antichlor

A substance used in removing the remaining traces of free chlorine or hypochlorite not removed from a paper pulp by washing. Typical antichlors include sodium bisulfite (NaHSO3) and sodium thiosulfite (Na2S2O3). The antichlor is usually added to the pulp stock near the end of the bleaching stage, and is allowed to react until no blue coloration is obtained with a potassium-starch indicator. This removes the last traces of hypochlorous acid, hypochlorite ion, and free chlorine. The reaction products are then washed out. Antichlors are seldom used in multistage bleaching operations, as they are considered to be wasteful of bleaching agents.

Casey, James P. Pulp and pa per: chemistry and chemical technology. 2nd ed. New York. Interscience. 1960-61. 3 vol.


antifoam agents

See: DEFOAMERS.

Bookbinding and the Conservation of Books: A Dictionary of Descriptive Terminology

US Government publication (Library of Congress), published openly in electronic edition by CoOL. Not a Gutenberg/pre-1930 public-domain text -- verify rights before reprinting rather than quoting.


antimony

A metalloid element (Sb) that is usually a metallic silvery white, but is also found in the black amorphous form. It has been used since at least the late 17th century to blacken the edges of books, especially Bibles, prayer books, and the like. See also: BLACK EDGES.


antique

A term used to describe: 1) BLIND TOOLING; 2) a marble pattern (See: ANTIQUE MARBLE); 3) a form of edge decoration (See: ANTIQUE EDGES); 4) leather finished with an old or natural grain- and 5) a paper with a natural rough surface or finish. See: ANTIQUE BOOK PAPER.


antique binding

1. A modern binding executed in the style of some earlier period, but generally with no intent to deceive. See also: CONTEMPORARY BINDING (2). 2. See: ECCLESIASTICAL BINDINGS.


antique book paper

A book paper generally produced in the United States from bleached chemical wood pulp with a large amount of short-fibered pulp and given a soft, relatively rough finish. In Great Britain it is produced largely from ESPARTO (GRASS) pulp. Antique book paper varies from lightweight to relatively heavy weight; 60 pound, basis weight antique bulks approximately 330 pages to the inch. Many books, and particularly novels, are printed on this type of paper, especially those containing only textual matter and/or bold line drawings. Antique papers generally are not suitable for fine line drawings or half-tone illustrations.

American Paper and Pulp Association. The dictionary of paper, including pulp, paperboard, paper properties and related papermaking terms. 3rd ed. New York. American Paper and Pulp Association. 1965.


antique cover paper

A cover paper with an antique finish.


antique edges

A further embellishment of the edges of a book following gilding. It involves applying gold of a different hue, e.g., LEMON gold, over the gilded edge, with the design being worked into the overlaid gold; the untouched (new) gold then is rubbed off. Sometimes the effect of antique edges is produced without the designs if the original gold is left unburnished, or is burnished and then washed with water. The technique is seldom employed today. See also: GAUFFERED EDGES.

Nicholson, James B. A manual of the art of bookbinding… Philadelphia. Baird. 1856.

Vaughan, Alexander J. Modern bookbinding; a treatise covering both letterpress and stationery branches of the trade…New ed. London. Skilton. 1960.


antique grain

A surface pattern on leather consisting of markings or creases, usually irregular, in which the hollows or valleys are given a contrasting color to produce a two-tone or two-color effect. The creases are produced either by EMBOSSING (1) or BOARDING (1).

British Standards Institution. British standard glossary of leather terms. B. S. 2780: 1956. London. British Standards Institution.


antique marble

A series of marble patterns executed by dropping red, black 7 and yellow, or red, blue and yellow, on the marbling size, and raking once up and down; this is followed by an application of green coloring and, if the pattern is to be an antique spot, pink or green spots. Finally, there is a sprinkling of white. Other colors are also used. The antique marble is produced in a variety of patterns, including spots, straight, and curled.

Woolnough, Charles W. The whole art of marbling as applied to paper, book edges…Rev. ed. London. Bell. 1881.


antique tooling

See: BLIND TOOLING.


APOSTROPHE

An apostrophe, marked thus ’, is used to abbreviate or shorten a word: as, ’tis for it is; tho’ for though; e’en for even; judg’d for judged. Its chief use is to show the genitive case of nouns: as, “A man’s property; a woman’s ornament.”—Murray.

Authors frequently, in the hurry of writing, abbreviate their words and use the apostrophe; but a compositor, however his copy may be written, should never abbreviate any word in prose works, except he be particularly ordered so to do.

The apostrophe is also used in printing to close an extract, or to show where it finishes; and in dialogues, frequently, to close each person’s speech; in both cases it is usually put close to the end of the word, without any space before it, except where the word finishes with a kerned letter, and then a hair space, or one just sufficient for their preservation is used; when it comes after an ascending letter, a hair space should also be put between them. See Quotation.

The apostrophe is not used for abbreviation in the Holy Scriptures, nor in Forms of Prayers; but every thing there is set full and at length. To this even the Latin law language had regard, and did not shorten the word Dominus, when it had reference to God; whereas Dom. Reg. is put where our Lord the King is understood.

Applegath, Augustus. See Machines.

Public domain (Project Gutenberg, pre-1930 text)


apparent density

The weight per unit volume of a sheet of paper. It is calculated by dividing the BASIS WEIGHT of the paper by its caliper. The value so derived depends upon the definition of a ream, i.e., whether 480, 500, 516, etc., sheets. See also: DENSITY; SPECIFIC GRAVITY.


apparent specific gravity

The weight of a given volume of leather divided by the weight of an equal volume of water, making no allowance for voids or air spaces in the volume of leather measured. See also: SPECIFIC GRAVITY.

Wilson, John Arthur. Modern practice in leather 367. manufacture. New York. Reinhold. 1941.


appliqué work

A design on EMBROIDERED BINDINGS consisting of spirals in gold and silver which, when flattened, give the appearance of a series of rings. They were sometimes used as a border. When the applique was not very large, a variation was to make a series of small stitches along all edges, masking the stitches with an overlaid gold cord.

Davenport, Cyril James Humphries. English embroidered bookbindings. London. Kegan Paul, Trench, Trubner. 1899.


apron

1. The lower cloth on a ruling machine that carries the ruled sheets from the lower cords to the lay-boy or receiving box. 2. The extra amount of unprinted paper left to serve as the binding edge of a leaf that folds out. See a1so: FULL APRON.


aqua regia

A mixture of nitric acid (HNO3) and hydrochloric acid (HCl), in a solution of one part of the former to three parts of the latter. Aqua regia was used in making so-called "killed spirits," largely in the 18th century, to impart a wine-like tint to red marbling color. The "killed spirits" were produced by adding a block of tin to the acid solution, which resulted in the formation of tin chloride (HNO3 + HCl + Sn = SnCl + NO2 + H2O)

Hannett, John. Bibliopegia; or, the art of bookbinding… London. Simkim, Marshall. 1848.


aqueous

Containing water, or water based. Adhesive systems such as starch, dextrin, natural gums, animal glue, etc., as well as some inks, certain deacidification systems, leather tannins, bleaching solutions, and the like that use water as the carrier are aqueous systems.


arabesque

A relatively old form of book decoration, revived by French gilders and reintroduced into England in about 1829. It consists of interlaced lines and convoluted curves arranged in a more or less geometrical pattern. The name derives from the fact that it was brought to its highest perfection by Near Eastern artists. The term is also used to describe a style of ornamentation in relief, consisting of fanciful human or animal figures combined with floral forms. Arabesque is also sometimes inappropriately applied to the embossed designs on book covers.

Jamieson, Eleanore. English embossed bindings, 1825-1850. Cambridge. Cambridge University Press. 1972.

Uzanne, Louis Octave. The French bookbinders of the eighteenth century. Translated by Mabel McIlvaine. Chicago. Caxton Club. 1904.


arabesque plates

Solid brass plates cut, usually in intaglio, with a design and imprinted on a leather cover by means of a blocking press, or large fly embossing press.


Arabesque Style

A fanciful mixture of animals, birds, insects, and of plants, fruits and foliage, involved and twisted.


ARABIC

Arabic is read from right to left. The method of composing it is upside down, and after the points are placed at the top of the letters it is turned in the composing stick.

Mr. Astle says, “The old Arabic characters are said to be of very high antiquity; for Ebn Hashem relates, that an inscription in it was found in Yaman, as old as the time of Joseph. These traditions may have given occasion to some authors to suppose the Arabians to have been the inventors of letters; and Sir Isaac Newton supposes, that Moses learned the alphabet from the Midianites, who were Arabians.

“The Arabian alphabet consists of twenty-eight letters, which are somewhat similar to the ancient Kufic, in which characters the first copies of the Alcoran were written.

“The present Arabic characters were formed by Ebn Moklah, a learned Arabian, who lived about 300 years after Mahomet. We learn from the Arabian writers themselves, that their alphabet is not ancient.”

Seven different styles of writing are used by the Arabs in the present day. Herbin has given descriptions and specimens of them in an Essay on Oriental Caligraphy at the end of his “Développemens des Principes de la Langue Arabe Moderne.”

The alphabets are copied, and the following observations are translated, from Baron De Sacy’s Arabic Grammar, 2 vol. 8vo. Paris, 1831.

