The edges of a book are nearly always finished off in some way or another, as the plain white edges would quickly become soiled. As a matter of fact, the binder always uses a covering of gold or colour for this purpose, and care should be taken that this way of treating the edges is decorative and not the reverse.

In small binderies the edge is most usually sprinkled. A small brush with a handle (such as is used for blacking shoes) is dipped into a very thin coloured liquid and rubbed over a fine sieve which is fixed in a frame. The sieve is kept at sufficient distance from the edges of the book to allow the little drops of colour to fall like a fine rain. For this work the book is screwed up in the press (which is laid flat) by means of the press-jack. As a sprinkling colour, nut-wood stain thinned with water is used, or indigo, carmine, Prussian blue, mahogany brown, green cinnabar, all well diluted with water, with the addition of a little paste and borax or a few drops of dilute carbolic to prevent the paste turning sour; aniline dyes have a common appearance. The sprinkle must fall very finely upon the edges, therefore the first large drops should be taken out of the brush by giving it a few preliminary rubs over the sieve.

A few variations are made in sprinkled edges by scattering damp sawdust, sand, or bran on the edges before sprinkling, thus producing a coarser kind of sprinkling. Similarly rice, barley, even starch or drops of wax are used. All these edges are out of date and in really good workshops are every day falling more and more into disuse, preference being given to marbling upon a sized ground.

For the production of even marbling an edge-marbling roller has recently been brought out.

Rubber rollers—one or two—together with the automatic colouring rollers bearing aniline dyes mixed with glycerine, are made up into a handy contrivance by means of which smooth coloured edges can be rolled over. These edges are passable only when carefully and skilfully executed; as a rule they look coarse and common and are taken up only by badly equipped shops. Marbling rollers can be used for comb marbling as well as for small veined marbling.

We may say that the coloured edge is the oldest style.

Earth colours which cover well—cinnabar[2] (red or green), carmine, chrome yellow, graphite, bismuth, and also other colours that cover well, indigo, carmine, and Prussian blue—are ground to a fine powder and thoroughly mixed with water and a little paste or gelatine so that the edges may be evenly covered.

Only printed books are put in the press, and in this case they must first be rubbed down with alum water. After about five minutes the colour may be laid on. Hog's-hair brushes are used for this. Recently, eosin has been used to colour red and picric acid for yellow, both well diluted with water.

The paste edge is a variety of the coloured edge; it is produced by loading paste with a very strong colour so that it covers well when laid on. With the blunt point of a stick, a bluntly pointed cork, or even the finger-tip, figures may be traced in the colour when laid on, and then the figures may be brought out better by going over the lines with a pointed stick. The work demands a skilled draughtsman if a good effect or something more than the very simplest design is desired.

The book must be pressed for pasting the edges, and the paste colour must not be laid on too thickly or it will spring off when dry.

Coloured as well as paste edges will take gold tooling and afford considerable scope to the skilful and thoughtful workman.

The finest way of finishing edges and the one allowing greatest variety of treatment is known as marbling; this is a special process.

Formerly regarded as a secret art, it is now an easily acquired branch of our work, thanks to the careful experiments and excellent demonstrations of the master bookbinder, Herr Joseph Halfer, of Buda Pesth.

The whole process of marbling depends upon the peculiarity possessed by colours of floating upon a sized surface when they are mixed with oxgall, and a colour containing more gall forcing off the one first applied. Besides, the colours may be drawn about with a pencil or stick without their mixing. If the smooth edges of a book are brought into contact with such a floating surface-colour they will take up the colours completely.

Ground and colour must each have certain fixed degrees of consistency, and the atmosphere both in and out of doors has also a great influence upon the work.

The prepared body, shortly known as "the body," is at present always composed of boiled Carrageen moss. To every litre[3] of water exactly 12 g. are added and the liquid is put in a saucepan, which is never used for any other purpose, and placed on the fire, great care being taken to catch it just at boiling point or it will all boil over. At the right moment take the saucepan from the fire and strain the contents through a hair sieve, what remains being thrown away as useless. The body may be used the next day, but for figured edges it is better after having been kept three days, and for veined marbling five days. The vessel containing the body must be kept covered so as to exclude all dust.

