Account Book Binding - A Classic Article on Folding, Sewing, Equipment and Other Aspects of Bookbinding

By W. M. Atkins

This book contains classic material dating back to the 1900s and before. The content has been carefully selected for its interest and relevance to a modern audience. Carefully selecting the best articles from our collection we have compiled a series of historical and informative publications on the subject of bookbinding. The titles in this range include "A History of French Bookbinding" "The Tools and Equipment of Bookbinding" "A Bookbinder's Guide to Sewing" and many more. Each publication has been professionally curated and includes all details on the original source material. This particular instalment, "Account Book Binding" contains information on folding, sewing, equipment and other aspects of bookbinding. It is intended to illustrate aspects of account book binding and serves as a guide for anyone wishing to obtain a general knowledge of the subject and understand the field in its historical context. We are republishing these classic works in affordable, high quality, modern editions, using the original text and artwork.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Read Books Ltd.
• Release date: Sep 13, 2016
• ISBN: 9781473357525

Book preview

ACCOUNT BOOK BINDING

STATIONERY binding is the term given to the binding of all books which are to be written in, and is an entirely separate section of the trade. To a large extent, loose-leaf books are replacing the sewn account books previously used, and many stationery binders are wisely adapting themselves to this class of work. Stationery binding includes the binding of manifold books, cheque and receipt books, and most of the miscellaneous work dealt with in the binding department of a printing office.

OVERLOOKING

The ruled sheets must be overlooked for imperfections before they are made up into sections for sewing. Damaged and badly ruled, or badly printed, sheets must be removed, and any that are only slightly soiled should be cleaned with india-rubber. The dark and light sides of hand-made paper should be faced, so that each opening of the book will be even in colour.

MAKING UP

During the process of binding, the blank fly-leaves of an account book are pasted up to the first and last ruled leaves, forming a stiff leaf at each end, and so two ruled pages are lost. For this reason an extra ruled sheet for each book must be allowed when making up. This, however, applies only to a book with a definite number of pages or folios, and in this case the index, endpapers, and paste-up sheets are extra, and must be added. The thickness of an account book as specified in quires denotes the total amount of paper to be used, and includes the index, endpapers, and paste-up sheets.

When there are several patterns of ruling in one book, a paste-up between each pattern must be allowed for, unless special catch-leaves have been ruled so that the pages will match. A large number of stiff leaves prevents a book from opening freely, and the use of catch-leaves is preferable if the extra cost of ruling is not found to be too