7. It was long thought that the written character which the Arabs most generally use at the present day, and which is called neskhi, was invented only about the commencement of the 4th century of the Hegira; and, indeed, it appears that the Arabs, before this epoch, used another character which we call Cufic, or Coufic, from the town of Coufa, where, doubtlessly, it first was brought into use. This character has so great a resemblance to the ancient Syriac character called Estranghelo, that it is extremely probable that the Arabs borrowed it from the people of Syria. Nevertheless, even the name of Coufic, given to this character, proves that it is not that which the Arabs of the Hedjaz made use of in the time of Mohammed, the town from which it takes its name having been founded only in A. H. 17. Some papyri lately discovered in Egypt have apprised us that the character which the Arabs of the Hedjaz made use of in the 1st century of the Hegira, differed little from that which is called neskhi. Moreover, in the time of Mohammed, writing was, among these Arabs, if we may believe their historic traditions, an invention very recent, and its use was very circumscribed. But it was otherwise, according to all appearances, among the Arabs, whether nomadic or settled, of Yemen, of Irak, and perhaps of Central Arabia; for, although we do not know the characters which the Arabs made use of in very ancient times, and the few traditions which Mussulman writers have handed down to us on this subject throw but very little light on this point of antiquity, it is scarcely possible to imagine that all the people of Arabia should have remained without a written character until the 6th century of the Christian era. The Jewish and the Christian religions were widely diffused in Arabia; the Ethiopians, who professed the latter faith, had even conquered Yemen, and retained its possession for a long while: another part of Arabia had frequent political relations with Persia, and it is found at many times in a state of dependence, more or less immediate, on the kings of the Sassanian dynasty. Under these circumstances, can it be reasonably supposed that the Arabs were ignorant of the use of writing? Is it not more likely that what history tells us of their ignorance in this respect is true only of some tribes, of those, for example, who were settled at Mecca or in the neighbourhood of that town; and that the character which these received from Mesopotamia, a short time previous to Mohammed, having been employed to write the Kurán, soon spread over all Arabia with the Mohammedan religion, and caused the other more ancient sorts of writing to fall into desuetude? It is true, no vestige of these characters remains, but if one may be permitted to hazard a conjecture, they did not materially differ from that ancient alphabet, common to a great many nations of the East, and of which the Phœnician and Palmyrenian monuments, as well as the ruins of Nakschia-Roustam and of Kirmanschah, and the coins of the Sassanides, have perpetuated the knowledge even to our own days. Perhaps another sort of writing, peculiar to Southern Arabia, was only a variety of the Ethiopic.

8. The Arabs of Africa have a character differing slightly from that made use of by the Arabs of Asia. I do not comprehend, among the Africans, the inhabitants of Egypt, for they use the same character as the Asiatics. For the sake of comparison I have shown the manner in which the Jews and Syrians employ their peculiar character when they are writing in the Arabic language.

I do not speak here of the character called talik تعلیق or nestalik نستعليق, because it is peculiar to the Persians. I may say as much of the different kinds of writing proper to the Turks or to the people of India, among whom the Mussulmans of Persia have introduced their characters with their language and religion.

Arabic Alphabet.—The Neskhi Character.

Key to Column Headers—   OL - Order of the letters.   NL - Names of the Letters.   U   - Unconnected.   JP - Joined to the preceding Letter only.   J   - Joined to the preceding and following Letter.   JF - Joined to the following Letter only.   PL - Powers of the Letters.   NV - Numerical Value.

Harmonical Alphabet, Arabic, Hebrew, and Syriac.

Observations on the Alphabet.

9. The letters of the Arabic alphabet have not always been arranged in the order in which they are at the present day. The Arabs themselves have preserved the remembrance of a more ancient order, and the value which they give to the letters when they are employed as figures, confirms the existence of this order, which they term aboudjed, in like manner as we call the alphabet a be ce.

The twenty-two first letters of the Arabic alphabet, thus arranged, are the same, and follow the same order, as those of the Hebrews and Syrians. It is very probable that the Arabs, as well as the others, had only these twenty-two letters originally, and that the other six were added afterwards, though it is not possible to determine precisely the time at which this addition took place.

10. The lam-elif لا is not a character per se, but only a junction of the lam ل to the élif ا.

12. The alphabet is divided into eight columns: the first contains the numbers which indicate the order of the letters; the second, the names of the letters; the third, fourth, fifth, and sixth show the different forms of which each letter is susceptible when it is, first, entirely isolated; second, joined only to that which precedes it; third, joined to that which precedes and also to that which follows it; and, fourth, joined only to that which follows it. There are several letters which are never joined to those which follow them: this causes the blanks in the fifth and sixth columns. It is as well, however, to observe, that when the د, the ذ, the ر, the ز, and the و, are found followed by ه, at the end of a word, they may be joined together.

13. Many letters differ from each other only by the absence or addition of one or more points. These points are called by the Arabs نُقْطَةٌ; we call them diacritical points, a term derived from the Greek, signifying distinctive.

30. The elif ا, when marked with the hamza ء, is not a vowel. The sound may then be compared to the h not aspirated in the French words habit, histoire, homme, Hubert.

The elif, without the hamza, has no pronunciation of its own; it serves only to prolong the vowel a which precedes it; sometimes this vowel and the elif which follows, take a strong sound approaching to the French i.

31. The ب answers to B, and the ت to T. In Africa the pronunciation of ث is often given to the letter ت.

32. The ث answers to the English th, as in the word thing; and it cannot be rendered in French better than by the two letters TS. The greater part of the Arabs make no distinction between the pronunciation of this letter and that of ت; some indeed regard as vicious the pronunciation here indicated. The Persians and the Turks pronounce the ث as the French ç; I render it ordinarily by TH.

33. The ج represents a sound similar to that of the Italian g, when followed by an i, as in giardino, and may be expressed by the letters DJ. This pronunciation, which is most used, is that of the people of Arabia and Syria; but in Egypt, at Muscat, and perhaps in some other provinces, the ج is pronounced as g hard followed by an a or o, as in garrison, agony.

34. The ح indicates an aspiration stronger than that of the French h in the words heurter, héros, and similar to the manner in which the Florentines pronounce the c before a and o. At the end of words, this aspiration is still more difficult to imitate. For example, the word لُوح is pronounced as louèh.

35. The خ answers to the ch of the Germans when it is preceded by an a or an o, as in the words nacht, noch.

36. The د answers exactly to D.

37. The ذ represents a sound which is to that of د very nearly as the ث is to that of ت. It is expressed in French by the two letters DZ or DH. Most nations who speak the Arabic language make no difference between this letter and the preceding; they pronounce both as our D. Some others, as the Arabs of Muscat, pronounce the ذ as the French Z, and such is the usage of the Persians and Turks.

38. The ر answers exactly to R; and the ز to Z.

39. The س answers to the sound of s, when it is at the beginning of words. When this letter is found, in Arabic words, between two vowels, it may be rendered by ç, that its pronunciation may not be confounded with that of z, which takes the sound of s, in similar cases, in French words.

40. The sound of ش is exactly rendered by the French CH, (sj Dutch, sch German, sh English). Many French writers render it by the three letters SCH, in order that foreigners may not confound its pronunciation with that of خ, which is the custom I generally follow.

From the manner in which the Arabs of Spain transcribed Spanish in Arabic characters, there is reason to believe that they pronounced the ش as an s strongly articulated, and the س as the ç or z.

41. The ص answers to our S, but it ought to be pronounced a little more strongly than the س, or with a sort of emphasis. It appears that the pronunciation of the two letters has often been confounded, as may be seen in the marginal notes of some copies of the Kurán, in the books of the Druses, and in modern Egyptian manuscripts.

42. The ض answers to D pronounced more strongly than the French d, or with a sort of emphasis. The Persians and Turks pronounce it as the French z, other nations, as DS. In rendering Arabic names into French, in order to express the ض, the two letters DH ought to be used.

43. The ط answers to the T articulated strongly and emphatically. If a person should wish, in writing in French, to distinguish it from ت, it may be rendered by TH.

44. The ظ differs in no respect, in pronunciation, from ض, and they may be rendered in the same manner. These two letters are very often confounded in manuscripts. It ought to be observed, however, that in Egypt the ظ is often pronounced as a Z, emphatically.

45. The peculiar pronunciation of ع cannot be expressed by any of the letters used among the nations of Europe.

The manner in which the Piedmontese pronounce the ñ appears to me to approach something to the sound ع. Examples: cañ chien, boñ bon, boña bonne.

46. The غ represents a sound which partakes of both r and g. Some writers have rendered this letter by rh, others by rg, and others by gh; but as the sound of the r ought to be almost imperceptible, I have thought it better to employ, in rendering the غ, the G alone or the two letters GH.

47. The ف answers exactly to F.

48. The ق indicates a sound very nearly like that of the French K, but it ought to be formed in the throat, and it is very difficult to imitate it well. Many Arabs, those of Muscat, for example, confound the pronunciation of this letter with that of غ, and this pronunciation is common in the states of Marocco. In a great part of Egypt, the ق is only a strong and quick aspiration, and it appears that this sound, very difficult to imitate, was the distinctive characteristic of the Arabs descended from Modhar.

49. The ك also answers to K, but it is not pronounced from the throat as the preceding letter. The Turks and many of the Arabs give it a softened pronunciation, analogous to that of q in the French words queue, qui; and it may be rendered by putting an i after k. Some Arabs pronounce the ك and the ق as an Italian c before i, as in the word cio, a sound expressed in French by the letters tch.

50. The ل is perfectly rendered by L, and the م by M.

51. The ن is susceptible, according to the Arab grammarians, of many pronunciations. When it is followed by a vowel, it is pronounced always as N in the French word navire, but when it is followed immediately by another consonant the pronunciation varies.

52. The و is pronounced as OU in French, in the words oui, ouate. It can also be rendered by W pronounced in the manner of the English. The Turks and Persians pronounce it as the French V.

53. The ه represents only a very light and often insensible aspiration, as the h in the French words la Hollande, la Hongrie, or it indicates only a simple hiatus.

54. The ى ought to be pronounced as a Y consonant, as in the English word yacht. The Germans render it by j, as in the words bejahen, jagd.

55. The لا finds a place in the alphabet only because the two letters ل and ا, of which it is composed, take, in their junction, a form which sometimes renders them unrecognizable.

The Vowels.

64. The Arabs have only three signs to indicate all the sounds. The first, named fatha, is formed like an acute accent, and is placed above the consonant with which it forms an articulate sound, as, كَتَبَ cataba. The sound expressed by the fatha answers sometimes to the French a more or less open, sometimes to è or ai, as in the words succès, faire.

The second is called kesra. It is formed similar to the preceding, but is placed beneath the consonant with which it forms an articulate sound, as in the word نِمْرِ nimri. The sound of the kesra answers sometimes to the French i, sometimes to é.

The third, called dhamma, has very nearly the form of our figure 9, sometimes it resembles our (,), and is always placed above the consonant with which it forms an articulate sound, as, كُلُّ coullou. The sound of dhamma answers sometimes to the French o, sometimes to ou or eu.

