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Last updated March 2004.

Manual Guide No.35A (1988)

CONSERVATION BINDING GUIDELINES FOR RECASING.

The following Guidelines are designed to act as general specifications and procedure instructions for the recasing of books. In general, the books will have sound paper, good sewing, and will be of lasting value. For this reason, the methods and materials are selected for their reversibility and non-damaging nature.

The guidelines are divided into three main areas: Preparation, Forwarding, and Finishing. The descriptions of processes apply whether the work is done in the Library or by a commercial binder. It is expected that exceptions will be dealt with in the spirit of the guidelines and that they will be applied sensibly.

1. Preparation. This category includes all processes up to, and including, gluing up the spine, and consists of seven basic steps. It is most important that the instruction slip be followed, particularly in regard to the saving of inscribed fly leaves, bookplates, etc. However, if in doubt, save it!

1.1. Collation.

Before proceeding with the removal of the original binding structure, carefully collate the book to ensure that it is complete. Check the beginning matter (half title, title, dedication, preface, table of contents, etc.) up to page arabic number five, then commence to "count off" the leaves in groups of five by fanning, each group beginning with a page number ending in five (e.g. 5-15-25-35...). A missing leaf will become immediately evident. Separate plates should be checked by list or table of contents. During the collation process, the eye should be alert for tears or missing corners, which should be marked by insertion of a japanese tissue strip.

1.2. Removal of Outer Binding.

The original binding should now be cut away by carefully slicing through the open board hinge with a knife. The loose boards should be placed back on the book and any loose backlining material pulled off dry.

1.3. Page Repair.

The tears noted during the collation process should be repaired using japanese tissue and paste. It is most important that page repairs be done before the back linings are removed, as the sewing may split during the repair process if the back is unsupported.

1.4. Removal of Back Linings.

Making sure that the loose boards are firmly in place, apply a thick layer of wheat paste to the spine. After the paste poultice has sufficiently softened the linings, they are peeled away with a blunt knife, which should also be used to scrape away as much of the original adhesive layer as possible. Great care must be taken to avoid damaging the sewing structure, particularly if the cords or threads are raised. At this point, it is important to make sure that books are pushed into the correct shape to allow them to dry in an even, square condition.

1.5. Leaf Consolidation.

Loose fly leaves should now be attached by hinging with Japanese tissue and wheat paste. It is important to ensure that the first and last sections are firmly connected to the text block.

1.6 Endsheet Preparation.

Cut a single-folio acid-free endsheet that is the height of, and slightly wider than, the textblock. Also, cut a strip of Japanese tissue approximately 1.5 cm wide and the height of the endsheet. Glue out a 3 mm wide strip on the top side of the folded edge of the endsheet. Attach the Japanese tissue strip so that the excess extends beyond the folded edge and wraps around the fold to form a hinge.

1.7. Endsheet Attachment

The single-folio folio acid-free endsheet, with the Japanese tissue hinge, should now be attached to the textblock by laying a thin line of PVA (approximately 2 m/m or 1/16") along the back edge of the textblock using a guard sheet, and rubbing the endsheet down into the backing groove with a bone folder. It is important to place the endsheet so that the free-moving hinge is between the endsheet folio and the textblock. Excess endsheet is carefully trimmed to the book edge.

1.8. Gluing up.

The final preparation step is the application of an adhesive layer to the backbone. If no rounding and backing is needed, apply wheat paste to spine and line with Japanese tissue that is the width of the spine. Information on size, color, etc. must now be penciled onto the front endsheet as a quick guide for the later forwarding processes (see attachment).
If further rounding and backing is needed, apply a light coat of PVA to spine. Once it is no longer tacky, proceed with rounding and backing.

2. Forwarding.
This category category includes all the processes from rounding and backing up to, and including, case making. In all forwarding operations, it is useful to remember that many books published before 1850 are not "square," that is, the edges are not necessarily parallel or even. As this category of binding precludes the trimming of edges, some accommodation should be made in fitting and cutting.

2.1 Rounding and Backing.

Because of the tenuous nature nature of some of the original sewing structure, it is most important that rounding and backing be done with great care.

Rounding should be accomplished by gently shaping the book into its original round with light taps of the hammer. Backing should produce a shoulder similar in depth to the original, but no higher than the thickness of the cover board. The shoulder should not be too acute to avoid breakage at the joint.

