Practical Bookbinding

Nowadays the bookbinder does not bind only those books given to him for this purpose as was the case in former years, for present conditions necessitate his undertaking many kinds of work which have little or nothing to do with the binding of books, particularly such as are connected with the making or finishing of printed matter and paper goods, or where pasting, gumming, and glueing are required, which, in their turn, are connected with paper and cardboard.

On the other hand, some branches of the bookbinder's craft have now become quite distinct, and have developed into special industries, and have so enlarged and extended that even their particular methods of working and technical terms have quite changed. Cardboard goods, leather goods, photo albums, maps, and even account-books are treated by particular firms as specialities.

As we must now keep within clearly defined limits, we shall treat here only the work of bookbinding proper as far as it is concerned with the making of the book for publisher, bookseller, and buyer, and also the making of account-books, whilst the other work given to the binder, commonly called "fancy goods," must be excluded. Editions de luxe, charters, illuminated addresses, &c., are likewise excluded, as they are quite apart from the ordinary work of the bookbinder, belonging solely to artistic bookbinding. When any such work is required the intelligent worker will not be at a loss; besides, he will derive ample assistance from the illustrations for this class of work.

The parts of this little book have been so arranged as to correspond to our present-day division of work: preparatory work, forwarding, covering, and finishing. In England and France the various processes have for a long time been similarly termed, and although in Germany we could not follow their lead without any deviation, because our method of work and division of labour are so different, yet the basis of this arrangement has been used in this book.

Every text-book has some drawback, the greatest of these being that a practical demonstration on the subject is more helpful than the most detailed written description, and yet even in the latter a text-book is limited. For the rest, I have tried to be as brief and clear as ever possible and to avoid faults which I have discovered in my former writings of a similar kind.

Paul Adam
Düsseldorf, Germany, 1898