68. The letters و, ا, and ى often serve only to prolong the sound of the vowel which precedes them.

74. Besides the three vowel signs before spoken of, the Arabs have three other signs to which they give the name of tenwin, which indicates that the vowel ought to be followed with the articulation of a ن. Our grammarians call them nunnations; I shall call them nasal vowels. These nasal vowels are only placed at the end of words, and they serve to form some grammatical inflexions. Their signs are nothing but the figure of the analogous vowel redoubled; as, for example, بَابٌ bâbon, بَابٍ bâbin بَابً bâban. These examples show at the same time the form of the three nasal vowels and their pronunciation. The nasal vowel an ought always to be followed by an ا, as يَوْمًا yauman, except when it is found over a ة, as in حِكْمَةً hicmètan, or followed by a ي mute, as هُدًي, or placed over a hamza, as شَيْئً: in the last case the elif is often preserved after the tenwin, and it is written شَيْأً. The ن contained in these nasal vowels, in pronunciation, is subject to the same variations as the ن consonant, and these variations are indicated in the same manner.

77. In a great number of Coufic manuscripts the three vowels are indicated by a very large point, painted ordinarily in red. Placed above the letter it indicates the fatha; placed below, it indicates the kesra, and placed in the body of the letter or at the end, or in a line with the writing, it indicates the dhamma. In order to indicate the nasal vowels, this point is doubled.

78. In African manuscripts the fatha and the kesra, instead of being inclined as our acute accent, are placed horizontally above or below the consonant to which they belong.

Of Orthographical Signs.

89. The djesma is so called, because it separates the artificial syllable at the end of which it is found, from the syllable succeeding. Its name signifies separation. It is placed above the letter, and is formed thus ( ْ ), as in the word أُقْعُدْ ok-od.

The djesma may be considered as the sign of a very short vowel; it answers to the quiescent sheva of Hebrew grammarians, and also to their other short vowels, such as hatèf-patah, hatèf-ségol, &c., and to the sixth vowel of the Ethiopic alphabet.

107. When a consonant ought to be doubled in pronunciation, without the interposition of a written vowel, the Arabs do not double the figure of the letter, but they employ a sign named teschdid, formed thus ( ّ ). This mark is placed above the letter which ought to be doubled. Among the Arabs of Africa it is generally formed thus ([#]), or thus ([#]), and is placed above or below the letter, as the vowel which accompanies it. The figure of the teschdid is a little ش, abbreviated from the word شَدِيدٌ strong, or of the word شِدّةٌ strength, which is the name that the Africans give it.

124. Every ا which is moved by a vowel, or which is moveable by nature, although it may become djesmaed by certain grammatical rules, is marked by a sign named hamza. This sign is formed thus (ء). The hamza or elif hamzaed is a real articulation, of which the value has been indicated already, and differs essentially from the elif not hamzaed, which is never moved by any vowel, and only enters into words as a letter of prolongation or as a mute letter. If the elif is moved by a kesra, the hamza is placed below the letter, and the kesra below the hamza, as, إِضْرَبْ.

130. A word which commences by a أ hamzaed ought often to be joined to the word which precedes it; and this union is indicated by a sign named wesla, that is, junction; it is formed thus (ٱ), and is placed above the elif. When this union takes place, the elif is always followed by a letter djesmaed, and then it is pronounced as a compound syllable, with the last one of the preceding word.

144. When the elif of prolongation is followed immediately by an ا mute, instead of the last of these two ا, the hamza only is written with its corresponding vowel, and over the ا of prolongation is placed a sign which is formed thus ( ۤ), and which is called medda or matta, that is, prolongation.

146. The same sign is placed also over the letters, when they are employed as figures, or as abbreviations instead of entire words.

Of Punctuation and Abbreviations.

168. The Arabs generally do not employ any mark to indicate the pauses, whether at the end of a period, or in the course of the sentence. They only indicate the end of a subject, either by a red point, or by one of these marks  ۬, ؞, ۞, or by writing in red the word which commences a new article, or by prolonging one of the letters of the first word, as وَفِيـــــها. These different methods of indicating the commencement of a new article answer to our fresh paragraphs (alinéa).

169. If, in common manuscripts, no mark of punctuation is made use of, these signs, on the contrary, are multiplied in manuscripts of the Kurán. The end of each verse is there indicated by the figure ؞; after each tenth verse, another sign is employed, which resembles the ن isolated, but entirely closed. These two signs mark rather the division of verses, founded in general upon the rhyme, than serve to distinguish the places where the reader ought to pause, in order to render more intelligible the sense of his discourse. The true signs of punctuation are the little letters written in red ink in the superior interlineation. The م indicates a pause, necessary to avoid ambiguity: it is abridged from the word لاَزِمٌ necessary. The ط, contracted from the word مُطْلَقٌ, that is, universal, shows a pause universally received by the readers of the Kurán. The ج, contracted from the word جَآئِزٌ permitted, shows a pause left to the will of the reader. The ز, contracted from the word مُجَوَّزٌ, allowed, indicates a pause permitted, but not becoming. The ص, contracted from the word مُرَخَّصٌ admissible, marks a slight pause granted only from necessity, in order that the reader may draw breath. When the sense requires that there should be no pause at the end of a verse, it is indicated by the word لا not, written above the last word of the verse, and of which the meaning is لاَوَقْفَ there is no pause here. The ق, contracted from the word قِيلَ they say, marks a contested pause. Lastly the letters قفه, which represent the words وَقْفَةٌ يَسِرَةٌ, are the sign of an extremely slight pause.

Among the great number of marks of punctuation peculiar to the Kurán, the most necessary and the most used are the ط, the ج and the word لا.

171. Abbreviations are sometimes indicated by a figure similar to a medda, and often they are marked by no particular sign.

Of Figures or Signs of Numeration.

The eighth column of the alphabet shows the value which the Arabs attach to their letters when they are employed as signs of numeration. Of these letters, which are twenty-eight in number, nine indicate the units, nine the tens, nine the hundreds, and one the number 1000. The order according to which these letters are placed, when considered as numerical signs, is that of the aboudjed. The last six letters being, as there is every reason to believe, of a much later invention than the rest of the alphabet, it is probable that the Arabs, before they made use of these letters, indicated the hundreds from 400 to 900 inclusive, in the same manner as the Hebrews, whose alphabet consists only of twenty-two letters. If they wished to express, for example, the number 600, they would join together the ت, which is equivalent to 400, and the ر, which is equivalent to 200. In order to express 900, they would join two ت, equal together to 800, to ق = 100.

The letters employed as figures follow the same direction as the writing, from right to left, as, قلب 132, غنج 1053.

174. It is unnecessary to observe that in this system of numeration there is no figure which answers to our cipher (0); it is absolutely useless, as the value of each figure does not depend on its position in relation to those which precede or follow it.

175. The aboudjed of the Africans differing in some degree from that of the Asiatics, there is also some difference in the value which they attach to certain letters as signs of numeration. This difference consists in that among them the ص is equal to 60, the ض 90, the س 300, the ظ 800, the غ 900, and the ش 1000.

176. The Arabs have also another mode of numeration, from which is derived those figures which we call Arabic; they call it the Indian cipher رَقَمٌ هِنْدِيٌّ. It is composed of the ten figures following:

١   ٢   ٣   ٤   ٥   ٦   ٧   ٨   ٩   ٠ 1   2   3   4   5   6   7   8   9   0

The 5 is often formed thus [#], and the 0 like our own. When the Arabs make use of this cipher, they follow a direction quite contrary to that of their writing, and proceed from left to right. This singularity is sufficient to prove that this cipher is not originally Arabic.

Arabic in the British Foundries.

Great Primer. Thorowgood and Besley. Walton’s Polyglot, 1657. This letter was in Grover’s foundry, and afterwards in James’s.

Thorowgood and Besley. Another Great Primer, cut from drawings made by Dr. Wilkins.

English. Caslon. These were the first punches cut by William Caslon for types. They were cut in 1720 for the Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge.

Thorowgood and Besley. This character was cut by the late Dr. Fry, under the directions of Dr. Wilkins, librarian to the East India Company, and is considered the most perfect fount at present in Europe.

Thorowgood and Besley. Another English from the punches cut for the Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge.

Oxford University.

Watts. Cut under the immediate directions of Professor Lee.

The Arabic Alphabet

William Savage, A Dictionary of the Art of Printing, 1841

Harmonical Alphabet


arabic gum

See: GUM ARABIC.


arabic numerals

The numerical symbols 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, as distinguished from the Roman I, X, L, etc., so called because of their origin in the Near East. They have been used in the foliation of books since the late 15th century. Arabic numerals first appeared in European manuscripts in the 12th century, although they probably came to the Near East by way of India in the 8th century. Arabic numerals are commonly used for paginating the text of a book, although Roman numerals are still often used for preliminary and end matter, despite the obvious affectation.

Harrod, Leonard Montague. The librarians' glossary of terms used in librarianship and the book crafts, and reference book. 3rd ed. London. Deutsch. 1971.


archil

A dye obtained from certain lichens of the genera Roccella and Lecanora by means of fermentation. Its hue varies from moderate red to dark purplish-red, depending on whether the dye bath is acid or alkaline. It was used in the past in the manufacture of purple marbling color. It has only moderate COLOR FASTNESS.

Crane, W. J. E. Bookbinding for amateurs…New York. Scribner. 1903.


architectural motif

A form of decoration consisting of a pattern of straight lines running almost the length of the cover and connected alternately at head and tail by heavier horizontal lines.

Fahey, Herbert, and Peter Fahey. Finishing in hand bookbinding…  San Francisco. The authors. 1951.


architectural style

A 16th century style of finishing consisting of architectural motifs—porticoes, moldings, columns, pediments, arches, and the like. The central feature was a pair of columns supporting an arch under which there was a panel for lettering of the title. This style, of which only a relatively few examples have survived, generally emphasized straight and curved fillets, interspaced with shaped tools. The 19th century French bookbinder JOSEPH THOUVENIN revived the style as "a la cathedral.' See: CATHEDRAL BINDINGS. The contents of the books bound in the architectural style seldom related to architecture.

Glaister, Geoffrey Ashall. An encyclopedia of the book. Cleveland. World. 1960.

Walters Art Gallery, Baltimore. The history of bookbinding 525-1950 A.D. Compiled by Dorothy Miner. Baltimore. Trustees of the Walters Art Gallery. 1957.