2.2 Endbanding.

If endbands are to be sewn into the book, they should be sewn at this point.

2.3 Back Linings.

All books in this category should have both first and second linings, irrespective of thickness. The first lining should be a cotton stretch cloth (similar to Holliston Mills unbleached stretch cloth), one centimeter (3/8") shorter than the book, to extend no more than four centimeters (1 1/2") onto each endsheet. The cloth should be glued with PVA and set well into the joint.

The second lining lining should be kraft paper (such as Process Materials Archivart Wrapping Paper) the same width as the back and same length as the book height. As with all lining and covering materials, the grain should be parallel with the joint. The second lining should be glued with PVA and adhered firmly to the back.

2.4 Cutting Boards.

The Davey Red Label boards should be cut on the correct grain, and should be appropriate in thickness to the height of the shoulder and thickness of the book. In general, .074" and .098" will serve for most books. As previously noted,
older books may not be square, so boards may have to be cut to accommodate an uneven edge. Although squares should be appropriate to the size and thickness of each volume, they may be standardized at 2.5 millimeters (3/32"). This means that each board should be .5 centimeter (3/16") longer than the height of the book. Also, from a stiff paper (such as Bristol board), cut a spine inlay to the height of the boards and the width of the spine.

2.5 Cutting Cloth.

Lay out boards and spine inlay. Cut cloth to allow for a 1.5-centimeter (5/8") turn-in on all sides. Grain should run parallel to the spine.

2.6 Covering.

Position boards on textblock with appropriate square. Glue out cloth and place textblock “package” onto cloth. Draw cloth over positioned boards to ensure an accurate fit. Open case, remove textblock, and center spine inlay in between boards.

Corners should be cut at a 45° angle, 1½ board thicknesses away from the corner.

If endbands have not been sewn, a glued cord that is the width of the spine inlay should be placed at the head and tail of the case. Turn in cloth at head and tail first. Pinch in corners and proceed to turn in cloth at fore-edges.

3. Casing In.

Position textblock in case. Open back cover and glue out pastedown. Carefully close cover. Slip in sheet of wax paper between pastedown and flyleaf. Flip book over and repeat on front. Place book between two pressing boards with board edge set at joint and spine protruding. Place in press and nip for 15 seconds. Remove from press and stack completed books fore-edge to spine with a light weight on top.

When the case is glued down, the squares should be even, and care taken in opening the endsheets after pressing. Any glue spots should be removed from the cover and edges. Original bookplates and other materials set aside to be saved from the original binding should be replaced in the book.

APPENDIX

ENDSHEET INFORMATION FOR ROUTINE WORK

To avoid the need to repeatedly consult the binding instruction slip, and to alert oneself and others to oddities, certain relevant pieces of information should be written in soft pencil on the outside of the front endsheet. This should normally consist of: size, color and type of cloth; number of volumes and location of slip (if part of a set); whether Hollow; and various cautionary notes.

Size. Indicated at the top right-hand corner, the size (the height of the book plus 0.5 centimeters for books with untrimmed edges) should be indicated in centimeters. Thus a book with pages measuring 23.0 c/m would have 23.5 c/m written on the endsheet, which is the actual size of the cover board.

Color and Type of Cloth. The appropriate cloth should be indicated by code (see current chart) at the center of the endsheet. If color and type of cloth is immaterial, only a check mark need be made.

Multi-Volume Sets. Only one instruction slip is normally supplied for a multi-volume set, the total number of volumes sent for binding being indicated in the appropriate space on the slip. The number of volumes should be written on the endsheet at the center below the color cloth code, and enclosed in a circle. The presence of the slip in one of the volumes of the set should be shown by writing the work "slip" at the bottom of the endsheet.

Oxford Hollow. If the size and weight of the book merits the added reinforcement of an Oxford Hollow, the work "Hollow" should be written, both as a reminder in forwarding and an alert for the finisher.

Cautionary Notes. Information warning of peculiarities, such as "Fragile paper" or "Map to be Added", should be written at the bottom of the endsheet.

An example of an information-bearing end sheet is shown overleaf.

These notes indicate that the finished size of the book is to be 28.5 centimeters; that it is to be covered in B 6 cloth; it is on of ten volumes in process; this particular volume contains the binding instruction slip; that the backbone must be reinforced with an Oxford Hollow.