BOOK BINDING
Bookbinding can be found as early as the 1st century A.D.
The Romans created a form of simple book called a codex by folding sheets of vellum or parchment in half and sewing them through the fold.
They were more easy to handle than papyrus, and allowed writing on both sides of the leaves.
Early books were made from paper, or parchment, folded and sewn onto ligaments
attached to a hard cover which was usually made from wooden boards and covered
with leather.
There are as many types of books as there are artists making them but most of them can be categorised as follows :
A hardcover or hardbound book has a “hard” cover and is stitched
in the spine.
Unlike the original hardcovers which were usually made of wooden board covered
with leather, thick cardboard is used for the covers of modern books. In the
1900’s book covers were made of cloth which later in the century was
replaced with clothette, some sort of textured paper which resembling cloth.
A paperback is a book made of papers between covers of much heavier paper,
glued together at the spine with a strong flexible glue. They are usually
much cheaper than the original hardbound books.
A sewn book is made the same way as a hardbound book lacking the hard covers.
The binding is as durable as that of a hardbound book.
The East and the West have developed different methods of sewing ; a traditional
method such as the Butterfly Stitch of Japan uses sashes allowing the book
to open flat and not break the spine by sewing in slits cut into the folded
page or signature rather than small punctures as used in traditional western
binding.
SUGGESTED READING
Early books in Western countries were Medieval manuscripts made by monks and beautifully decorated with illuminiations.
In the late Middle Ages rag paper was used for bookmaking and with the printing presses arriving in the late 15th century commercialisation set in and brought with it the need for standardization.