Gum tragacanth (known as "gum dragon") can also be used as a body, but Halfer's colours are not intended to be used with this.

A marbling trough to contain the body is used whilst working; it is made of zinc plate, is about 15 cm. in width, 50 cm. in length, and 3 cm. in depth, and has a sloping partition soldered near one end, and the colour not taken up is drawn into the division thus made.

A bowl, about 6 cm. across the top, is kept for each colour, and also a hog's-hair brush and a birch-twig brush.

A small bundle of birch twigs is tied round with thread, leaving about 4 cm. of the twigs free, the thickness of the lowest part tied not exceeding 1 cm. The bristles of the brush are tied back so as to form loops and held awhile in boiling water so that they retain their shape after drying and untying. With a brush made up in this way, drops may be laid on anywhere.

For all drawn-out edges only bristle brushes are used, whilst for all other edges a brush is used only for laying on the first colour. For some edges a wide brush is used, so that the whole trough can be filled at one blow; a carpet brush with a short handle is most convenient to use.

A little stick for tracing the colours is also necessary—a butcher's skewer is as good as anything. Besides this, the colours are drawn by combs of various widths; these are easily made by glueing pins with their heads at fixed distances between two strips of mill-board: the result is a tool resembling a comb. All requisites can be conveniently kept in a little wooden box together with the colours. Nowadays only Halfer's ready-made colours are used.

Any one wishing to learn the process of marbling edges would be wise not to attempt all the styles at once, but should be content to learn one before proceeding to another. We will commence with "comb" marbling, also known as "feather" marbling.

When marbling is to be done, the colours must always be tested first. A little colour is shaken into each bowl and its brush placed with it, and one or two drops of prepared oxgall added to each colour so as to make the colour float on the surface.

One prepares one's own oxgall. An ox gall in the gallbladder is procured from a butcher, a glass funnel is placed in a bottle which has been weighed beforehand, and the bottom of the gall bladder is pierced so that the bladder empties its contents into the bottle. After finding the weight of the gall, add to the weight of the gall alone one-sixth and pour into it spirit of wine until the weight is equalized; shake thoroughly and strain the mixture, which will now be quite clear and ready for use.

The colours, with their brushes, are placed in the order in which they are to be used, beginning with the darkest and finishing with the lightest.

A drop of colour is let fall from the black brush upon the body, the surface of which had previously been drawn off with a strip of paper; the surface of this drop must be about the size of a crown piece. If part of the colour sinks to the bottom, the body is too thin or the colour too thick, or the drop was too large and could not spread quickly enough; in the latter case the surplus colour will be seen lying at the bottom and will have no connection whatever with the colour on the surface; but if a cloudy connection can be traced from the surface to the bottom then the body has already become sour and in most cases unfit for use. If the colour does not retain its smooth outlines and becomes jagged, it also shows that the body is too old. If, however, the drop extends as desired and shows none of the faults above mentioned, a drop of blue colour is let fall in the centre of the first, which drives out the first drop in the form of a ring; when it has not this effect, but strongly contracts again, a drop of gall must be added, the colours wiped off to the sloping partition, and the whole process repeated. If the action of the colour was too strong, a little undiluted colour must be added. If the result is satisfactory, a drop of red is added to the blue. The colour scheme is seen in the accompanying drawing. Lastly, yellow is dropped into red, and black is thereby reduced to a very thin ring.

Before each new sprinkling, the old layer of colour must be wiped off. To do this, cut strips of stout waste paper about two fingers in width and a little longer than the trough is wide. The edge of the strip is placed slantingly at the end of the tank in the surface of the body and the surface colour drawn off, at the same time lightly pressing the ends of the strip against the sides of the trough.

When the colours are satisfactory, the little stick is traced in and out amongst them. If too much colour follows the stick, the body is too thick; only a narrow line of colour must follow the stick.

