SIMPLE BOOKBINDING.

Auckland Star, Volume XXXIV, Issue 3, 3 January 1903, Page 6

SIMPLE BOOKBINDING.

A great many people like to col-. lect- press cuttings, recipes, and odds and ends of interesting items, and, as a copy-book is the usual receptacle for them, it is obvious that the outside is not very durable; so, remembering the enormous number of cheap paper-covered reprints of novels that are now issued, guide books, cookery books and music albums coming under the same category, I think a few hints on simple home book-bind-ing may prove useful. Take your book, which we will imagine is an exercise book of ordinary size, and paste down the back of it over the cover a stout strip of unbleached calico or holland. When quite dry open it at the centre page and make three holes through the middle of the leaves and the calicoone in the middle, the other two. about one and a-half inches on either side, and stitch through these holes with fine twine, fastening it| securely on the outside. If the exer- j rise book is intended for extracts, do this before pasting them in, as it holds the book strongly together for you to work on it. Now take another strip of calico ' five inches wide and an inch shorter . than the book at each end. Fold this strip evenly over the back and sew it f. firmly to the calico already there; this leaves two loose flaps of calico On each side of the volume, the use of which I shall .presently explain.

The cover of the book must now be cut; stout millboard is best to use, but you can also utilise old blotting! pads. Cut the cover so that it project a little over the edgfes of the book, but remember to let it lie evenly at the back; be careful to have straight edges, and rule a line down the millboard at the point where the calico, ends when laid flat on the book.

Now make some strong glue, using vinegar instead of water to dissolve it; glue the calico flaps, also the millboard up to the marked line, andi lay the one upon the other, and when both sides are completed, place it undeT a heavy weight, or, better still, if available, into a linen press.

When the book has been left a suf-1

ficient time the back can be worked ! on, and this may be leather, kid, or I morocco, cut to exactly the length I of the book, leaving an inch or more on each side, to enable it to wrap over j well. Make a line where the leather ends on the millboard, and on the : i leather where the millboard first touches it, brush these spaces with glue, and press them together. Be very careful to glue only to the ruled • line, because when the book is finish-* ed -you ought to be able to look through it from end to end.