Part 20 (1/2)

23. Letter by hand either with black or white ink as the case demands.

RE-SIDING

Many books which have been rebound with leather backs come to the binding department with the cloth sides badly frayed at the corners or edges. If the sewing is good and the book is clean, it is worth while to put on new sides.

1. Remove cloth sides and smooth off the inside of the board with a dull knife.

2. Cut two pieces of cloth a little larger than the sides.

3. Glue the inner surface of the cloth and place on the book, turning in the corners as described in 15 on page 187.

4. Put book in the press.

5. After book is dry, paste a single end paper over the inside of each cover.

REINFORCING

In Chapter 6 will be found a discussion of the advisability of purchasing books bound from the sheets or in reinforced publisher's covers. While it is advisable on the whole to have reinforcing done by regular library binders, the work can be done in large libraries that have proper equipment and labor. The essential principles of reinforcing are the same in all libraries that practice it, though they may differ as to minor details. The following method has proved satisfactory.

1. Remove the book from its cover, which is laid aside for future use.

If the call number is to be gilded it will be easier to do it before the cover is removed than after it is replaced.

2. Make end papers and fly-leaves of 60-pound kraft paper or 80-pound manila, guarded with jaconet on one side of the sheet. End papers should be guarded on the inside of the fold.

3. Oversew the fly-leaves to the first and last sections of the book, being careful that st.i.tches are not over one-eighth of an inch deep.

4. Sew the end papers to the fly-leaves which have just been oversewed, and paste fly-leaves and end papers together.

5. Apply a thin coating of flexible glue to the back of the book and put over it a piece of thin canton flannel cut as long as the book and wide enough to extend an inch on each side. This should be well rubbed down.

6. Paste the canton flannel which projects on the side to the end papers.

7. Glue one side of the book and place it on the proper side of the cover. Glue the side remaining uppermost and draw the cover up over it.

8. Rub both sides and back until sure that the glue is well forced into them.

9. If desired, the book may be given a coat of white sh.e.l.lac and one of varnish, after which it should be wiped with a paraffine cloth.

MAGAZINE OR PAMPHLET COVERING

1. Cut red rope manila cardboard the exact size of the two covers plus the width of the back.

2. Remove the cover of magazine or pamphlet, if possible keeping it in one piece.

3. Fit the red rope cover over the magazine, creasing carefully at the joints with a folder so that it will lie flat across the back as well as over the sides.

4. Glue the back of the magazine with flexible glue and press it firmly into the improvised cover. Rub down the back with a folder.

5. Thread a needle with stout linen thread and, using it double, at the middle of the book put the needle through from the inside to the outside. Leave about two inches of thread projecting on the inside.