Binding of books in colonial times was a much different process than what we see today. Have you ever heard of the old saying … “Don’t judge a book by it’s cover!”? Well, that phrase can be credited to the bookbinding trade of before the colonial days. Printing and bookbinding, until more recent times, were considered two different trades and were seldom even under the same roof or ownership.

      The printed text of a book would be produced by a printer, the signatures folded and gathers into the book group and then either wrapped in paper, or given a temporary false cover. The book buyer in Europe would often purchase the text of the book from a printer or stationer and then take it to a bookbinder to have it bound. Now, here is where that saying comes from. Depending on the amount of money the buyer could spend would decide on just what leather and how much decorations were made on the book. Therefore, the exact same text may be found in a very inexpensive cover or in an elaborate and expensive cover. So, to look at the fanciness or simple ness of the cover can not tell you of the quality of the insides.

 

      The process of bookbinding can be summed up in a few simple expressions:

 

      1.) The signature (a group of pages folded from a single or multiple sheets of paper into a single group) is sewn onto a binder’s tape or cord.

      2.) The sewn signatures are knocked up (jogged), compressed and glued with a flexible glue.

      3.) The text is then trimmed on a finishing press and plough.

      4.) Cover boards are applied to the sewed tapes or cords.

      5.) Leather is applied to the outside of the boards with glue and then wrapped around the boards to the inside.

      6.) The “end-sheets” are then glued down covering the over-lapped leather.

 

      Sound simple, but it really isn't. It is an art that takes training, mentoring and experience to master. It is such an art, that true book collectors will often purchase a book not for its content or the printer who printed it, but for the artist who bound the book together.

 

      The materials a colonial bookbinder needed to ply his trade were few. Wood and pressed fiber board for the hard covers, a quality supply of calf or pig skin leather, a recipe for a hot melt flexible glue, leather stain, linen or silk thread, and his tools. This simple list of raw materials is deceiving. In all actuality, the raw materials could only transform folded paper into a book by the hand of a skilled worker. These workers, often women for the sewing of signatures and men for other functions, took less strength than a printer needed, but they needed a more artistic eye and slow patience.

 

      Their tools needed to complete a single book included:

      Sewing Frame—A simple frame to hold the stretched cords to which the signatures are sewn to.

      Finishing press—Two large wooden blocks that are compressed together by turning two wooden screws. Once a book is pressed in this, the edge of the book can be decorated or the spine can be glued.

      Knocking-up hammer—A special hammer needed to “knock-up” or jog the paper to create a neat block of text. The hammer is also used to “round the back” of the spine. This action spreads the spine giving a rounding effect.

      Trimming plough—On a finishing type press, a book is “knocked-up” and the excess is trimmed off with a plough that slides back and forth slowly slicing off the excess paper.

      Hot glue pot—The best flexible glues had to be heated to be spread. This special pot has an outer pot to hold water and an inner pot to hold the glue. As the water heated, the glue would melt and then spread on the book.

      Brushes—Needed to spread the glue or to paint the stain onto the leather.

      Leather tools—Paring knives, polishing tools, trimming scissors and others were needed to prepare the leather to be applied to the book cover.

      Book presses—These vertical presses (wooden in colonial times) could compress the book as a whole to aide in the application of the leather cover and end sheets.

      Gilding tools—The gold decoration found on most books is applied to the leather by means of brass or bronze tools that had these decorative images engraved into them. When heated and gold leaf applied, these tools left the gold embedded into the leather for a lasting and decorative design to the leather.