If the colours are thus correctly prepared, the whole trough is sprinkled in the following manner: Along the middle of the trough the darkest colour is sprinkled in what we might call links, that is, each drop is linked to the one preceding.

Fig. 44—Suggestion for sprinkling colour.

The second colour is sprinkled on in the same way; one circle, however, is on the right and the other on the left of the centre colour. Into each drop of the second colour let a drop of the third and then of the fourth colour fall.

The colours must then be traced crosswise with the stick in this form and then likewise with the comb. Neither stick nor comb should be dipped more than about 2 mm. below the surface, otherwise the body is set in motion and the colours disarranged.

The combs should not be made too fine, 30 to 35 teeth for every 10 cm. is the best width and sufficient for most cases. If the comb is drawn back again from the other end it produces drawn-back marbling; this is rarely applied.

The finished comb marbling can be still further varied if figures are traced in it with the stick as shown in Fig. 46.

Fig. 46—Suggestion for curl marbling.

If a double comb is made—one that allows two combs to pass each other, their teeth being 2 cm. apart—bouquet or peacock and eye marbling can be produced. The double comb is drawn over the length of the trough, at the same time moving the two combs up and down evenly. This motion causes the colours to assume the form shown in the accompanying illustration.

Bouquet or peacock marbling is produced by drawing the double comb through the finished comb marble design, and if the double comb is used immediately after the cross tracing with the stick, eye marbling is the result.

With a little thought it would be easy to invent other fancy designs, but these are better applied to paper, as trimmed edges are more beautiful and effective when the marbling is of simpler design.

Fig. 48—Eye marbling.

Large marble, called also Turkish marble, is produced as follows, using the same arrangement of colours. Only the first colour is laid on ringwise; all other colours are scattered in smaller drops from brushes. A darker colour is chosen for the last—brown, blue, olive, grey—to which is added a few more drops of gall and as much spirit of soap (spiritus saponatus), as sold by the druggists. This last colour is prepared in a larger and shallow basin. The largest brush is taken with the hand and dipped, shaken out a little, and then lightly knocked on the left hand so as to sprinkle the colour. The drops will fall in a dense shower, and, owing to their extra impetus, will drive together the preceding ones, and yet they will form the principal colour in the design. If it is desired to have veins of white in the design, a few drops of gall should be added to a little water in a bowl and used as any other colour; the same applies when using white in comb marbling. In a similar manner the so-called Kremser style of marbling is produced, but fewer colours are then used, generally only black and red, red and blue, brown and blue, green and red, at the end sprinkling a little of the strong principal colour to which, besides the spirit of soap, a drop of pure stone oil—not petroleum—from the chemist has been added. As last colour, blue grey (black with a little blue), brown, or grey is used.

Recently, a sort of paper termed Trichinal marble has been very prominent on the market. Black and light brown or red and light brown or black, red, and light brown, or white, are all sprinkled on with a brush, length (not cross) wise drawn through, and then grey with a few drops of turpentine (but very driving) is sprinkled on with a small brush. The single drops have ragged edges and produce a peculiar effect.

Thin-veined or French marbling is done upon the same ground, though it can also be done on a somewhat thinner body. The colours, however, are diluted by 50% water, and, consequently, more gall is added. As a rule, only two colours are used; blue, red; brown, blue; brown, green; black, red; black, blue. The first colour is laid on in rings with a brush and must be strong enough to spread over two-thirds the width of the trough; the second colour is sprinkled over with a little birch broom in drops that spread out to the size of a half-crown. Lastly, the so-called sprinkling-water is sprinkled over with one dash from the large brush as already explained. Sprinkling-water consists of two parts water and one part spirit of soap. The small veins must be driven quite close together and the eyes made by the sprinkling-water must not be larger than a small pea.

It should be observed that for this kind of marbling only the darker shade of red is to be taken, as the light carmine lake colour sinks and does not give a fine effect. India red is best of all.

