Oversewn binding

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Oversewn bindings are a type of bookbinding produced by sewing together loose leaves of paper to form a text block. Threads pass through small holes that have been punched in the signature's gutter margin (nearest the spine), forming overlock stitches that attach it to previously attached sections. [1] This method of stitching is sometimes called stab sewing. A piece of linen is then glued to the text block spine for further support. The book's spine may be rounded and backed to keep it from caving in, but if the text block is too thick, the spine is sometimes left flat. [2] A strip of cloth called a super is then often affixed to the spine of the text block and then to the boards of the case. Oversewing can be done by hand but is usually done with a machine in a bindery.

Bookbinding process of physically assembling a book

Bookbinding is the process of physically assembling a book of codex format from an ordered stack of paper sheets that are folded together into sections or sometimes left as a stack of individual sheets. The stack is then bound together along one edge by either sewing with thread through the folds or by a layer of flexible adhesive. Alternative methods of binding that are cheaper but less permanent include loose-leaf rings, individual screw posts or binding posts, twin loop spine coils, plastic spiral coils, and plastic spine combs. For protection, the bound stack is either wrapped in a flexible cover or attached to stiff boards. Finally, an attractive cover is adhered to the boards, including identifying information and decoration. Book artists or specialists in book decoration can also greatly enhance a book's content by creating book-like objects with artistic merit of exceptional quality.

Paper thin, flexible material mainly used for writing upon, printing upon, drawing or for packaging

Paper is a thin material produced by pressing together moist fibres of cellulose pulp derived from wood, rags or grasses, and drying them into flexible sheets. It is a versatile material with many uses, including writing, printing, packaging, cleaning, decorating, and a number of industrial and construction processes. Papers are essential in legal or non-legal documentation.

Linen textile made from spun flax fiber

Linen is a textile made from the fibers of the flax plant. Linen is laborious to manufacture, but the fiber is very strong, absorbent and dries faster than cotton. Garments made of linen are valued for their exceptional coolness and freshness in hot and humid weather.

Contents

Oversewing was frequently used as a rebinding technique for libraries. In this case, the book's spine must be separated from the text block. Usually this requires removing a small section of the leaves' inside margin as well. It is a very strong, durable binding technique, but has lost popularity since the 1980s due to some characteristics librarians perceive as drawbacks.

Library binding can be divided into the two major categories of "original" and "after market". The original category is as it says, it was originally bound with the idea that the book would be used in a library setting where the book would receive harder use than those usual trade editions sold to the public.

History

Cedric Chivers patented hand oversewing in 1904. [3] He emphasized its efficiency and pointed out that technicians could do the work previously entrusted only to trained binders. Chivers opened operations in Bath, England and New York City, and by 1908 his American operation had served up to five hundred libraries in the United States. He was a skilled salesman, but historians suggest Chivers was overly focused on financial gain to the disregard of standards and specifications like the Committee on Leather for Bookbinding. [4]

Bath, Somerset City in Somerset, England

Bath is the largest city in the county of Somerset, England, known for its Roman-built baths. In 2011, the population was 88,859. Bath is in the valley of the River Avon, 97 miles (156 km) west of London and 11 miles (18 km) south-east of Bristol. The city became a World Heritage site in 1987.

New York City Largest city in the United States

The City of New York, usually called either New York City (NYC) or simply New York (NY), is the most populous city in the United States. With an estimated 2018 population of 8,398,748 distributed over a land area of about 302.6 square miles (784 km2), New York is also the most densely populated major city in the United States. Located at the southern tip of the state of New York, the city is the center of the New York metropolitan area, the largest metropolitan area in the world by urban landmass and one of the world's most populous megacities, with an estimated 19,979,477 people in its 2018 Metropolitan Statistical Area and 22,679,948 residents in its Combined Statistical Area. A global power city, New York City has been described as the cultural, financial, and media capital of the world, and exerts a significant impact upon commerce, entertainment, research, technology, education, politics, tourism, art, fashion, and sports. The city's fast pace has inspired the term New York minute. Home to the headquarters of the United Nations, New York is an important center for international diplomacy.

In 1920, W. Elmo Reavis, a bookbinder from Los Angeles, invented an oversewing machine, and began selling it to American libraries. The mechanization of the process Chivers patented led to oversewing - now mass-produced, assembly line work - becoming even more popular. [4] By the 1930s, oversewing was part of standard library binding specifications.

