Book Binding Magic
Book Binding Magic
The art of bookbinding is one I find really fascinating. It’s an art that makes me think of Victorian times for some reason. An art that you never see done – as it’s done by elves behind the scenes isn’t it? But one that has been going on for years. Sometimes books are bound to mend them, but there is a real art to making art from them…
John Rylands has a fascinating exhibition about this:
Beautiful books sign John Rylands Library (c) TheBookTrail
The art of this is fascinating. This is what I have learned so far – the fact that there are many types of book binding:
Case Binding: The traditional method for creating hard-backed books, featuring a distinct cover often made of cloth or leather.
Perfect Binding: Individual pages are stacked and glued with strong PUR adhesive to a square spine, often used for softcover books.
Saddle Stitching: A simple method for thin books or pamphlets where pages are folded and stitched along the spine.
Japanese Stab Binding: A decorative, manual method where holes are punched through the edge of loose-leaf pages and sewn, leaving the stitching visible.
Comb/Spiral Binding: A functional, mechanical binding for reports and notebooks, allowing pages to lie flat.
In the library I was memorised by these –
Beautiful books John Rylands Library (c) TheBookTrail
And this
The skill, the artwork and material, embroidery and so many more methods used to make these books beautiful were spellbinding. What an art! What a skill. People who make art from books or people who help preserve books for future generations is very admirable.
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