Argentina, Conradus de

See: CONRADUS DE ARGENTINA


ARMENIAN

“The Armenians had no characters peculiar to themselves until the fourth century, but they used indifferently those of the Syrians, of the Persians, of the Arabians, and of the Greeks. The present Armenian Alphabet contains thirty-eight letters, which they say were invented by one Mesrop or Miesrob, minister of state, and secretary to Warasdates, and Arsaces IV. kings of Armenia. Some authors affirm, that this Mesrop afterwards became a hermit, and corresponded with St. Chrysostom, who lived in the fourth century; though Angelus Roccha, in his discourse on the books in the Vatican library, George, patriarch of Alexandria, and Sixtus Senensis, assert, that St. Chrysostom was the inventor of the Armenian characters, in whose time the Bible was translated into the Armenian language, from the Greek Septuagint, by some of their doctors who had learned the Greek language, and amongst others by one Moses the grammarian, and David the philosopher. Although the Armenian characters are generally supposed to have been derived from the Greek, their forms are very different, and their number exceeds those in the Greek alphabet, by more than one third. The powers of the Armenian letters are peculiarly adapted to the notation of that language, which is very unpolished, and consequently very unlike the Greek. This alphabet contains several letters or marks for sounds which frequently occur in the Hebrew, Syriac, Arabic, and Armenian languages, but are not found in the Greek.

“The Armenians have four kinds of writing: The first is called Zakghachir, or flourished, used for the titles of books, and for the beginning of chapters.

“The second is called Erghathachir, writing with iron, or with a Stylus, which has long been disused.

“The third is called Poloverchir, or round, which is found in their fairest MSS.

“The fourth is called Notrchir, or running hand, which is used for the ordinary affairs of life. The names and powers of the Armenian letters are as follow:

“The Armenians say that Haik, who lived before the destruction of Babel, was the first who spoke the Haikanian or Armenian language.”—Astle.

Armenian Alphabet.

Key to Column Headers—   NL - Names of the Letters.   FL - Figures of the Letters.   PL - Powers of the Letters.   NV - Numerical Value.

LETTERS WHICH BEAR AN AFFINITY TO EACH OTHER.

Armenian in the British Foundries.

English.    Oxford University.

Pica.       Caslon.

The Armenian Alphabet


Armenian bole

A friable, earthy clay, usually of a red color due to the presence of iron oxide; it consists essentially of hydrous silicates of aluminum and (sometimes) magnesium. It is used as a coloring material and is also applied to the edges of books during gilding. In the latter use it serves both to provide a base for the gold leaf and to impart to it a greater depth and luster. When mixed with paste and a small amount of oil, it may be used to sprinkle the edges of books.

Town, Laurence. Bookbinding by hand, for students and craftsmen. New York. Pitman. 1950 (1951).


arming press

A small hand BLOCKING PRESS, at one time used for impressing ARMORIAL BEARINGS on the covers of books, but now used for blocking short runs of edition bindings, as well as in miscellaneous binding work.

Leighton, Douglas. Modern bookbinding: a survey and a prospect. New York. Oxford University Press. 1935.

Pratt, Guy A. Let's bind a book. Rev. ed. Milwaukee. Bruce. 1944.


arming press

A species of blocking press used by hand; so called from the use of it to impress armorial bearings on the sides of books.

The Art of Bookbinding: A Practical Treatise


arming press

a small blocking press used for striking arms-blocks on the sides of books.


armorial bearings

Solid plates of brass, engraved in relief with family heraldic insignia, and used to block insignia on the covers of books belonging to prominent and/ or royal families. Armorial bearings have been seldom used in the decoration of bookbindings since the middle of the 19th century.

Ellis. Firm. Booksellers. London. A collection of armorial bookbindings of the Tudor, Stuart and Hanoverian periods, described by George Smith and Frank Benger. London. Ellis. 1927.

Pierpont Morgan Library. A guide to an exhibition of armorial and related bookbindings, 1500-1800. New York. Pierpont Morgan Library. 1935.


armorial bindings

Leather or cloth bindings embossed with armorial seals or plaques, frequently in a panel, or embroidered bindings in which the arms were raised in relief and worked in thread.

Carter, John. A B C for book collectors. 5th ed. London. Hart Davis. 1972.


art binding

A term sometimes used to describe a book that has been bound by a master craftsman in the "best manner," using only the finest materials available. The term is applied only to books bound by hand and covered in leather or vellum, and usually only to those bindings that are unique or at least distinctive in design.

Zahn, Otto. On art binding, a monograph. Memphis. Toof. 1904.


art canvas

A relatively heavy book cloth, usually impregnated, which may be a single or double WARP and is sometimes lined with tissue paper to prevent penetration of adhesives. It has been used for covering large, heavy books, as well as library bindings.

Pleger, John J. Bookbinding. Rev. ed. Chicago. Inland Printer. 1924.


art canvas

A book cloth, made in several colors by the Holliston Mills, 67 Fifth Ave., New York; Jos. Bancroft & Sons, Wilmington, Del. (A. D. Smith, 35 Thomas St., New York, agent); the Interlaken Mills, 111 Duane St., New York, and others.


art linen

A relatively heavy cloth of a generally flat and uneven color, and usually impregnated. When art linens are produced with a design, the patterns are usually florid and ornate.

Lewis, Arthur William. Basic bookbinding. New York. Dover, 1957.


art paper

1. A good quality paper used by artists and conservators. It has a highly finished, smooth surface produced by supercalendering or by coating. Its principal characteristic is its close formation. In Great Britain, "art paper" is considered to be a body paper or board coated with a mineral substance, such as barium sulfate or china clay, which gives it a smoothness that is suitable for the printing of fine halftones, and the like. In the United States, art paper is generally made from chemical wood pulp, while in Great Britain the best art paper is made from 90 to 95% esparto and 5 to 10% chemical wood pulp. Esparto is good because it is less likely to stretch and has a natural affinity for coating materials, which gives it a superior surface for halftone reproductions. Heavily coated art papers are prone to cracking, flaking, and pulling away of the coating. The binding of books produced on such papers can be difficult because of the tendency of the paper to crack when folded. Cf: IMITATION ART PAPER. 2. A fancy figured paper used for endpapers in edition binding.

American Paper and Pulp Association. The dictionary of paper, including pulp, paperboard, paper properties and related papermaking terms. 3rd ed. New York. American Paper and Pulp Association. 1965.

British Federation of Master Printers. Preliminary technical course in printing. London. British Federation of Master Printers. 1967. 7 vol.

Jennett, Sean. The making of books. 4th ed. New York. Praeger. 1967.

Radford, Richard George. Letterpress machine work. New York. Staples Press. 1951. 2 vol.


art parchment

A thick, heavy, hard-sized paper manufactured from cotton fiber and/or chemical wood pulps. To some extent it has the natural appearance of PARCHMENT. It is used for documents, or in other applications where a heavy paper is required; in the latter half of the 19th century it was used as a cover paper. See also: DOCUMENT PARCHMENT (1).


art vellum

A relatively thin book cloth, which, although impregnated, has only moderately good wearing qualities. It is a smooth cloth with a textured pattern printed on a white base fabric. Art vellums were used extensively for the sides of half- and quarter-bindings.

Dana, John Cotton. Notes on bookbinding for libraries. Rev. ed. Chicago. Library Bureau. 1910.

The library; a quarterly review of bibliography. London. Milford.


art vellum

A book cloth made in several colors and styles of finish by the firms which make art canvas. It is not suitable for full binding on books subject to much wear. It costs about 16 cents per square yard. Most publishers’ bindings are in cloth of the art vellum grade.


artificial gold

See: IMITATION GOLD.


artificial grain

A grain pattern embossed or rolled into a leather, usually in an attempt to imitate a superior type of leather. See also: BASIL; GRAINED UP.


artificial leather

See: IMITATION LEATHER.


asbestine

A mineral compound of almost pure fibrous magnesium silicate, which possesses physical characteristics between those of talc and asbestos. It is used as a LOADING (1) agent in paper manufacture, particularly for blotting papers and board.


ASCENDING LETTERS

This term includes all the capitals and the following small letters, b, d, f, h, k, l.


ASCENDING LETTERS

Letters that ascend into the upper shoulder; as, b, d, l, &c. and all the capitals.

The American Printer: A Manual of Typography


ash

The inorganic residue remaining after a sample of paper is burned, driving off combustible and volatile compounds. The "ash content" is defined as the percentage the residue is of the original weight of the sample.

Crown Zellerbach Corp. Making pulp and paper. San Francisco. Crown Zellerbach Corp. 1958. 1 vol.


ASS

Sometimes by way of joke, and sometimes by way of irritation, compositors are called Asses by the pressmen. In Moxon’s time they were called Galley Slaves. See Ancient Customs.

Assistants. See Newspapers.


assembly time

A term used in the adhesive industry to indicate the time lapse between the application of an adhesive and the application of heat, pressure, or both. See also: CLOSED ASSEMBLY TIME; OPEN ASSEMBLY TIME.

Skeist, Irving. Handbook of adhesives. New York. Reinhold. 1962.


assiette

A compound consisting of bole, bloodstone, and gelena (lead sulfide, PbS), used to prepare the edges of books for gilding. See also: GLAIR.


asterisk

The symbol (*) used to mark a corrected page (CANCEL) supplied to the binder to replace an incorrect leaf (CANCELLAND).


asterisk

A sign used by the printers at the bottom of the front page of the duplicate-leaves printed to supply the place of those cancelled.


asterisk

A star used by printers at the bottom of the pages meant to supply the places of those cancelled (*see also* CANCEL).


ASTERISK,

or little star *, directs the reader to some note in the margin, or at the bottom of the page. Two or three asterisks generally denote the omission of some letters in a word, or of some bold or indelicate expression, or some defect in the manuscript.—Murray.

When there are more than one note in a page, the asterisk is the first reference used.


ASTRONOMICAL CHARACTERS

The Twelve Zodiacal Constellations.

♈      Aries. ♉      Taurus. ♊      Gemini. ♋      Cancer. ♌      Leo. ♍      Virgo. ♎      Libra. ♏      Scorpio. ♐      Sagittarius. ♑      Capricorn. ♒      Aquarius. ♓      Pisces.

Names and Characters of the Planets, with Dragon’s Head and Dragon’s Tail.

⊙     The Sun. ♄     Saturn. ♃     Jupiter. ♂     Mars. ♁     Earth. ♀     Venus. ☿     Mercury. ☽     The Moon. ☊     Dragon’s Head. ☋     Dragon’s Tail.

Planets discovered since 1780.

♅     Uranus. ⚳     Ceres. ⚴     Pallas. ⚵     Juno. ⚶     Vesta.

The Character of the Aspects.