Los Angeles City in California

Los Angeles, officially the City of Los Angeles and often known by its initials L.A., is the most populous city in California, the second most populous city in the United States, after New York City, and the third most populous city in North America. With an estimated population of nearly four million, Los Angeles is the cultural, financial, and commercial center of Southern California. The city is known for its Mediterranean climate, ethnic diversity, Hollywood and the entertainment industry, and its sprawling metropolis. Los Angeles is the largest city on the West Coast of North America.

Assembly line manufacturing process

An assembly line is a manufacturing process in which parts are added as the semi-finished assembly moves from workstation to workstation where the parts are added in sequence until the final assembly is produced. By mechanically moving the parts to the assembly work and moving the semi-finished assembly from work station to work station, a finished product can be assembled faster and with less labor than by having workers carry parts to a stationary piece for assembly.

Drawbacks

In 1967, Matt Roberts, chief of the circulation department of the Washington University library, first documented the drawbacks of oversewn bindings. [4] It is especially threatening to books with acidic paper; the tight sewing in the gutter margin may cause shards of this paper, in its weakened, embrittled state, to tear and flake off. Oversewn bindings are also often very tightly bound, so it is difficult for books' spines to open fully and lie flat. From a conservation standpoint, a primary concern about oversewing is that it is essentially irreversible. In order for an oversewn text block to be re-bound again, more of the inside margin has to be cut or ground off. Some librarians believe that it is a hasty practice which favors cost over artifactual value, as original bindings may potentially be restorable.

Preservation (library and archival science) set of activites aimed at prolonging the life of a record

In library and archival science, preservation is a set of activities aimed at prolonging the life of a record, book, or object while making as few changes as possible. Preservation activities vary widely and may include monitoring the condition of items, maintaining the temperature and humidity in collection storage areas, writing a plan in case of emergencies, digitizing items, writing relevant metadata, and increasing accessibility. Preservation, in this definition, is practiced in a library or an archive by a librarian, archivist, or other professional when they perceive a record is in need of care.

By 1986, most librarians and conservators had agreed that the threats of oversewn bindings out-weighed their benefits. Now various types of adhesive bindings, especially double-fan adhesive, are favored by library binders.

Even Cedric Chivers admitted, in 1925,

These methods were the best which at that time could be contrived, but presently complaints began to be made as to the durability of some of my bindings. Pages broke away from the sewing . . . Indeed I [now] frequently lose contracts for Library binding because of my refusal to follow the instructions of a specification which under other conditions I personally drew up. [5]

Related Research Articles

Notebook book for writing, drawing, scrapbooking

A notebook is a book or binder of paper pages, often ruled, used for purposes such as recording notes or memoranda, writing, drawing or scrapbooking.

Hardcover Book bound with a rigid protective cover

A hardcover or hardback book is one bound with rigid protective covers. It has a flexible, sewn spine which allows the book to lie flat on a surface when opened. Following the ISBN sequence numbers, books of this type may be identified by the abbreviation Hbk.

Book design styling, formatting and designing the layout of a books contents

Book design is the art of incorporating the content, style, format, design, and sequence of the various components and elements of a book into a coherent unit. In the words of the renowned typographer Jan Tschichold (1902–1974), book design, "though largely forgotten today, [relies upon] methods and rules upon which it is impossible to improve, [and which] have been developed over centuries. To produce perfect books, these rules have to be brought back to life and applied". Richard Hendel describes book design as "an arcane subject", and refers to the need for a context to understand what that means.

Japanese books

Books in Japan have a long history, which begins in the late 8th century AD. The majority of books were hand-copied until the Edo period (1603–1867), when woodblock printing became comparatively affordable and widespread. Movable-type printing had been used from the late 16th century, but for various aesthetic and practical reasons woodblock printing and hand-copied remained dominant until much later. Japanese equivalents for "book" include 本 (hon) and 書籍 (shoseki). The former term indicates only bound books, and does not include scrolls. The latter is used for printed matter only. The most general term is 書物 (shomotsu), which means all written or printed matter that has been collected into a single unit, regardless of construction.

Traditional Chinese bookbinding method of bookbinding

Traditional Chinese bookbinding, also called stitched binding, is the method of bookbinding that the Chinese, Koreans, Japanese, and Vietnamese used before adopting the modern codex form.