The sprinkled colours are first tested with strips of paper; cuttings of clean note-paper are saved for this purpose. The edges of a book can be marbled only when the book is level or straight, therefore they must be marbled either before rounding or the book already rounded must be levelled by knocking it on a stone or metal slab. In all cases the marbling is done—both with papers and books—by dipping from one corner to the other diagonally opposite, but never deeper than just sufficient to take off the layer of colour. To prevent the colour from getting between the leaves, the edges are held between zinc plates, which must be dried each time after using. To make the paper or edges take the colours more readily and to prevent any subsequent running off, the edges are lightly washed down with alum water. This wash is made by boiling 100 g. of alum in 1/2 litre of water and using it solely for this work.

The alum solution is laid on with a sponge, with which the edges are washed over. The moisture must have thoroughly soaked in, therefore it is necessary to do it 10 minutes before marbling.

If, however, the edges have become thoroughly dry they will take the colours badly. This occurs in from 20 to 30 minutes, according to the temperature. Marbling can only be done in a warm room where the temperature is equable and where there is no dust.

The marbling bath must be of the same temperature as the room. The body must be skimmed each time before sprinkling the colours, but the colours must be sprinkled on immediately afterwards.

An excellent treatise on the work of marbling edges has appeared under the title: [4]Fortschritte der Marmorirkunst. Von Joseph Halfer. William Leo, Stuttgart.

Gilding edges takes up most time when only occasional books are to be done. The fore-edge can be treated either flat or round. In every case the book must be placed in the press within boards. These boards are narrow strips, about 1/2 cm. thick and up to 5 cm. in width; they must be of equal thickness and bevelled only on long side, the edge itself must be rounded.

Many makers send out boards bevelled right from one side to the other. This kind is very unsuitable and has many disadvantages. The boards must not be made from wood of very open grain, and firs and oaks must not be used. The boards are to be somewhat longer than the edge about to be treated, so that the edge may be as firm and tight as possible and at the same time easy to work upon; two outer boards are added to those regularly used, as shown in Figs. 49 and 50.

The inner boards are quite flush with the book: the latter must on no account stand back. The outer boards are about 3 mm. behind the others; the book is so placed in the press, and here again the book and boards must be exactly level with the press cheeks. The press is then screwed up as tight as possible. If the inner boards have not perfectly straight edges they must be planed down.

Figs. 49 and 50—Arrangement of flat and rounded edges.

The edges are to be scraped down quite smooth with a scraper or, if necessary, with a knife; the scraper must not be sharpened for this purpose as the carpenter sharpens his tools, that is, not to a cutting edge but as though it were for carving, until a bevel (or turned edge) of about 3 mm. has been ground. The edge thus gets a turned edge, with which the book is scraped. If it should cease to "take," the old edge is rubbed down with a steel and a new one made by a few firm strong rubbings. The edge should be wetted a little to prevent its heating. Flat edges are scraped with a flat scraper, rounded edges with one suitably rounded. In this case the round of the blade must be more decided than that of the edges, as it would otherwise be impossible to get into all parts of the edges. Scraping with pieces of glass is an antiquated, clumsy method.

When scraping, the press should lie flat on the table edge, the other end being supported by the press-jack. In scraping, the blade is held in both hands, scraping away from the worker, the scraper sloping forwards. The press must be made immovable. Scraping is continued until all places have been gone over and the whole is perfectly smooth and even. When this is accomplished, the edges are thinly coated with paste, which is well rubbed in along the sheets with a bundle of waste paper until the edges look as if burnished. It is advisable to damp the edges before scraping, as the blade then takes hold more uniformly.

Then bolus is mixed with glair as a body colour, laid on sparingly, very evenly, and free from streakiness, using a thick hair brush for the purpose. Bolus is sold to the trade ready prepared under the name "Poliment." Some time before using, it should be scraped into a suitable vessel and mixed with glair. The latter is prepared by adding the white of an egg to 1/4 litre of water and beating to a froth. It is then strained through a piece of linen or, better, through a filtering paper.

After the bolus ground has dried (which takes a few minutes) the gold is laid on. There are various methods of doing this. The surest and quickest way is to lay it on with the gilder's tip.

