The preparing and attaching of the cover forms the final stage of the process. For the whole of the class of boarded books we have been describing, there is a method of making "cases." A case consists of cloth or paper pasted on two boards, the distance of.the boards from each other being equal to the thickness of the book. The case being finished, receives the book, to which it is attached chiefly by pasting it to the canvas of the back and the blank or waste paper on each side. When the eases are in paper, they are at once applied in this manner, and the books may be said to be finished and ready for sale. Such is the mode of doing up that prodigious host of flashily covered volumes which forms a leading product of the cheap press. If the cases are in cloth, there are additional manipulations, in all of which machinery is employed.
Formerly, the ornamental and other work on the outside of books was executed in a tedious and expensive way by hand. Now, the operation, at least as regards cloth boards, is clone by two or three impressions in a steam-wrought arming press; not more than half a minute being employed to do what in the olden time would have occupied a week. This improvement, the greatest in the art of book-binding, has been- facilitated by an advance in the artistic skill ofdeSig,ners, by advancements in the art of die-sinking, and by corresponding adaptations of machinery—the whole united working towards an end.
When it is deemed necessary, for the sake of attractiveness, to stamp a peculiar device on the covers of a book, of which thousands are required, the design is referred to an artist, who, devoting himself to this branch of his profession, devises something appro priate and original. his design, drawn on paper, is cut iu brass or steel; and this, in the form of a metal block, gives the stamp at a blow by the arming-press. When the design is to be gilt, leaf-gold is previously applied. The block being heated, gives a firm and clear impression. Such is the expeditious method of titling and ornamenting with blank and gold tooling the cloth-covered books that are now generally in use.
Books bound in leather, of course, go through a more slow and careful process of for warding and finishing. Formerly, the folded sheets were beaten with a broad-faced hammer on a stone, but now they are squeezed between steel rollers, to give them the required solidity. The sewing, gluing of the back, backing singly with a hammer, uud the other manipulations which follow, are all effected with great deliberation and nicety; and in this department of binding the highest class of operatives nre employed. At one time, the titling of bound books was executed letter by letter, and comparatively few men had sufficient skill and steadiness of hand to produce good work. Now, lettering is sometimes done by means of metal types put together in a small case; though, when numbers are to be executed, the title is cut in block. It is usual also to apply stamps in block to the sides of bound books, and to leave only the finer and smaller tooling to be done by hand. Yet, although greatly assisted by new meehanical contrivances, the
finisher must needs be a kind of artist. Coming to his hands Ilat and solid, and with its joints well formed, through the previous care of the forwarder, he delivers the hooka perfect work of art. It opens easily, and lies fiat out without any strain; its hinges are finely formed without crease; and on back, edge; and sides, the tooling claims mathe matical precision.
A method of fixing together the leaves of a book by means of moutelione, or India rubber, instead of by sewing, has been invented. The sheets are cut into leaves, and the back edges, being laid evenly, receive a solution of this tenacious material. As each leaf is held merely by the caoutchouc which adheres to it, the book can be made to lie very flat; but this new kind of binding is only employed for maps, or books of plates, and does not seem likely to conic into general use. Another novelty in binding is the substitution of wood for pasteboard boards, in imitation of books of ancient date. Applied only to some costly books of a fanciful kind, this must be con sidered to be but a passing caprice; for as wood is liable to warp, it can never serve so well as pasteboards.
In the present day, the binding-trade is pursued in various distinct branches. There are binders who devote themselves entirely to doing up books in cloth or paper; others execute general binding in leather; a third class bind only account-books; a fourth con fine their workmanship to Bibles and prayer-books; and a fifth are known as binders of books in a high style of art, A common defect in provincial binding is a want of taste. Strength is given without elegance; even iu the finest kind of books, there is often a vulgarity' as regards the colors of the end the marbling of the edges, as if the binders were unconscious of proper delicacy of effect. The same thing may almost be said of the best American binding.
Among celebrated English binders of a past age, the foremost place is usually assigned to Boger Payne, a clever but wayward being who carried on business in the w. end of London about the year 1770, and who, from his unfortunate habits, died in great pov erty. His reputation as a hinder rests principally on his flue tooling and choice of orna ments, in which department he introduced many improvements. The greatest of Payne's successors was Charles Lewis, a London binder (1786-1836), whose talent, according to Do "consists in uniting the taste of Roger I'ayue with a freedom of forwarding and squareness of finishing peculiarly his own. His books appear to move on silken hinses; his joints are beautifully squared, and wrought upon with stud ded gold; and iu his inside decorations he stands without a compeer. At present, there are several eminent binders iu London, whose forwarding and finishing, as well as artistic decoration, have given them a deservedly high reputation. w. c.