Bookbinders Continued…

After the pages are glue and compressed, a piece of flannel is glued onto the spine or edge of the pages to reinforce the hold. They then assemble the cover using binder board and the desired material or fabric to cover it. Various covers include linen, leather and buckram, which is a canvas that has a vinyl coating. When the cover is ready, a machine is usually used to shape the book and the paper and prepare for the cover to be glued to the end pages.

If you want to repair an old book such as an old family cook book or genealogy book, it is possible that the cover just needs to be replaced. In which case the glued spine can remain, yet if the book is in real need of help, the book may be taken apart, the glue of the spine stripped and the edges trimmed. It will get a fresh look and strong hold so it can be used for many more years.

Profession

Some bookbinders work in independent shops that do small orders for individuals. They can repair a book that has already been bound or they can take pages that you want in a book and put them together, be it blank pages for a personal unique journal or a book you created as a gift or family memoir. In the smaller shops the bookbinder most likely performs all the steps in the bookbinding, whereas in a large company that binds books on a much larger scale, bookbinders may specialize in only one area of the bookbinding process.

The outlook for bookbinders is not good as a profession. In the age of electronics including electronic files, automated equipment and outsourcing of jobs, demand is decreasing. Yet there will remain a need for them as long as people continue to read books, just as shoe repair shops continue to operate, yet on a smaller scale. Many find that bookbinding can become a fun hobby. Graphics and artistic ability, patience and a certain amount of perfectionism can all be employed to produce a quality hand covered book. An accomplishment you can be proud of.

By Jeanne Rongitsch