A row of long badger hairs is glued between two pieces of cardboard; this is drawn a few times over the hair of the head, which makes it take the gold easily. Gilders' tips are to be had at any colour dealer's. Gold is taken from the gold book, laid upon the gold cushion, and cut into suitable strips with the gold knife. The gold cushion consists of a piece of calf stretched raw side out on a board. Between the leather and the board there is placed a pad of cotton wool, and over the wool a pad of blotting-paper. The gold knife is a thin, pliant, two-edged knife without a sharp edge, in fact it is better to blunt the fore-edge from time to time by rubbing it on a polished steel. If the knife is too sharp it will cut the leather cushion. Taking the gold from the book will not be found a very easy task. The top leaf covering the gold is turned back, the book with the uncovered leaf of gold laid on the cushion, and the book slowly lifted up. The gold-leaf remains flat upon the cushion and may be cut with the knife as required. If a draught has turned the gold-leaf over or made it lie unevenly, it may be righted by lightly tapping with the knife on the cushion near the gold; careful breathing on the centre of the leaf will help in more awkward cases—the rest must be learned by practice. Never attempt to take hold of gold-leaf with the fingers; only the experienced workman knows how to carry gold-leaf with a finger.

For gilding the edges the deep red gold is always used, or else the so-called orange gold, which is somewhat lighter in tone, but never the lemon or green gold.

For flat gilt edges the gold is cut about 3 mm. wider than the book and into as many strips as would make up the length of the edge if joined together.

Before laying on the gold, the bolused edge is brushed down with a hard clothes-brush to remove all hair, dust, &c. Glair is now liberally applied with a thick hair brush, laying it on separately for each strip. The gold is now lifted from the cushion with the gilder's tip so that it very slightly projects over the end of the brush and is transferred to the wet edges. The tip is brought to within 1 cm. of the surface of the edges and with a quick motion the whole surface of the gold is at once brought into contact with the glaired edges, which will instantly take it up quite greedily. The gold slightly overlaps on to the inner boards. In this one continues, preparing the edge for each fresh strip and laying on each strip so that it slightly overlaps the other until the whole length is covered with gold. If the gold should be injured in any way, the press must be tilted so as to allow a little glair to run under the gold to the spot and then a larger piece is laid over the faulty place. When it is seen that all parts are completely covered, the press-jack is put aside, the press is taken by the screws between the beams and raised high overhead so that the gilded part is turned downwards. One end is carefully lowered until the glair has run to one side and dripped off. As soon as the greater part of the moisture has been removed, the press is either placed upright with the edge to the wall and head downwards or it is laid across the table where it will not be disturbed, with the head of one screw on the table edge. In this way the moisture runs off quicker, as the whole length of the edge drains together. When dry, the edges are burnished, and it is in seizing the right moment to do this that the clever finisher shows his skill. The first test is made on the boards. If the gold comes off on scratching the portion on the inner board with the finger-nail, the edge is still too damp; if the scratching makes it shine, it will be all right. The experienced worker can trace the progress of drying with more certainty by breathing on the edges; the slowness or rapidity with which the breath disappears points to the dry or moist state of the edges.

When it is believed that the proper degree of dryness has been obtained, the edge is polished with a burnisher. A piece of tracing paper which has been waxed on the upper side—that is, the side next the burnisher—is laid on the fresh edge to protect it from injury. The burnisher is then worked crosswise, stroke by stroke, over the paper (through which the edge can be observed) the length of the edge; if it is noticed that gold and moisture adhere to the paper near to the boards, the work must be laid aside to wait a little longer. If, however, the whole process has gone on satisfactorily, the edge is gone over with a linen rag and a little beeswax. It is not at all better to use a silk rag instead of linen, for it happens too easily that tiny threads stick to the gold unnoticed and are afterwards rubbed into the edge. After going over the edge with the waxed rag, the bare edges may take a greater pressure in burnishing, and if no flaws are now perceptible there need be no hesitation in burnishing with very strong pressure. The burnisher must be held quite level, the long handle fixed against the shoulder and the lower end firmly gripped with both hands just above the metal fastening. The fore-edge of the burnisher is not to be held parallel to the sheets, but must be at a slight angle; it thus slips better over the paper and there is less danger of making rills and furrows, and the polish is obtained more rapidly. Flat edges are always burnished crosswise, but at the end a broad burnisher may be used for going over the edges lengthwise with a few slow, firm strokes, so as to ensure a very level surface.