☌        Conjunction. ⚹        Sextile. ☍        Opposition. △        Trine. □        Quartile.

The Moon and its changes are thus designated:—

⚫      Denotes a New Moon. ☽      First Quarter of the Moon. ⚪      The Full Moon. ☾       Last Quarter of the Moon.

Authors’ Names. See Botanical Authorities. Law Authorities. Organic Remains.


atlas

A volume consisting of maps, with or without descriptive material, which is issued to supplement or accompany a text, or is issued independently. An "atlas" is also defined as a volume of plates, engravings, etc., illustrating any field of knowledge. Atlases are sometimes difficult to bind because of narrow margins, stiff and/or heavy paper, or foldouts.


atlas folio

The largest of the folios, with dimensions of approximately 25 or 26 x 17 inches. See also: ELEPHANT FOLIO.


atlas paper

A large size of drawing paper similar to map paper except that it is usually coated and made in a basis weight that is heavier so as to minimize SHOW THROUGH. Originally, the term referred to a paper suitable for printing maps and atlases; today, however, MAP PAPER is the more commonly used term.


attaching boards

The process of gluing the tapes and spine-lining material to the inside of single boards or between SPLIT BOARDS, or the LACING-IN of the cords through holes drilled or punched in boards. In general, it is the binding process of joining the boards to the text block; it is not to be confused with CASING-IN. In edition and library binding, the term has no meaning other than gluing the boards to the covering material, either by hand or by means of a CASE-MAKING MACHINE.

Middleton, Bernard C. A history of English craft bookbinding technique. New York. Hafner. 1963.

Town, Laurence. Bookbinding by hand, for students and craftsmen. New York. Pitman. 1950 (1951).


attapulgite clay

A fibrous claylike material, essentially ((OH2)4 Mg5Si8O20(OH)2 -- 4H2O), rich in magnesium, and used as a filling material in papermaking, usually in coatings for reproduction papers. The clay is also called "fuller's earth," from its ability to remove dirt and grease from wool, a process called "fulling."


aureole

A light or luminous area surrounding the blind impressions of a book cover; it is caused by the leather not being wetted all over, but only on the areas being tooled.


AUTHOR’S PROOF

The clean proof sent to an author after the compositors’ errors have been corrected.


author's binding

A copy of a book to be presented by an author. Such bindings were normally produced in a superior manner; gilt vellum bindings were common in the 16th century, and panelled morocco in the 1 7th and 18th. The term has little meaning today.


AUTHOR’S PROOF

After the errors of workmanship have been put to rights, a clean proof is printed and sent to the author or editor, who makes on it such alterations and amendments as he may think proper. This is called an Author’s Proof; and the compositor is paid for the time occupied in making these alterations in the types.


automatic clamping

A term used with reference to the clamp of a cutting machine, which descends upon any height pile to be cut and exerts approximately the same clamping pressure for all heights and types of material.

Gray, Niel. Paper-cutting machines…Chicago. United Typothetae of America. (Typographical technical series for apprentices, pt. 1, no. 10). c. 1918.


automatic spacing

The BACK GAUGE of a cutting machine that moves forward a pre-determined distance following each cut. It is most effective in cutting long-run, large-sized sheets requiring many cuts.

Strauss, Victor. The printing industry…Washington, D.C. Printing Industries in America. 1967.


automatic stitcher-feeder machine

A bookbinding machine that gathers and inserts a number of folded sheets and stitches them through the folds. The sheets are either fed by operators to the carrier saddle at various stations, or are fed automatically. As each folio is carried along the saddle, another is fed over it at each station until the section or book is complete. When the section reaches the end of the machine it is automatically knocked even, saddle stitched and delivered to a receiving trough.

Hutchings, Ernest A. D. A survey of printing processes. London. Heinemann. 1970.


aux petits fers

See: PETITS FERS.


available chlorine

The amount of chlorine (usually about 35%) in the bleaching powder used by papermakers in bleaching paper pulp, that can be relied upon for bleaching purposes.

Labarre, E. J. Dictionary and encyclopaedia of paper and papermaking. 2nd ed. London. Oxford University Press. 1952.


avaram (bark)

A tree (Cassia auriculata) found in India, the bark of which is one of the most important sources of indigenous tannin of the Indian Subcontinent. The bark usually has a tannin content of approximately 18%, along with about 10% soluble non-tans. Avaram has long been used extensively by Indian tanners, and it is because of it that the extensive Madras export trade in light-tanned or half tanned leathers was established. Although WATTLE (BARK) has largely superseded it in the tannage of cattle hides, avaram is still in great demand for the tannage of goat- and sheepskins, i.e., "East India kips." Avaram is self-bating and penetrates the skin rapidly, producing a pale colored, tough, elastic leather. Used alone, the leather is likely to develop a reddish color when exposed to sunlight; however completion of the tannage with MYRABOLANS prevents this from happening. Avaram is considered to be an ideal tannin for the preparation of half tanned skins or kips that are to be shipped elsewhere for finishing. See also: VEGETABLE TANNINS.

Frank Norman. Howes, Frank Norman. Vegetable tanning materials. London. Butterworth. 1953.


awl

A pointed tool used in bookbinding for piercing holes in paper for fold sewing, side sewing, or for punching holes in boards preparatory to lacing-in. Awls are available with different points and shapes for different uses; a straight, relatively blunt awl is used for punching holes in boards, while a curved and relatively sharp one is used in sewing.

Johnson, Pauline. Creative bookbinding. Seattle. University of Washington Press. 1963.


Azure’ tools

Used in binding, where the heavy and wide marks, instead of being a solid mass, are made with horizontal lines.


Azured

Ornamentation outlined in gold and crossed with horizontal lines.

Bib-li-op-e-gis-tic: Pertaining to the Art of Binding Books


Azured style

Ornamentations outlined in gold and crossed with horizontal lines in the manner of indicating azure in heraldry.


azured tool

A finishing tool with closely spaced parallel lines cut diagonally across its surface—so called from the use of heraldic illustrations of thin horizontal lines to indicate the color blue. The tool appears to have been introduced in France in about 1545.

<!-- BEGIN B -->

British Museum. Bookbindings from the library of Jean Grolier. London. British Museum. 1965.


B-stage

A secondary stage in the reaction of some thermosetting resins, characterized by softening of the resin when heated and swelling when in the presence of certain liquids. but without complete fusing or dissolving. The "b-stage" is also characterized by a progressive increase in viscosity. The resin portion of an uncured thermosetting adhesive is usually in this stage. Also called "resitol." See also: A-STAGE; C-STAGE.


b.a

An obsolete designation for a pattern in book cloth resembling linen weaving.


babul (bark)

A tree (Acacia arabica) found in India and Africa, the bark of which yields one of the most important indigenous tanning materials in the Northern areas of India and Pakistan. The average tannin content of the bark is about 12%, along with about 8% soluble non-tans. Babul is one of the condensed class of tannins, and, when used alone, tans very slowly and produces a leather that is somewhat harsh and dark in color, but firm and durable. It is usually used along with MYRABOLANS to improve color and reduce other undesirable characteristics resulting from the use of babul alone. In recent years the use of babul bark has declined in favor of WATTLE (BARK). See also: VEGETABLE TANNINS.


baby calf

A CALFSKIN leather produced from small, lightweight skins of calves that have not been weaned. It has a smooth or fine-boarded grain surface and is free of any artificial surface pattern. The finish is glossy and is produced by ironing, glazing, or plating. Baby calf is fairly tough leather with a dermal network of fine, even texture. See also: VEAL.

British Standards Institution. British standard glossary of leather terms. B. S. 2780: 1956. London. British Standards Institution.


back

1. See: SPINE. 2. To shape a ridge or shoulder on the sides of the spine of a text block after sewing. See: BACKING. 3. The main portion of a HIDE (1), obtained by cutting off both sides of the belly and the head. 4. Boards composed of plies of different stock, the side of superior quality being called the "top" and the other side the "back."


back

tight and loose. Binding is said to be tight back when the leather, cloth or other material of the back is pasted or glued to the back of the book. This style of binding is commonly used in fine work. Most books, often quite large ones, were formerly bound in this way.


back boarding

The process of BOARDING (1) leather with the flesh side in for the sole purpose of softening it.


BACK BOXES

In cases for Italic where there are no small capitals, also in Old English, and similar founts, the boxes in the upper case, that are appropriated to small capitals in Roman letter, are styled <i>Back Boxes</i>, and serve to lay two-line Capitals in, and other irregular sorts.


back cornering

See illustration</> The process in bookbinding of cutting away a small triangular piece of the head and tail edges of the boards of a book at the joints. The cut is made at two angles, one to the board edge and the other to the thickness of the board. The amount removed and the angle of the cut are determined by the width of the leather turn-ins and their thickness where they meet the edge of the board. The purpose of back cornering is to relieve the strain on the joints of the book when the covers are opened; otherwise, a strain would occur because of the additional thickness of the leather caused by the turn-ins. Back cornering also facilitates setting and shaping the headcaps. Back cornering was at first done on the inside of the boards, allowing for "laced-in" headband cores or tabs. By the late Middle Ages, back cornering was a standard procedure for books with folded-down or stubbed cores. The modern method of cornering on the outside surfaces of the boards facilitates the current method of headcapping and probably stems from the 18th century.

Middleton, Bernard C. The restoration of leather bindings. Chicago. American Library Association. (A. L. A. Library Technology Project, LTP publication no. 18). 1972.


back cover

See: LOWER COVER. 2. The outside surface of the lower cover of a publication, such as a periodical issue. The term is used here with reference to publications that contain printed or illustrative matter on the outside of the cover.


back edge

The left-hand or gutter of a RECTO (1), corresponding to the right-hand edge of a VERSO (1). The opposite edge is the back edge of publications that read from right to left.


back folds

The folds of the sections of a book, through which they are sewn. or otherwise fastened to one another. In context, they are sometimes referred to simply as folds. See also: SECTION (1).


back gauge

A movable device on a cutting machine against which the pile of paper or board is placed when measuring the line at which the material is to be cut.


back gluing machine

An edition binding machine used to glue up the spines of books and automatically convey them along a drying section which quickly sets and hardens the glue. The maximum size book that can usually be processed in such a machine is 12 by 9 inches, and the minimum 3 by 2 inches, with a thickness up to 2 1/2 inches. A fully automatic back gluing machine can process up to 2,400 books an hour. See also: TRIPLE LINER AND HEADBANDING MACHINE.

