Practical Bookbinding. Paul Adam

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Practical Bookbinding - Paul Adam

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surface; the beginner had better not take too many sheets at one time, say from 20 to 25: these are moved to and fro between the palms of the hands so that the back fold and upper fold are worked in turn, and at these sides the sheets are brought into line.

      Knocking-up proceeds quickly if the sheets are handled lightly and freely. The single batches thus levelled are brought together and they in turn knocked up in the same way. Care must be taken that single sheets do not hang back, i.e., that all sheets come up to the levelled edge.

      The knocked-up sheets are counted off—thin paper in hundreds, thick paper in fifties. To do this any big lot is taken hold of with the right hand—one soon learns to judge the quantity to be taken by the fingers—by the fore-edge, giving the hand a turn so as to bring the backs uppermost, when the sheets will fan out at the back and thus make the counting an easy matter. The left hand counts—pardon, the head counts, but the left hand tells off the sheets in such a way that the middle and index fingers are alternately inserted in 4, 8, 12, 16, &c., whilst counting 1, 2, 3, 4, &c., and at the same time throwing over the sheets held. Every 25th lot of four sheets gives 100, and, of course, any other number you please can be counted in the same manner. Each lot is once more knocked up, placed in piles crosswise, and afterwards pressed.

      

Fig. 4—Lifting into the Press.

      The contrivance for pressing most generally used nowadays is still the bookbinder's little wooden hand-press, with wooden, or perhaps iron, screws; the former are lighter and handier, the latter heavier but more durable and therefore of advantage where heavy pressure is demanded. Each lot is placed between pressing-boards; these are about 1-1/2 cm. thick and vary in length and width according to the sheets or books to be pressed. According to the grain of the wood we speak of long and cross boards. On top of the upper and underneath the lower batch we place a cross board; it does not matter which way the grain runs in the other boards used. This precaution is taken to obviate the probable breakage when the cheeks of the press run parallel with the grain of the two outer pressing-boards.

      The pile of sheets between the pressing-boards is so placed that the nuts of the press are at first raised as high as the pile about to be pressed requires, then the press is put on the table to the right in front of the worker so that the head of one screw at the front touches the table edge. The pile is drawn on to the front edge of the table, the left hand slips underneath, and the chin presses on top. Whilst raising the upper cheek of the press with the right hand, the pile is inserted between the opened cheeks, is adjusted, and the press screwed up, first by the hand screws and then by the screw key used for this purpose. To do this the press with its high cheeks is held firmly between the legs and the nuts screwed up with the screw key as tightly as ever possible.

      

Fig. 5—Open sheets laid out for gathering.

      The sheets are taken just as they left the press and piled up side by side in a row in order of number on a long table, each pile of sheets in exactly the same position as the others and just as they would be placed for folding; that is to say, for 8vos the first signature at the bottom left-hand side underneath, the second signature being at the bottom right-hand side on the top.

      Generally the work is gathered in batches of 5-6 sheets. The sheets in question are then laid out (see Fig. 5).

      The worker takes a board the required size, upon which he places the sheets when gathered; he begins at No. 1 pile, takes off the top sheet, being very careful not to take two, lays it upon the board, and so he goes the length of the table, taking the top sheet from each pile. He lays the pile of gathered sheets on the end of the table or another table standing behind. They are there received by another worker, knocked up, and folded in the middle. If only one worker can be spared for the job, the gathered sections are placed to one side, but each is laid crosswise over the other so that they are easily picked up afterwards for knocking up and folding. If the work has more than five or six sections, the separately gathered sections must be afterwards again gathered in the same manner. Perhaps there may be placed in the last section parts of a sheet—the title, addenda, corrigenda, frontispiece, diagrams, &c. The treatment of these will be dealt with presently (pp. 22-24).

      Sheets so gathered must be afterwards opened out for folding in the bindery. The section is opened, the crease well pressed out, and the whole smoothed down quite flat, care being taken that all sheets lie the same way, the opened sections lying side by side according to the signatures.

      Before the folded sheets are arranged or gathered, there is frequently still some pasting to be done. The title, for instance, is seldom printed with the first sheet, but is usually made up with the preface, contents, &c., after printing the last page, often as part of the last sheet.

      On this account the last sheet must be examined before folding to see how it is composed. If it happens that the sheet is to be exactly halved, it is best to cut the sheet in the middle and fold each half separately. It is even worth while cutting the sheet into quarters if the sheets can be pinned on, because it is then possible to fold the cut sheets in lots of five or six and to draw out each one singly, as it is commonly called "pulling out."

      This pulling out is very easy work; each folded batch is separately opened in the middle, fanned out with a paper folder so that each sheet stands back about 1/2-1 cm. behind the other, and the batch folded together again; it would then appear as in Fig. 6.

      Fig. 6—Sections fanned out for drawing out.

      Take the batch lightly between the finger and the thumb of the left hand, and with the right draw off the sheets from the top one by one, knock them up, and firmly press down the back fold.

      Every part of a sheet which after folding makes less than four pages (equal to two leaves) must be pasted on. To do this the parts to be pasted are fanned out from the back with the pasting side uppermost, that is to say, the sheets are fanned out with the folder in the same way as described for "pulling out," until they lie like steps or stairs, each sheet displaying an edge of about 3 mm. In this manner all sheets so lie upon each other that each is about 3 mm. behind the one under it.

      The narrow margin is pasted; to avoid pasting more than the proper margin of the top sheet, a piece of waste paper should be laid on top at the right distance from the edge. Each leaf has thus a narrow pasted edge by which it is secured to the main sheet. So that the pasted edges do not stick together whilst each sheet is being fixed in its place, which, of course, takes time, the batch is taken between the fingers immediately after pasting, and by a few light movements the sheets are worked a little further apart.

      Fig. 7—Sections fanned out for pasting.

      Take the batch at A between the finger and thumb of the right hand, at B in the same way with the left; the upper leaves slip gently backwards if the right hand bends the batch lightly upwards so that the sheets are pushed to B, the left first allows the sheets to slip back and then holds them firmly so that the right may repeat this

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