Quick burnishing must always be avoided; it heats the gold, which rubs off under the burnisher, and causes holes which can never be remedied.

As soon as one length has been burnished, the waxed cloth must be applied before proceeding further.

Slight flaws in the gold itself, or due to bubbles in the glair, may be put right by touching the faulty places with a small brush dipped in rectified spirit and immediately laying on a piece of gold; if the edges had not yet been gone over with the waxed rag, it would be sufficient to breathe on the place, lay on the gold, and burnish under paper. This need only stand a few minutes, as it quickly evaporates, and may then be burnished again at once, first with, then without, the tracing paper. It must be observed that such faulty places must be burnished in the direction of the sheets, never crosswise.

Rounded edges are more difficult to work; the scraping alone being more troublesome. Each piece of gold is halved, laying on each time a little beyond the deepest part of the round. The press is so lowered as to give a decided slope to the half of the edge to be operated upon. The gold is cut to a little more than half width, and only the under side to a little beyond the middle is glaired, which in this case must be done very freely. The strips of gold-leaf are laid on as before. When one side has been covered with gold, the press is turned and the other half of the round similarly treated. Care must be taken that there is always a liberal supply of glair in the depth of the round. To drain off the superfluous glair the press is placed so that the glair runs off on the long side; the gold is in consequence better taken up in the round.

Burnishing is here also done under a piece of paper, and it is better to work crosswise, first one half to the centre of the round and then the other. Only thin books are burnished along the edges with a round burnisher. After the round edges have been burnished crosswise they are burnished with the round burnisher.

Burnishers are made of agate or of bloodstone; the latter is said to produce a higher polish, but this may be due to our being more accustomed to its use. In selecting burnishers the flat ones should not be too wide and the strongest of the curved ones should be taken.

Top and bottom edges undergo the same treatment in gilding as the flat fore-edge, except for a few slight necessary differences in the method of fixing the book. In the first instance, long boards are used instead of the outer boards—these protect the book from injury. The boards (the short sides of cross-boards are often used instead) are laid exactly in the groove at the back, but the outer boards are set back so that they are exactly in a line with the depth of the round edge. If this precaution is neglected, the chances are that little ridges will appear in the fore-edge where pressure has been applied. Fig. 51 shows the arrangement in the press.

Scraping is done from the back to the fore-edge. As the back is not pressed so solid as the rest of the edge, it frequently happens that it does not get scraped so smooth. In this case recourse may be had to a fine file and fine sand-paper. The rest undergoes the familiar process. Take care that no glair runs on to the fore-edge when applying it or when draining it off. It is convenient to place the press crosswise on the table so that the fore-edge stands at its lower side; the glair then drains off the whole length of the edge more evenly and drains more towards the fore-edge. Many finishers elevate the press, letting it drain towards the fore-edge; there is no danger to the latter if the press is tipped forward from the top. On no account must the glair be allowed to drain towards the back, as this part is very open and all the moisture would gather there.

Fig. 51—Top edge arranged for gilding.

Besides the method of laying on the gold-leaf with the gilder's tip there is another which is specially used in gilding hymn-books; a piece of gauze is stretched across a frame, passed over the hair, and then the gold for the entire length of the edge is at once picked up and laid on. Round edges may be similarly covered by means of a couple of threads or horse-hairs stretched on a frame. The threads can be shifted to the short sides of the frame; they are adjusted to the width of the edge, allowing for the rounding, and are slightly greased by passing over the hair, and thus pick up the strip of gold at the edges. Just before laying on the gold, the threads are adjusted so that the gold fits the shape of the edge. Then plenty of glair is applied and the gold quickly and truly laid on.