The Secret Belgian Binding is a method of bookbinding that uses a primary and a secondary sewing, resulting in a distinct thread pattern on the cover and spine of the finished book. The primary sewing is used to create the textblock. The secondary sewing is used to bind the textblock to the cover boards.

Dos-à-dos binding

In bookbinding, a dos-à-dos binding is a binding structure in which two separate books are bound together such that the fore edge of one is adjacent to the spine of the other, with a shared lower board between them serving as the back cover of both. When shelved, the spine of the book to the right faces outward, while the spine of the book to the left faces the back of the shelf; the text of both works runs head-to-tail.

Bindery studio, workshop or factory where sheets of (usually) paper are fastened together to make books

Bindery refers to a studio, workshop or factory where sheets of (usually) paper are fastened together to make books, but also where gold and other decorative elements are added to the exterior of books, where boxes or slipcases for books are made and where the restoration of books is carried out.

Endpaper

The endpapers or end-papers of a book are the pages that consist of a double-size sheet folded, with one half pasted against an inside cover, and the other serving as the first free page. Thus, the front endpapers precede the title page and the text, whereas the back endpapers follow the text. Booksellers sometimes refer to the front endpaper as FEP.

Coptic binding

Coptic binding or Coptic sewing comprises methods of bookbinding employed by early Christians in Egypt, the Copts, and used from as early as the 2nd century AD to the 11th century. The term is also used to describe modern bindings sewn in the same style.

Long-stitch bookbinding

Longstitch is a bookbinding technique used for sewing together the sections of a book. There are different forms of longstitch sewings. Longstitch binding does not require glue, though there are methods that utilize glue. In his book Non Adhesive Bindings, Keith Smith describes the "Longstitch through a slotted cover" and it involves sewing each section directly through the cover where slots have been made at each sewing station. This sewing method creates a staggered line pattern visible on the spine. Keith Smith indicates that this type of longstitch was used as early as the 18th century in some parts of Europe, and possibly earlier.

Board book book printed on thick paperboard, usually intended for small children

A board book is a type of children's book printed on thick paperboard. The paperboard is printed and used for both the cover and the interior pages. Each page panel is a minimum of two plies of paperboard thickness. Unlike a typical paper book that is bound with saddle stitching (staples) or perfect binding, a board book's pages are specially folded and bound together. Board books are very durable and consequently intended for children, who often tend to be less gentle with books. Most of the board books produced in the world are produced in China and Mexico; however, there is one board book printer still located in the United States and some printers still in Europe.

Section (bookbinding) stacked papers in bookbinding

In bookbinding, a section, gathering, or signature refers to a group of sheets, folded in the middle, and bound into the binding together.

James Hayday (1796–1872), was a British bookbinder.

Springback binder

A springback binder is a device for rapid and repeated binding of loose-leaf collections into books.

Book rebinding

Book rebinding is the renewal or replacement of the cover of a book. Typically, this requires restitching or renewal of the glue which holds the pages in place.

Bradel binding

A Bradel binding is a style of book binding with a hollow back. It most resembles a case binding in that it has a hollow back and visible joint, but unlike a case binding, it is built up on the book. Characteristic of the binding is the material covering the outside boards is separate from the material covering the spine. Many bookbinders consider the Bradel binding to be stronger than a case binding.

Doublure (bookbinding)

Doublures are ornamental linings on the inside of a book. Doublures are protected from wear, compared to the outside of a book, and thus offer bookbinders scope for elaborate decoration.

References

  1. ↑ "ANSI/NISO Z39.78 - 2000 Library Binding 7.4" . Retrieved 2007-12-10.
  2. ↑ Boardway, David, Margaret Byrnes, Charlane Grant, and Gregor Trinkhaus-Randall. (1993) "Commercial Library Binding." Preservation Planning Program: Managing a Library Binding Program. Jan Merrill-Oldham (ed). Association of Research Library: Washington D.C.
  3. ↑ USpatent 763857,Cedric Chivers,"Binding for books.",published Jun 28, 1904, assigned to Cedric Chivers
  4. 1 2 3 Silverman, Randy (2007). "Can't Judge a Book Without Its Binding". Libraries & the Cultural Record. 42 (3): 291–307. doi:10.1353/lac.2007.0051.
  5. ↑ Chivers, Cedric (26 November 1925). "Bookbinding". Journal of the Royal Society of Arts: 1077.
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