The boards may be fastened to the covers in various ways, apart from casing, i.e., fixing books in publishers' ready-made cases.

1. Fastening upon bands (ordinary fastening).
2. Fastening below bands (fastening on a deep groove).
3. Drawing the bands through the boards (fastening with laced bands).

The boards for the books are nowadays manufactured from pulp, excepting in a few districts in Pomerania and East Prussia where wood boards are still occasionally made. Of these pulp boards the better kinds are called mill-boards; the cheaper are called straw-boards. Leather boards are not suitable for books as they invariably wrinkle or cockle. The boards may be cut to size before fastening on, or this may be done even after the fastening on has been completed. The former is generally practised where there is a board-cutting machine, but even then further attention is usually given to the shaping of the boards in the case of "extra" work.

The board-cutting machine is a very useful ally, for by the aid of quickly adjusted rectangles and parallels a board may be cut perfectly true.

The boards are selected according to the size and thickness of the book, marked out, and cut perfectly rectangular. The boards must slightly project at top and bottom as well as fore-edge so as to afford sufficient protection to the book. The margins so projecting are called the squares. Small books are allowed a small square, as a matter of course, and large books a square correspondingly larger.

Where there is no board-cutting machine, the boards must be cut to size with the knife upon a cutting-board, using a straight edge for the line.

The knife used is the well-known bookbinder's knife—Henckel Bros.' Solingen make is the best. These knives—both in fixed and removable wooden handles—are made of "glass hard" steel. If the point is worn away, a piece about 1/2 cm. long is knocked off with a hammer on an iron edge, thus making a fresh edge. The cutting-boards must be of maple, beech, or pear tree.

If it is intended to shape the edges of the board on the book, it must be cut about 1 cm. larger each way so as to allow for further trimming.

Fastening the boards to the book is called "boarding." This can generally be done as well with paste as with glue; the former is preferable but necessitates longer pressing and drying. Glueing is quicker, but the bands cannot then be pressed so evenly into the boards.

For ordinary fixing on the bands, the insides of the boards are pasted to about 3 cm. in width, the bands also pasted, and the board laid on, bringing it well up to the groove. If it is intended to glue up, the bands are also glued, provided they have not already been glued on—a method preferred by many experienced hands. The bands must be pasted so that they radiate from the back without any tangle; a morsel of paste the size of a pea is laid on the band from underneath with the folder or point of a knife, the band smoothed down, and the thing is done. After glueing-up, the book is pressed between boards. If zinc plates are placed under the boards whilst pressing, the pasted parts will be pressed quite smooth and shiny.

For cloth or half-cloth binding a hollow back is frequently glued on. To make the covering material of the back more lasting, a back is made up of strong wrappers or some other tough material, which extends over the back underneath the cover. This backing material must be cut 4 to 5 cm. wider than the width of the back and about 1 cm. longer each way than the book. This strip is pared very narrowly along both sides with a sharp knife on the so-called paring stone. A second strip—the backing—of the same material is cut the same length but exactly the width of the back of the book and is glued on to the middle of the wider strip. The overlapping parts at the sides are broken in towards the middle, close by the inner packing, and the crease well pressed down with the folder. These overlapping edges are then turned back again and a rule is laid on the packing parallel with the edge but drawn back to the middle about 2 to 3 mm. according to the thickness of the cover. If the moveable flaps are now again laid over towards the centre and narrowly creased near the first fold over the rule, a second parallel fold is obtained which allows the book to open much better. The back in section appears as illustrated in Fig. 55 after the middle part of the packing has undergone the necessary rounding.

Rounding can be done either by rubbing the middle part round with a proper wooden tool in a rounding board having several hollows of various degrees of convexity, or by drawing the back with a rocking motion under a broad folder. Such a made-up back must fit perfectly true to the groove and on the back. This is the hollow back. Before fastening it to the book, the latter must have a piece of stout paper pasted over the back; good packing-paper is the best. Newspapers and loose advertisements out of magazines are not at all satisfactory and must not be used. The book is glued and the paper laid on and glued. In doing a large batch the books may be pasted in the press and the paper pasted on.

Many experts glue the hollow backs on and use paste for the board. Very frequently the glue comes through and spoils the end papers. It is better to raise the flaps of the back, paste the tear off of the end paper, paste the bands on to it, and the loose flaps as well, and then paste this on the outside and set the board on it. The latter must be set back a little further in this case so that the book moves freely in the joint. The back, therefore, is a hollow arch stretching over the book from groove to groove, the loose flaps of the packing adhering between book and board. The book is pressed until thoroughly dry—best between zinc plates.

For shaping boarded books an edge rule is used. This is a thin iron rule not much longer than the width of the book. On the long edge an iron pin about the width of the edge is soldered. This tool is inserted between book and board so that the iron pin lies close to the edge of the book; if the board is trimmed along this it will leave the board exactly as much larger than the book as is the width of the rule.

Knives or points must be well grasped in cutting boards. The edge must be clean and square.

If the boarded book has a hollow back, first one end is shaped and the projecting back is neatly cut clean and straight to the other board with the shears, and then the other end is shaped.

Boards are fixed on a deep groove by pasting them on the outside to a width of about 3 cm., placing them direct on the book, backing them firmly into the groove, and then pasting the bands very smoothly upon the boards. A folded piece of waste paper is placed on the pasted part, a piece of zinc plate over it, and the book then pressed. The double leaf is used to prevent any sticking to the zinc plate, which bands are particularly liable to do if the plates had not been properly cleaned after previous use.

Boards to be fastened into a deep groove must be lined with waste paper; this is done with paste. When packing, a narrow strip of paper must be brought over the inner edge of the board in the groove to the outside, so that the cut edge of the board is covered and does not strain or swell.

This is also done when boarding, as follows:—

At the present time, all good half or whole leather bindings have the boards laced through in good shops. At the outset the bands must be left with longer ends for this—5 cm. at least on each side. A parallel line is marked on the board along the back about 6 to 8 mm. from the groove. The board is fitted on the book just as was done when fixing in the groove, and exactly opposite each band a point is made on the marked lines. The board is then removed and at the points marked is pierced slanting inwards—about half right angle—with a pointed awl. The board is turned, and sideways, near every first hole, a second hole is made which likewise takes a slanting direction to the board. The bands are drawn through these holes, and to be able to do this the bands must be well pasted and twisted to a point; cutting off the extreme ends of the bands will facilitate the drawing through. To draw the bands quite firm and tight the boards are stood upright in the groove, the bands drawn through as tight as possible, and in this position—that is, with the boards half open—they are knocked down with a hammer upon a firm bed. The principal thing to be observed is that the bands are pasted fast in the holes, but where they are seen they are knocked down quite flat. The boards are now slowly closed, the ends of the bands projecting at the outside are cut off short, and the book pressed, using zinc plates inside and out.

Fig. 58—English style of lacing boards.

The French method of lacing is not much practised in other countries; it is somewhat more roundabout, and is done before cutting—immediately after glueing up. The boards are each shifted to right or left for cutting and cut together. By so doing, the edges always correspond exactly to the back groove.

For every band there are three holes bored forming a triangle. The awl holes are directed towards the middle of this triangle. The band must describe this course. The end is pushed under the piece of the band seen on the inside of the board, the bands drawn tight, with board standing upright as before described, also well knocked down in the same way, and the end cut off just beyond the piece under which it is drawn. The book is then pressed between zinc plates.