Vaughan, Alexander J. Modern bookbinding; a treatise covering both letterpress and stationery branches of the trade…New ed. London. Skilton. 1960.


back lining

See: SPINE LINING.


back margin

The INNER MARGIN, or the margin between the point where the sections or leaves are joined and the edge of the print. In books that read from left to right it is the left-hand margin of a printed recto, corresponding to the right-hand margin of the verso. Also called "gutter margin."

Cunha, George Daniel Martin. Conservation of library materials. Metuchen, N.J. Scarecrow. 1967.


back mark

The disfiguring ridge or "mark" in a sheet of paper which has been dried on a pole or line. Also called "pole mark," or "stick mark."


BACK OF A COMPOSING STICK

That part on which the bottom of the types rests.—M.


back saw

A short, fine-toothed hand saw stiffened by means of a metal rib along its back edge. It is used to saw-in the kettle kerfs and the grooves for sawn-in cords. Although almost any small saw will suffice in lieu of the back saw, it has the advantages of being short, stiff and easy to hold. It must be very sharp to avoid tearing the paper. Also called "tenon saw."


BACK STAY

A piece of girth or leather fastened to the lower hind rail at one end and to the top rim of the coffin at the other, in wooden presses, to check the running out of the carriage beyond the point which will allow the tympan to rise clear of the front of the platen.


back to fore edge

The distance from the spine to the fore edge of a book. The term is probably used mainly to indicate that a book is of uniform thickness across its width. i.e., that the boards are parallel. The implication is that there has been proper compensation for any swelling of the spine caused by sewing or excessive guarding. See also: BACKING; CONVEX COVERS.


back-molding iron

See illustration</> An implement, usually made of iron, approximately 20 inches long, 6 inches wide and 2 1/2 inches thick, and used in forming the millboard for the SPRING-BACK of a book. The iron is made with several grooves of various widths on both sides.

Pleger, John J. Bookbinding. Rev. ed. Chicago. Inland Printer. 1924.


backbone

SPINE (2) of a book.


backed

1. A book that has had its spine shaped to create the shoulders to receive the boards. See: BACKING. 2. A damaged leaf of a book, either text or plate, that has been "laid down on" or adhered to silk, paper, linen, plastic film, adhesive film, etc., for reinforcement. See also: NYLON. 3. See: REBACKED.


backed-filled finish

A type of finish used on cotton cloth. The filling material is applied to the "back" side of the cloth to supply the required body and finish, and does not appear on the "top" or exposed side.

Pocket encyclopedia of paper & graphic art terms. 2nd ed. Kaukauna, Wisc. Thomas. 1965.


backer

A hand- or power-operated machine used for BACKING books. The backer stems from the days when a book was rounded by hand and then placed in the backer to quickly form the shoulders for the boards. Today, in both edition and library binding, the most common method is to round and back books in two consecutive operations in a ROUNDING AND BACKING MACHINE. Unusually large books, which will not fit in a machine, are generally backed by hand or in a hand-operated backer. See also: JOB BACKER.

Palmer, Elbridge Woodman. A course in bookbinding for vocational training. New York. Employing bookbinders of America. 1927.


backing

See illustration</> The process of shaping a ridge or shoulder on each side of the spine of a text block prior to the application of the spine lining material. The backs of the sewn sections or leaves are bent over from the center to the left and right until shoulders are formed against which the boards will fit. The dimension of the shoulders is determined by the thickness of the boards to be used, which, in turn, is determined by the size and bulk of the book. In addition to providing for the boards, backing also:1) allows for the swell of the spine caused by the thread used in sewing, or by excessive guarding; 2) helps maintain the round of the book by the fact that each leaf from the center outward is folded over the leaf next to it so that it cannot work its way forward and thus cause the book to cave in (See: START); 3) helps impart more flexibility to the book by creating a slight crease in each leaf near the spine, to the extent that backing has something of a scoring effect which makes the book easier to open and facilitates turning the leaves (See: SCORE); and 4) makes a better joint for the cover, one which opens easier and is stronger, since the point of strain during opening is spread over a strip of the covering material, e.g., a FRENCH JOINT.

Furthermore, the angle of conformation of the spine caused by backing probably provides for better vertical standing support of the text block.

Backing may be accomplished by hand with the use of a BACKING HAMMER or, in the case of edition and library binding, by means of a ROUNDING AND BACKING MACHINE. In some cases e.g., very large books, backing may be done in a BACKER as a separate operation.

Some authorities consider the backing of a book to be the most important and difficult of all the processes in the craft of hand bookbinding, and poor or inadequate backing is certainly one of the major sources of problems in the processes of edition and library bookbinding.

Although books dating from at least as early as the beginning of the second half of the 15th century were often rounded, backing for the purpose of forming shoulders seems not to have been an established procedure before 1500, or perhaps somewhat later. It is uncertain when bookbinders discovered that rounding and backing was a superior bookbinding technique. The swell caused by sewing sometimes causes books to assume a slight round with no effort on the part of the bookbinder, and, over a long period of time, the pressure of the boards perhaps even results in the effect of backing.

Library Association. Library Binding Institute standard for library binding. 5th ed. Boston. Library Binding Institute. 1971.

Middleton, Bernard C. A history of English craft bookbinding technique. New York. Hafner. 1963.

Town, Laurence. Bookbinding by hand, for students and craftsmen. New York. Pitman. 1950 (1951).

U.S. Government Printing Office. Theory and practice of bookbinding. Rev. ed. Washington, D.C. U.S. Government Printing Office. 1962.


backing

Bending over the folds at the back of a book to form a ridge or projection called a joint.


backing boards

The boards used in hand binding to assist in BACKING a book. Backing boards are generally made of a very hard wood and are frequently faced with strips of metal. The upper edge of the board is beveled at an angle of approximately 80°, over which the outer sections or leaves on both sides of the text block are bent. The board is also thicker at this edge than at the lower, so that when it is placed on the side of the text block near the spine and secured in the LYING PRESS, the force of the press is concentrated nearest the spine.

Corderoy, John. Bookbinding for beginners. New York. Watson-Guptill. 1967.


backing boards

Are used for backing or forming the joint. They are made of very hard wood or faced with iron, and are thicker on the edge intended to form the groove than upon the edge that goes towards the fore-edge, so that the whole power of the laying-press may be directed towards the back.


backing boards

Used when backing and for forming the groove. They are made of very hard wood, and sometimes faced with iron; are thicker on the edge intended to form the groove than upon the edge that goes towards the foredge, so that the whole power of the lying press may be directed towards the back.


backing boards

wedge-shaped bevelled boards used in backing (see Fig. 40).


backing boards

Used for backing or forming the joint. They are made of very hard wood or faced with iron, and are thicker on the edge intended to form the groove than upon the edge that goes toward the fore-edge of the book, so that when placed one each side of the book and all are placed in the laying press, the whole power of the press is directed toward the back.


backing flannel

A heavy cloth material used at times to line the spines of larger books. A more common technique today is to use two linings, usually a first lining of cloth over which is applied a paper lining See also: SPINE LINING FABRIC.

Banister, Manley Miles. Pictorial manual of bookbinding. New York. Ronald. 1958.

Klinefelter, Lee Miller. Bookbinding made easy. Rev. ed. Milwaukee. Bruce. 1960.


backing hammer

A heavy iron hammer with a short handle, heavy face, and wedge-shaped head, used in rounding and backing books. It is sometimes referred to as a "collet hammer" or "bumping hammer" See also: BACKING; ROUNDING AND BACKING MACHINE.


backing hammer

The hammer used for backing and rounding: it has a broad, flat face, similar to a shoemaker's hammer.


backing iron

See: BACK-MOLDING IRON.


BACKING MACHINE

A machine for backing cheap work.


BACKING MACHINE

used for backing cheap work in large quantities; it often crushes and damages the backs of the sections.


BACKING MACHINE

A machine for backing books. If not carefully handled it is apt to injure books by crushing and breaking the paper at the folds. Used on publishers’ binding.


backing paper

See: INLAY (1); SPINE LINING PAPER.


backing press

A vertically oriented press with steel plates brought together by means of a single screw. The top edge of each plate is beveled to an angle of approximately 80°, so that when the plates are closed on the text block, the press serves the same function as BACKING BOARDS.

Bailey, Arthur Low. Library bookbinding. New York. Wilson. 1916.


backing press

A press having two, vertically mounted, steel plates brought together by a screw. A book is held in this press with the back slightly projecting above the plates, and then backed with a hammer.


BACKS

In a form of bookwork, the backs are those pieces of furniture placed between the sides of the pages and the cross of the chase, in quartos, octavos, and duodecimos; and, when a sheet is folded, form, except in quartos, the margin of part of the fore edge of a book. See Imposing. Margin.


BACKSIDE OF THE FORM,

is the under side that touches upon the correcting stone or press stone.—M.


backstrip

1. A term used incorrectly with reference to the SPINE of a book. See also: REBACKED. 2. See: GUARD (1). 3. See: INLAY (1).


bacterial resistance

The resistance of a material to the growth of bacteria and/ or mold. This property represents one of the more significant advantages of resinous adhesives over the conventional adhesives.

Percival, George Stanley, and Rigby Graham. Unsewn binding. 2nd ed. Leicester. Dryad. 1966.


bactericide

A material used in small concentrations, e.g., 0.1% by weight of the material being treated, to kill, or inhibit the growth of, bacteria that may occur in liquid or solid adhesives, or may attack carbohydrate or proteinaceous adhesive films.

McGuire, Edward Patrick. American adhesive index. Mountainside, N. J. Padric. 1962.


BAD COPY

Such copy as is ill written, or has much Italick, Latin, or Greek, or marginal notes, or few breaks, &c.—M. The term is now used only of manuscript that is badly written, and the words or the sense difficult to make out, with many interlineations. When this is the case, it is usual to pay something extra per sheet. For Greek, and marginal notes, an extra sum is always given, as may be seen in the Scale of Prices.

Bad Register. See Out of Register.


BAD WORK

Any fault at the case or press, is in workmen’s language called Bad Work.—M. We now call it Bad Workmanship; and by the term Bad Work is understood solid matter; that is, not leaded; with long paragraphs; no white lines nor branching out; no short pages; nor any white pages; such work is also called A Solid Dig; any other work is also called Bad Work, that is tedious in the execution, or difficult to perform, and does not fetch the workman a remunerating price.


