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Basic Bookbinding
Starting from basic principles and assuming no previous experience, this modern exposition of the elements of bookbinding enables both the beginner and the expert to apply the latest and most simplified techniques to rebinding old favorites and binding many new paperback books.
A complete list of all necessary materials, including a guide to the proper selection of tools, paper, boards, cloth, leather, or sheepskin covering fabrics and lettering inks and pigments, introduces the subject. In surprisingly easy stages, you are shown how to collate a book, sew it, back it, trim it, make boards, and attach them to the book. Step-by-step instructions and hundreds of photographs and diagrams of equipment and key operations reduce the process to essentials.
Individual chapters are devoted to single-sectioned, multi-sectioned, and case-bound books, hollow-backed and library style binding, the use of end papers, and the most practical methods of lettering the finished book. The author includes a valuable appendix which summarizes the precise steps followed in each operation in convenient tabular form.
An elementary text, simple enough for the beginner yet containing new material of interest to the expert, Basic Bookbinding avoids intricate techniques and elaborate equipment. Mr. Lewis, twice first prize winner in national competition, presents the subject with the clarity born of many years of experience in teaching bookbinding.
A complete list of all necessary materials, including a guide to the proper selection of tools, paper, boards, cloth, leather, or sheepskin covering fabrics and lettering inks and pigments, introduces the subject. In surprisingly easy stages, you are shown how to collate a book, sew it, back it, trim it, make boards, and attach them to the book. Step-by-step instructions and hundreds of photographs and diagrams of equipment and key operations reduce the process to essentials.
Individual chapters are devoted to single-sectioned, multi-sectioned, and case-bound books, hollow-backed and library style binding, the use of end papers, and the most practical methods of lettering the finished book. The author includes a valuable appendix which summarizes the precise steps followed in each operation in convenient tabular form.
An elementary text, simple enough for the beginner yet containing new material of interest to the expert, Basic Bookbinding avoids intricate techniques and elaborate equipment. Mr. Lewis, twice first prize winner in national competition, presents the subject with the clarity born of many years of experience in teaching bookbinding.
176 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 1, 1952
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Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
July 14, 2009
This book is so British and boring. It's all about the "proper" way to bookbind, which is great: I believe you have to know the rules to effectively break them. BUT I couldn't get through the proper way to do it. The book is marketed for those who have no previous experience (that would be me), but they just dropped me in there and I didn't get it. The sequence didn't make any sense to me.
Sample: "All imitations should be avoided as they are merely a form of deception; the frank use of a material in its natural state, making the most of its own particular qualities, is much to be preferred." "The distance is best measured by means of a pair of dividers but accurate measuring with a ruler is quite sufficient."
Sample: "All imitations should be avoided as they are merely a form of deception; the frank use of a material in its natural state, making the most of its own particular qualities, is much to be preferred." "The distance is best measured by means of a pair of dividers but accurate measuring with a ruler is quite sufficient."
June 15, 2018
I keep this in my box of book mending gear, and read as needed.
July 27, 2014
A beginners guide on the repair of damaged books. Contains clear directions and illustrations as well as descriptions of materials. A must for anyone with a personal library that might contain old or salvaged works and those wanting to preserve their books.
July 3, 2017
Eh... pretty elementary in my opinion.
March 29, 2012
Very informative, but hardly basic. If you have a couple of grand to splash on equipment, this is great, otherwise, you might want to look elsewhere for inroads into the craft.
February 21, 2015
Decent case binding instructions. Appendix includes simple, brief lists of steps for each bookbinding technique, which of course I put on index cards instead.
March 26, 2009
There are many more recent bookbinding manuals out there.
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews