BOOKBINDING

by John P. Harthan

This very important Bookbinding for Book Artists is a gem for book lovers. Bookbinding f or Book Artists presents a simple approach to binding a boo kin cloth or leather. It eliminates the skill required to pare leather or to sew endbands by hand. Three binding are described in Pamphlet Binding with Boards; Flat Back, and Tight Back is presented as a leather bound book"

Genres: Art, Nonfiction, Books About Books, Crafts, Reference, How To

Hardcover

First published June 1, 1998

Reviews

[Yevgeniy Kravtsov · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good instruction on how to make several types of glued/pasted book bindings (Keith A. Smith, the author, has also few books on non-adhesive binding). This publication gives introduction on book structure, history of book-binding, and general principles of binding craft, before delving into specifics of each particular type of binding. It is well structured, there is no redundancy, and if anything was covered elsewhere, it gives clear indication of which section to read to accomplish a particular task.

Authors take approach of developing and refining methods to bind books without cutting corners on quality, yet avoiding any expensive or specialized equipment. Myself, as a complete beginner in book arts tasked with a project for a college art class, managed to produce fairly successful exemplar of hard-cased pamphlet-bound book using only butter knife to fold signature, regular needle to sew it, and hobby knife to cut any necessary materials for casing.

I was only concerned with pamphlet binding, and did not read chapters on more advanced multi-signature methods, but if I ever find myself in need to make any of those, this would be one of the first books I would turn to.

[Toby · Rating 3 out of 5]

This has a lot of great advice on bookbinding at a semi-experienced level. I don't think it would be a great first exposure to bookbinding. For that, you might want to consider Making Books by Hand: A Step-By-Step Guide, but the usefulness of that one depends upon your goals. This is a useful guide to making books, but doesn't include a lot about many of the other projects that could be classified as bookbinding projects, such as pamphlets and art books. All that being said, this is a very approachable way to learn the more technical aspects of bookbinding. There are a lot of guides out there that are meant for very experienced people or professionals. This one is definitely for the amateur, but not the rank beginner. Give it a look!

[Adrianne · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book focused on fewer book structures and added more depth to each: pamphlet binding, and then more traditional flat-backed, and tight-back. I especially liked the section on imposition (laying out your text) on pg 95, and a section on finishing (all those finishing touches) pg 335 like labels, inlaid papers, onlay using thread, edge decoration, and making your own bookcloth.

[Wendy · Rating 5 out of 5]

My favorite book arts how-to book. "Book arts with simple kitchen utensils." Just my speed. I love it.