Badier, Florimond

A Parisian bookbinder, apprenticed to Jean Thomas in 1630, who became a master bookbinder in 1645. His name is associated with the art of POINTILLÉ (1) and sumptuous doublures. Badier also used a distinctive finishing stamp cut in the shape of a man's head. Only three signed bindings of his are known; many bindings attributed to him may be the work of imitators. At one time, Badier was considered by some authorities to be the legendary LE GASCON; this was largely because of his pointillé style.

Chamber's encyclopedia. New York and London. W. & R. Chambers.

Walters Art Gallery, Baltimore. The history of bookbinding 525-1950 A.D. Compiled by Dorothy Miner. Baltimore. Trustees of the Walters Art Gallery. 1957.


bag binding

An additional protective covering provided a book. It is usually made of leather. See also: GIRDLE BOOK.

Dahl, Svend. History of the book. 2nd English ed. Metuchen, N.J. Scarecrow. 1968.


bagasse pulp

A paper pulp obtained from the crushed stalks of sugar cane (usually considered to be Saccharum officinarum), following the extraction of the juices. The pulp is prepared for use by mechanical disintegration in water, either with or without chemical treatment. The pulp produced is coarse. bulky, and of low strength, and is used principally in the manufacture of boards.

Casey, James P. Pulp and pa per: chemistry and chemical technology. 2nd ed. New York. Interscience. 1960-61. 3 vol.


Bagguley, Thomas

An English bookbinder, of Newcastle under Lyme, who, in the late 19th century, devised a method of tooling vellum and similar materials in permanent colors. Bagguley limited his technique to vellum, as he considered leather to be too lacking in purity of color to offer a satisfactory ground for unrestricted color decoration. Because of the delicate nature of his work, he further restricted his technique to vellum doublures. See also: SUTHERLAND DECORATION.

Coutts, Henry T., and George A. Stephen. Manual of library bookbinding; practical and historical. London. Libraco. 1911.


BAKE

When the compositor lays up a form to clear it away, after a work is finished, if he does not rinse the letter as well as if it were rinsed for present use, or rather better, the ink that is dissolved among the lye would, with long standing by, harden between the letter, and make the letter stick so fast together that when it comes afterwards to be distributed, the compositor cannot without great difficulty and trouble get them asunder. This sticking together of the letter is called Baking of the Letter. And compositors in this case say The Letter is Baked.—M. This is the case particularly with new letter, if it be not distributed almost as soon as worked off; for if it be afterwards allowed to remain some time locked up in the chase, it is very difficult to separate and distribute, and causes great loss of time, and injury to the letter.

The usual remedy for this inconvenience is to pour boiling water on the pages repeatedly, which tends to make the letters separate more readily; but still the compositor has to press them against the edge of his case, which makes the ends of his fingers sore, and when he cannot accomplish it in this way, he not unfrequently must have recourse to his teeth. Soaking the new letter in soap and water before it is used, is said to be the best remedy.

Baldwin, Elizabeth. See Donations.


BALL KNIFE

An old blunt-edged knife, that pressmen lay by, to scrape their balls with.—M. It is generally an old table knife; but a sharp-edged one is better than a blunt one, if it be carefully used. The use of the Ball Knife is now nearly superseded by the adoption of composition rollers.


BALL LEATHERS

The exterior coverings of the balls, made either of pelts, of tanned sheep’s skins.—M. Ball Leathers, dressed with oil, were introduced within the author’s recollection; but, although more durable, and sweeter in use than pelts, they were not adapted to produce fine work, and were therefore soon discontinued.


BALL LININGS

When balls are made of pelts, the wool in the first instance is covered with the pelt of an old ball, previously soaked in the pelt pot and well scraped; this is again covered with a new pelt, and nailed to the ball stock, which makes the ball complete. The old pelt is called the <i>Ball Lining</i>, and makes it firmer in the neck, and also wear longer.


BALL NAILS

The nails that ball leathers are tacked to the ball stocks with.—M.


BALL NECK

That part of the ball which is immediately between the stock and the body of the wool, just below the nails, is named the Ball Neck, or the Neck of the Ball.


BALL RACK

Two round tapering wooden pins fastened into a feather-edged piece of elm, and nailed to the near cheek of the press, in which to place the balls when they are not in use, nearly on a level with the ink block. There is frequently an additional one, for two balls, nailed higher up to the same cheek, under the cap, for a pair of spare balls, or to keep them separate when necessary; pelt balls injure each other when kept together for any length of time; and composition balls should never be left one upon the other, for they adhere to each other, and the surface is frequently torn in separating them.

Moveable ball racks are sometimes used for convenience, with the rack fastened to an upright piece of wood, fixed into a cross piece to serve it for standing upon.

BALLS.

Two circular pieces of pelt, leather, or canvass covered with composition, stuffed with wool and nailed to the ball stocks, used to cover the surface of the article to be printed with ink, in order to obtain an impression from it. Moxon says they were occasionally stuffed with hair; and that if the ball stocks were six inches in diameter the ball leathers were cut about nine inches and a half diameter. They are made larger, according to the work they are required for; those used for Newspapers were the largest.

Pelt Balls are superseded in London by composition Balls and composition rollers, and nearly so in the country; but when I recollect that the most splendidly printed English books were executed with pelt Balls, and that a printer may be so situated in the country, or in some foreign place, as not to be able to procure composition Balls or rollers, I think it useful to give directions how to make and manage Balls of pelts, so that wherever a printer may be situated, he may sustain no great inconvenience, provided he has a skin at his command: and I shall in the first place give an old Pressman’s directions for this purpose, who was well and practically experienced in every variety of presswork, and who wrote them expressly for this work.

“The pelt being well soaked, the pressman scrapes with the ball knife a little of the wet and filth off—twists it—puts it on the currying-iron, holding an end in each hand, and curries it, by pulling it strongly backwards and forwards, till it becomes warm and pliable, and the grease adheres to his hands, so that the pelt is in danger of slipping out of them while currying: without treading he cuts the pelt into two equal parts, across, and scrapes both sides of them; he then lays one of them on a press stone, or on any other stone that is large enough, and stretches it and spreads it well with the grain side downwards: the pelt of an old ball being well soaked, he cleans it, scraping it partially, so that some of the moisture may remain in it, and spreads it on the new pelt, as a lining, but does not stretch it nearly so much as the new one, and then nails an edge of them to the ball stock: the wool, being previously carded or combed, he lays in single locks one upon another, crossways, till he has enough for the size of the Ball which he is making. If it be for a newspaper it must be very large; if for bookwork, to be used with common ink, it must be smaller in proportion; but in both cases he brings the ends of the locks of wool into one hand, forming it into the shape of a ball very slightly, and puts these ends into the bowl of the stock; then bringing the opposite edge of the pelt to that already nailed, he also nails that to the ball stock; then he nails two other parts of the pelt opposite to each other, between those parts before nailed; then he plaits the pelt, nailing it regularly on the ball stocks; and cuts off the superfluous edges of the skin. The linings ought to be large enough to be nailed to the ball stock equal with the skin. Then he makes another ball, exactly the same as the first; and if both have a full even face, with no hillocks or dales, he has got a pair of good Balls.

“After having knocked up his Balls, he washes both them and the stocks well, and lets them lie out of the water a quarter of an hour; then placing one edge of the face upon the edge of the bank, the coffin of the press, or upon any other convenient place, and the end of the ball stock against his breast, he takes the handle of a sharp table knife in one hand and the end of the blade in the other, and scrapes it regularly and rather strongly from the plaits to the face of the Ball, at every scrape turning round the Ball, which brings out such a quantity of grease and moisture, as obliges him at the first to wipe his knife at every scrape; he thus proceeds, till he can scarcely bring any more out of the skin. He then places a sheet or sheets of paper on the face of the Ball, and rubs it well with his hands, till the Ball is thoroughly dry, his companion doing the same to the other Ball: they then begin to work the form.

“If a pressman has to execute fine work with strong ink, he stuffs the Balls harder with wool than he does for weak ink; because strong ink lugs or stretches the skin very fast, and soon slackens the Balls, if not hard stuffed.

“I was several years employed on fine work and strong ink, in an office where it was not allowed to tread a skin; this circumstance caused me to try the above-mentioned plan, and experience has taught me that it is by far the most preferable method.

“I also know by experience that a greasy skin is the best for strong ink, if treated in this manner; because it always keeps mellow until the balls are worn out, and there is less trouble in capping them.

“Making Balls is a nasty job: there is an old proverb in the trade, that ‘The devil would have been a pressman, if there were no Balls to make;’ that is, the printer’s devil.” See Pelts.

Tanned sheep’s skins, dressed with oil, have been used, to avoid smell, and for durability: they were more durable than pelts; but they were not calculated for producing fine impressions, not being soft; and, in consequence, not retaining dirt or other extraneous matter on their surface; this occasioned picks, and rendered them unsuitable for printing small letter or fine engravings with neatness.

When the pressmen leave work at night, the pelt balls are capped; that is, they are wrapped up, each in a blanket steeped in urine; and this is always done when they are not in use: it keeps them soft, and in working condition; but they are to be scraped, and dried with paper, to get rid of the moisture, each time they are wanted. There have been many attempts to supersede the use of urine, on account of its disagreeableness and smell; but no substitute, to my knowledge, has answered the purpose so well with pelts.

Composition Balls and composition rollers have, as I previously observed, superseded the use of pelt balls in the metropolis, and nearly so in the country. This has arisen from their superior cleanliness and sweetness, and being equal to pelts in producing good work. They can also be procured, generally, at the moment they are wanted, in the best working state; since their introduction the manufacture of them has become a new business, and they are supplied at so moderate a rate, (either per week or quarter,) and may be renewed as often as required, that scarcely a printing office in London at the present day troubles itself to make Balls; and hence no pressman need ever complain of having bad Balls as an excuse for bad workmanship.

These Balls will be found peculiarly convenient in small offices, where even one press is not in constant employment; for they may be kept for any length of time without injury to them; and if they be preserved in a proper temperament, will be always ready for use at the moment required. If they should become a little too dry, they may be restored to a proper state for working in a very short time by sponging them over with water, and distributing them; or, if there be time, by placing them in a damp situation, in order that they may imbibe moisture.