This method is not exactly difficult, but it is not quite so safe as laying on with a gilder's tip, especially for very large edges.

The simplest way of laying on for flat edges is by means of strips of paper. This has the advantage of allowing a larger number of gold strips being made ready for laying on at one time. Select a piece of stiff and not too thin paper, cut into strips about the width of the strips of the gold-leaf, draw one side of the paper across the hair, and then take up the leaf so as to allow it to project a little over the edge of the paper strip. After glairing, strip by strip is laid on.

For very cheap work it is often necessary to gild edges with alloyed gold. Such edges are not so carefully and thoroughly prepared; in particular, they are not scraped, but rubbed down with sand-paper. Blood serum is used instead of white of egg; this is prepared by allowing ox-blood to stand a few days and then filtering off the clear liquid.

Aluminium is laid on a gelatine solution: one tablet of gelatine to 1/4 litre of water.

Gilt edges are also frequently tooled or scraped and painted. This work comes within the sphere of the art binder and cannot be dealt with in this book.

All other coloured and marbled edges can be burnished in the same way as gilt edges. In good work this must always be done.

In small shops headbands are made to this day of striped calico, which is cut into strips of 2 cm. wide right across the pattern, and one edge is pasted round a thin cord. After drying, pieces the exact size of the back of the book are cut off. The back of the book at the head is glued with a not too thin glue and the headband glued on so that the pad made by the cord lies on top of the edges and thus covers the place where book and cover join.

Woven headbands are now to be had so cheap that it is no longer necessary for the binder to make his own. The cheaper kinds are woven of cotton, and of these there are bands made which have two pads, each edge having a different colour. This band is cut along the middle for use; for the rest, it is cut into pieces according to the width of the book and then glued on to the back. Better kinds in silk are only woven on one side, therefore the cutting asunder is not necessary. For work in quantities, the headbands are cut the size of the back with the adjustable headband shears.

For extra work the headband is hand-worked in silk. This work can only be learned by practice, although its execution is not difficult; such books are only headbanded after boarding.

To make the filling for the headband, cut into strips pieces of vellum which have been pasted together, between which a piece of tough, thin pasteboard may be pasted to further strengthen. These strips are cut a little less than the height of the squares and a little longer than the width of the back. So as to facilitate the work, the strip is at once curved to the rounding of the back.

Take two silk threads of the kind sold as "Cordonnet" silk, each thread of a different colour. Both threads are threaded in a sewing needle, the threads taken double, the ends of both double threads knotted together. The book is clamped in the ends of a press and stands slanting a little outwards. The needle is inserted in the back groove of the first sheet at the left hand underneath the kettle stitch and the thread drawn out to the knots. Thus one thread is always above and another below. The strip of vellum is now placed upright on the outside edge of the head, the thread is brought over from below, and is stitched from above to below close to the head, with the hanging needle through the first sheet under the kettle stitch outwards. Bring the same thread once more up over the strip, let the needle hang in the hollow of the fore-edge, taking in its stead the other thread which takes up the first, bringing it out underneath the vellum strip. By this, the first thread is firmly drawn as a chain stitch into the headband now beginning. The second thread is now brought upwards but need not again be taken through the sheet; it is taken back under the vellum strip once, and at the second time the needles are changed in the hollow as the first thread one more takes up the second thread and draws it into a chain. Thus the work goes on; after several journeys the thread is once again drawn out through a sheet until both threads are brought out at the other end of the back and pasted down. The first knots must also be undone and the ends pasted so that they do not show on the back. It is essential that the vellum strips should be always firmly and evenly sewn upon the edge, and also that every winding of the thread and the chain lies quite regular.

Fig. 53—Headband working.

It is possible to make a variation by making a few stitches with a third thread of another colour in the centre of the headband. Any vellum projecting at the ends must be cut off flush with the book.

Some books are given a marker; this is made of silk ribbon or of a cheaper kind specially woven for the purpose. It is cut long enough to allow of its projecting a little at the head and pasted there, and at the same time comfortably held by the finger at the corner diagonally opposite. The marker is glued on before headbanding.