FAN GLUEDPERFECT BINDING

JOHN KAY

Photographs Plagiarisedfrom various places on thenet

Traditional Book binding in sections

The Hardback BookThis has traditionally been made with hard (board) covers and sewn together insections, the purists stick to this method of production but it has largely beensuperseded by the paperback book. This was at first sewn in section like thehardback book and the thin card cover stuck on around it but it has been largelyreplaced by the perfect bound paperback, held together entirely by glue.

The Parts of the Book

Here is a diagram which gives the usual terms that Bookbinders use.

Other TermsA Section

Part of the traditionally made book formed by folding a much larger sheet than thedimensions of the final book, the number of folds determines how the section is described.

Head

Head

Back or Spine

Tail

Fore Edgeor Fly

Section

Holes for sewing

If the sheet is folded once the section is described as Folio.(2 leaves, 4 pages)

If the sheet is folded twice the section is described as Quarto.(4 leaves, 8 pages)

If the sheet is folded four times the section is described as Octavo.(8 leaves 16 pages)

The sheer difficulty of folding the sheet more than four times means that Octavo is thelargest number of folds any sheet can be easily subjected to without cutting.

There is another term called hexadecimal (16mo. for short, 16 leaves 32 pages) but thisis usually obtained by cutting larger sheets.

When commercially printed the pages are ‘imposed’ (put into the correct position so thatwhen the sheet is folded the pages will appear in their correct order within the section).

For all practical purposes Quarto and Octavo are probably the most common sizes forsections.

In the days of hand bookbinding, folded sections were stitched together by hand, usuallyby girls and women and then handed over to the bookbinder who then made them intoa book.

The order usually was printing, folding sewing collating of the sections, sewing, gluingthe spine, adding endpapers, trimming the foredges and tail fixing the boards and finishing.

Originally the head of a book was left untrimmed so that the first buyer of the book wouldknow that they were the first to read that copy. The tops of the sections would then haveto slit by the buyer so that the book could be read. This practice was quite common untilthe 1930s until paperbacks (Penguin) books first appeared when it fell into disuse except

TapesSection

Joined tonextSection

for expensive handmade editions. After the start of World War II when the raw material(wood) became scarce in England strict paper regulations came into force and uncutbooks were history.

Bookbinders Mull

This is an open weave cotton material which is used to strengthen books, it is usuallystarched for easy handling and cutting. The open weave is so that glue can easily bind itto the book.

Boards

These normally consist of stiff card, occasionally wood which form the covers of ahardback book.

Text Block

When all the the pages are held together to form the main part of the book they are referredto as a Text Block.

Endpapers

These are pages, usually of a different colour from the text pages which are part of thelink between the spine and the Text Block.

Perfect Binding

Paper for Bookbinding

The first thing you have to know about paper suitable for home Bookbinding is that allpaper that is mould made (that is made by machine and a continuous process) has adefinite grain.

You can test this by taking an ordinary piece of computer A4 80 lb. paper and by holdingthe two sides testing its ability to fold. You'll find that it will more easily fold by holdingit by the two long sides of the sheet and moving your hands together. If you hold it bythe short sides bringing your hands together you will find that the curve of the fold willnot be as great and will give more resistance to the movement.

Using this method is possible to test any sheet of paper to find the actual grain. To makea successful book which opens naturally you must ensure that they grain direction isparallel to the spine.

Because most A4 papers have the grain running lengthwise, do not ever think that youcan make a successful book or booklet by folding these in half. It will never open properly.

One way that this is possible and that is by a special purchase of paper that is cut froma sheet which is made as a full A1 size and not (as is usual) from a sheet which wasoriginally A0 size.

The only way I have done this so far is by contacting a major paper merchant who knowsabout his stock. It is always possible to cut down a full sheet of A4 to the size you wantbut this is quite wasteful.

I have managed to find sources for A4 sheets with “short Grain” ( paper which will foldto form A5 sheets with the grain going the proper way.

Falkiners supply sheets of this type, albeit at a premium price, but it is very good quality.

http://store.falkiners.com/store/category/92/565/A4-Ready-To-Bind-Paper/

I have also found that Xerox produce recycled A4 short grain paper. Many web paperstockists have these, before you order these make sure that the manufacturer’s part numberis the same as the item stocked. Also check that the supplier knows and confirms that

the paper is A4 short grain. You don’t want to find that you have ordered 4 reams of thewrong kind of paper for your purposes.