They may be easily made in an office at a distance from town, where it may be both inconvenient and expensive to have them removed backwards and forwards, by having a shallow dish formed of tin, &c. pouring the melted composition in it, and before it is cold attaching a piece of canvass to it sufficiently large to form a Ball of the size wanted. The facing will be thus thicker in the middle and taper off to the edge, which will be quite thin; and the edge of the composition should be continued well over the rounding of the Ball, to prevent it ever touching the form in beating, and thus avoiding any ill effects from portions of ink or dirt that would lodge at the extremity of the composition, and come in contact with the types or engraving. See Composition.

Rack for the printing balls


BALL STOCKS

Turned of Alder or Maple. They are about seven inches in diameter, and have their under side turned hollow, to contain the greater quantity of wool or hair, to keep the ball leathers plump the longer.—M. They are now made of Elm, and the handles are Beech: but an improvement has been made in this article of late years, although it has not been generally adopted, viz. turning the bowl and handle in one piece, instead of having the handle fitted into the bowl, which frequently came loose, and was troublesome to the Pressman, often catching the skin of his hand, and pinching it. The usual size of the bowl for bookwork, is five inches and a quarter in diameter.

BANK.

A deal table, on which the Pressmen have the paper when printing. It was called a Horse in Moxon’s time. See Horse. It is useful to have a small drawer in the front of it, in which the Pressmen may put their thin paper for overlays, their paste points, and many other articles that would otherwise be lying upon the shelf or platen.

A tool to hold an inked ball


ball tool

A small finishing tool cut in the shape of a ball.


bamboo

A giant grass of the tribe Bambusseae, located in the tropical areas of the Eastern Hemisphere, and cultivated successfully in some parts of the southern United States. The fibers are not unlike those of straw in many aspects. Bamboo fibers have an average length of 2.4mm., which puts them between the softwood and hardwood fibers. It is used extensively in India for the manufacture of all grades of chemical pulp and paper. Paper made from it is relatively soft and bulky, with a high tearing resistance but relatively low burst and tensile strength. Although writing and printing papers are produced from 100% bamboo pulp, superior results are realized when the bamboo is blended with other pulps that increase burst and tensile strength.

Bamboo is also the traditional material used in making molds and other devices used in the manufacture of handmade paper.

American Paper and Pulp Association. The dictionary of paper, including pulp, paperboard, paper properties and related papermaking terms. 3rd ed. New York. American Paper and Pulp Association. 1965.

Grant, Julius. Books & documents; dating, permanence and preservation. London. Grafton. 1937.


band board

A wooden block about 9 by 12 inches, 6 inches thick at the head and 5 at the foot, on which headbanders in library binderies used to lay their zinc boards with dampened headbands, prior to attaching them to the text blocks. .

Palmer, Elbridge Woodman. A course in bookbinding for vocational training. New York. Employing bookbinders of America. 1927.


band driver

A blunt, chisel-shaped tool, usually made of wood, and used in hand binding to attain uniformity and also to correct any irregularities of the bands on which the book is sewn. See also: BAND NIPPERS.

Philip, Alexander John. The business of bookbinding for librarians …Gravesend. A. J. Philip. 1935.


band driver

A tool used in forwarding to correct irregularities in the bands of flexible backs.


band driver

A blunt chisel used in forwarding, to correct any irregularities in the bands of flexible backs.


band nippers

See illustration</> Pincers which have broad, flat jaws, used for straightening the bands of a book sewn on raised cords, and also for nipping up the leather during covering. The better nippers are nickleplated or made of stainless steel to avoid discoloring the leather, and are equipped with a spring to keep the jaws open when in use.

Hewitt-Bates, James Samuel. Bookbinding. 8th ed. Leicester. Dryad. 1967.


band nippers

Flat pincers used for nipping up the band in covering.


band nippers

pincers with flat jaws, used for straightening the bands (see Fig. 61). For nipping up the leather after covering, they should be nickelled to prevent the iron staining the leather.


band nippers

Pinchers with flat jaws used for straightening bands by nipping up the leather after it is in place. They should be nickeled to prevent the iron staining the leather.


band pallet

A type of PALLET (1) used to impress a complete design on the spine of a book between the raised bands. Sometimes called a "butterstamp."

Crane, W. J. E. Bookbinding for amateurs…New York. Scribner. 1903.


band pattern

A device, generally made of brass, with holes drilled indicating the position of the bands of books to be sewn on raised cords.

Pleger, John J. Bookbinding. Rev. ed. Chicago. Inland Printer. 1924.


banding

See: BANDS (2).


bands

See illustration</> 1. The cords or thongs on which the sections of books are sewn. They may be raised for FLEXIBLE SEWING, sawn-in for RECESSED-CORD sewing, or FLEXIBLE NOT TO SHOW. Early bands (or thongs, as they were originally called) were made of leather, which was not very durable, or tawed skin, which was very durable. Leather thongs began to be replaced by cords during the latter years of the 16th century. Hemp and linen cords are commonly used today.

Sewing on raised bands came into use in England sometime between the 12th and 13th centuries, although the technique had been introduced into northern Europe centuries earlier. The first raised band sewing was on double bands, ranging in number from two to five. The bands were positioned so that there was a greater space between the bands themselves than between the top and bottom bands and the head and tail of the book. Single bands began to replace double ones and, by the mid-16th century, had become predominant in the more economical styles of binding.

2. Strips of reinforcing material (usually leather) which extend across the spine, or spring-back, and onto the sides of a book, usually a stationery binding. The bands may be placed on the boards before covering, in which case they are called "underbands," or over the covering material, where they are known as "overbands." Bands are used to strengthen large blankbooks in the area of the joints, and to provide additional leather at areas of heavy surface abrasion. They also protect, to some extent, the lettering on the spine of the book. When overbands are used, they are generally decorated in some manner, usually in the design of their lacing or riveting; this step is needed because adhesive alone will not keep the overbands attached to the book. In the case of underbands, the decoration of the covering leather is often concentrated around the area of the bands.

The size and position of the bands, both over and under, are based on definite proportions of the cover of the book. Bands may be single, double, or double straight. When single bands are used, the cover is divided into 19 equal parts. Each band is 3/19 the length of the cover, and there are 3/19 the cover length between the bands. The top and bottom bands are each 2/19 from the head and tail edges of the cover, respectively. All three bands extend into the cover 2/5 of its width. Double bands, in addition to providing additional strength across the spine, also provide an additional thickness of leather along the edges of the boards. These bands are more complicated than single bands, as the bands at head and tail are equal to 5/19 of the length of the cover, with 2 of the 5/19 bands extending the full width of the cover, while the other 3/19 extend only the customary 2/5. The center band also extends 2/5 the width. With double band there is no space between the bands and the head and tail of the boards.

A variation of the double band is the double straight. In this technique, the length of the cover is divided into five equal segments. Each band is 1/5 the length of the cover. The head and tail bands extend the full width of the cover, while the middle one extends the customary 2/5.

Bands were also used to some extent in limp vellum binding, in which case the bands were sewn through the sections of the book.

The use of bands as a technique for strengthening bindings has been practiced since at least the 14th century. At one time they were commonly referred to as "Russia bands" because of the use of RUSSIA LEATHER in making them.

3. Lines in gold or in blind impressed by means of a pallet across the spine of a book sewn on recessed cords in the same positions as would be occupied by the raised bands used in flexible sewing. 4. False bands attached to a HOLLOW BACK book or a TIGHT BACK book sewn on recessed cords, in imitation of flexible sewing. 5. The strips of brass attached to the tail edges of the covers of large blankbooks, for the purpose of protecting the leather covering from wear. 6. A form of decoration consisting of wide parallel lines with ornaments impressed between them.

Cockerell, Douglas. Bookbinding, and the care of books; a textbook for bookbinders and librarians. 5th ed. London. Pitman. 1971.

Dunn and Wilson Group. The art and craft of bookbinding. Falkirk. Dunn & Wilson. 1968.

Hannett, John. Bibliopegia; or, the art of bookbinding… London. Simkim, Marshall. 1848.

Middleton, Bernard C. A history of English craft bookbinding technique. New York. Hafner. 1963.

Nicholson, James B. A manual of the art of bookbinding… Philadelphia. Baird. 1856.

Vaughan, Alexander J. Modern bookbinding; a treatise covering both letterpress and stationery branches of the trade…New ed. London. Skilton. 1960.


bands

The twines whereon the sheets of a volume are sewn. When the book is sewed flexible the bands appear upon the back. When the back is sawn so as to let in the twine, the appearance of raised bands is produced by glueing narrow strips of leather across the back before the volume is covered.


bands

(1) The cord whereon the sheets of a volume are sewn. (2) The ridges on the back caused by the bands raising the leather.


bands

The cord whereon the sheets of a volume are sewn. When a book is sewn “flexible” the bands appear upon the back. When the back is sewn so as to imbed the cord in the back, the appearance of raised bands is produced by gluing narrow strips of leather across the back before the volume is covered.


bands

(1) the cords on which a book is sewn. (2) The ridges on the back caused by the bands showing through the leather.


bands

The strings, cord or twine on which a book is sewed. They are usually made of hemp, are loosely twisted, are 2, 3, 4-ply according to the size of the book, and cost about 35 cents per pound. This twine is loosely twisted that it may be flexible and less likely to break when glued and dried, and that it may be easily frayed out at the ends for pasting down on the inside of the covers.


bands frayed

The cords (bands) of a book which have been separated (frayed out) into individual threads. The frayed out cords, which extend out from the text block 1 to 2 1/2 inches, are glued between split boards, and are frayed out so as to avoid bulging of the boards. Cf: LACING-IN.

Bailey, Arthur Low. Library bookbinding. New York. Wilson. 1916.


bandstick

See illustration</> 1. A hard, smooth length of wood, frequently beechwood, used in pressing and smoothing the leather over the bands on the spine. The bandstick may consist of a narrow strip having a smooth sharpened edge on one side, in which case it is used to work one side of a band at a time, or it may be grooved so that the stick fits over the band. The latter type may have graduated grooves on both sides to accommodate bands of varying widths. 2. A tapering length of hard, smooth wood, used in pressing and smoothing the leather on the spine between the raised bands. Also called "rubbing-up stick."

Matthews, William F. Bookbinding, a manual for those interested in the craft of bookbinding. London. Gollancz. 1929.


BANK

A table about four feet high, to lay sheets on at press.