, the sheet presenting pages 2, 7, 11; 23, 18, 14; 22, 19, 15; 3, 6, 10. On the right, pages 11, 14, 15, 10, are separated from the others by a larger space, in the middle of which are the points, indicating the proper place where the pages should be cut off. The folder detaches this part, and, placing page 11 upon 10, makes a fold, and 13 upon 12, which will be uppermost, finishes the folding of what is called the inset, and which bears the signature of the sheet it has been separated from, with the addition of a figure or asterisk, as A5 or A*. The remaining eight pages are folded in the same way as the octavo, and when done the inset is placed in the middle of it, taking care that the head-lines arrange properly.
Books are sometimes printed in what is called half sheets, but they are folded the same, after cutting them up; the octavo in the direction of the points, the twelvemo in oblong direction of the paper, and laying them apart from each other. There are also oblong octavos, which are folded in the middle in a line with the points, the second fold in the same direction between the heads of the pages, and the third on the length of the paper.
In the first fold of the octavo sheet is shown the manner of folding the folio, and in the second the quarto; the twelvemo also presents us with the eighteens, after the sheet is cut into three divisions. Little or no difficulty will be experienced in folding any other size that may occur, attention to the disposition of the pages and signatures being only required.
It will often be found necessary to refold a book which, previous to being bound, may have been done up in boards, sewed, or otherwise. This should in all cases be carefully attended to, after the book has been taken to pieces, the back divested of the glue and thread, and the corners or other parts which may have been doubled turned up. This is usually done by examining if the margin at the