A Glossary of Hand Bookbinding

Terms of the bench, the press and the finishing stove, from awl to yapp edges — a composed reference site: every term a page, every group a grid of cards.

Tools

The tools of the bench: what pierces, folds, cuts, holds and presses.

Materials

What a binding is made of: thread, adhesives, cloth, leather, board.

Paper

Papers and their properties, from grain to deckle.

Structures

Ways a book is put together, from a single pamphlet to laced boards.

Techniques

The operations of forwarding: folding, sewing, rounding, covering.

• All-along sewing

  Sewing every station of every section: the strongest, fullest sewing.

• Backing

  Hammering the outer sections over to form shoulders for the boards.

• Casing-in

  Gluing the finished text block into its ready-made case.

• Collating

  Checking that every section is present, complete and in order.

• Folding

  Turning a printed sheet into a section with the pages in order.

• Gluing up

  Applying adhesive to the sewn spine to hold the sections before rounding.

• Guarding

  Attaching a leaf or plate to a strip folded into the sewing.

• Kettle stitch

  The stitch at head and tail that links one section to the next.

• Knocking down

  Flattening the swell at the spine with a hammer before casing.

• Lacing-in

  Threading the sewing cords through the boards and hammering them flat.

• Lining

  Gluing paper or cloth along the spine to strengthen and shape it.

• Mitring

  Cutting the covering at a corner so the two turn-ins meet neatly.

• Nipping

  A brief, hard squeeze in the press to set adhesive or a joint.

• Oversewing

  Sewing single leaves through the side of the stack rather than the fold.

• Paring

  Thinning leather with a knife or spokeshave.

• Pressing

  Holding a book under even pressure while adhesive dries.

• Pricking

  Marking and piercing the sewing stations through each section's fold.

• Rounding

  Giving the spine a convex curve with the backing hammer.

• Setting the joint

  Pressing a groove along the hinge so the board opens freely.

• Sewing

  Joining the sections with thread, around supports or to one another.

• Tipping in

  Attaching a single leaf by a narrow line of paste along its edge.

• Trimming

  Cutting the edges of the text block square and even.

• Turning in

  Folding the covering material over the board edges onto the inside.

• Two-on sewing

  Sewing two sections with one pass of thread to reduce swell.

Parts

The anatomy of a bound book, from head to tail and spine to fore-edge.

Formats

Sizes, foldings and the furniture a book is kept in.

Finishing

What decorates and names a finished binding: tooling, edges, lettering.

A demonstration: the craft terms are real, the site is invented. Built by plinth from EDN and Markdown; every page is complete without scripts.