A further possibility is to cut down a suitable A3 sheet with short grain these are suppliedby Fuji although again you have to buy three reams at a time.

Most papers that you can print on using an inkjet printer our suitable for home Bookbinding.You have to be careful with papers from a laser printer. It is possible to print on Art Paper(paper which has a surface finished with china clay, it is usually shiny and it is designedfor fine photographic printing). This is not usually recommended for Fan Gluing byprofessional Bookbinders, although I personally have not found any difficulty with thisin the past, I have avoided the very shiniest of papers.

Perfect BindingNowadays there are two kind of perfect binding, hard (or stiff) spine or flexiblespine. The rigidity of a hard spine does not allow the spine to move at all whenthe book is opened, therefore it is unlikely to be able to be fully opened flat. Somepaperbacks, usually early ones were bound in this fashion. I believe that the bestway to perfect bind a book is to adhere to the flexible spine conformation andthis is achieved by using the fan gluing method.

It’s better to start with some sort of press, it doesn’t have to be fancy and you don’thave to be any skilled person to make this kind of simple press.

The sizes will depend on the size and thickness of the pages you want to bind but the

most versatile will accommodate A4 lengthwise. Having said that, the one I use will onlysuit A5 but I do have a bookbinders lying press if I want to bind larger ones.

A Friend kindly obliged and made me this useful gadget from two pieces ofMDF and two dowels, you can use it successfully as a book press by putting itinto a Workmate.

You carefully arrange the pages together and making sure they are in thecorrect order and also that you have the spine uppermost you clamp themtogether. If the book is not too thick two bulldog clips will hold it until you get

it into the press.

Once you clamp it up so that it projects for about half its length you areready to glue it up.

Glues

It is essential to use the most flexible PVA glue you can get hold of.

It is better not to use PVA glue formulated for sticking wood together as thesetend to be too stiff for book purposes. Go for the stuff recommended for Craftor Library use.

I use Rosco Flexbond. It is quite dear and only stocked by Flint Hire andSupply. They are suppliers of this US product to the theatre scenery people.Therefore the smallest quantity supplied is 3 litres. It really is beautifullyflexible and well worth the money.

http://www.flints.co.uk/acatalog/Rosco_Flexbond.html

Most PVA glues which are PH negative are usually good, here is another thatwould be suitable, Lineco:http://www.amazon.co.uk/Neutral-PVA-Adhesive-227g-Bottle/dp/B004JNLP7G

and Flexibind:

h t t p : / / w w w . a m a z o n . c o . u k / F L E X I - B I N D - B o o k - R e p a i r - A d h e s i v e -240ml/dp/B003ZTP1J8/ref=pd_sim_sbs_office_3

Here you can see a rather sophisticated press solely designed for fan gluing but it doesn’thave to be this complex, it does however show how the pages are bent over and glued.

The pages are pushed to one side to fan them out slightly and fully coated using a brush..

The pages are then pushed over the opposite way and glued again, this ensures the eachleaf has a small fraction of its width glued on each side.

The pages are then straitened up and fine cloth or mull is used to ease the pagestogether, a little more glue is added to the spine to fully include the cloth as partof the spine.

You may then add endpapers to the text block if you didn’t include them before with thetext pages and maybe form a hinge for the board cover.

The picture below shows how flexible the spine is allowing the book to be opened flatwithout the danger of losing pages.

Another useful addition is an electric iron, this can come in very handy for attaching clothto books which have been prepared by covering the boards with two or three coats of PVAglue and allowing the glue to fully dry. Pieces of cloth cut to the right size may then befirmly attached to the book’s cover by applying a hot iron to them and ironing them inplace..

If you intend binding many books, another tool that I find invaluable is a hand guillotine.This makes sure that your cutting is as accurate as possible and is especially necessary ifyou happen to be cutting A4 sheets in two as you would when, having printed a publicationfrom PagePlus as a Booklet you wish to fan bind it as an A5 book. The fence is mostimportant to ensure that each page is cut to exactly the same size. Don’t buy any guillotinethat does not have a substantial one.

Here’s a standing press I made using hardwood, aluminium tubing, studding and a screwintended for making a woodworking bench vise. Useful for keeping books under pressurewhile the glue is drying.