In the bookbinding process, forwarding describes the stage during when the leaves or signatures/sections are sewn together, and the resulting book block is attached to the covers, i.e. casing-in; finshing describes the process of decorating the finished binding, which usually includes gilding or gold-tooling.

We mostly cover the case of a book (usually book boards) with leather or book cloth, and there are a few ways to describe different kinds of coverings. When the cover is completely covered by the material, it's called full bound; quarter bound is when only the spine is covered; and when the spine and corners are covered, it's called half bound.

A site visitor asked me how one would write "bookbinder" in Japanese. In Japanese, bookbinding is 製本 (せいほん seihon), which literally means "making book"; and a bookbinding shop or a binder is 製本屋 (せいほんや / seihon-ya).

In Chinese, bookbinding is 裝訂 (zhuang ding), and a bookbinder is 釘書匠 (ding shu jiang). The literal meanings of these 2 words focus on the act of binding .

I have adopted the Japanese term 製本 (ji ben, in Chinese) to describe my work as a bookbinder in Chinese. Since it also literally means "making books" in Chinese, it's more accurate to describe what I do as a bookbinder. It's the making of books, rather than focusing only in the act of binding pages together.

A few days ago visitor Cerix wrote to me saying that most of the books he sees on the Internet are called Japanese stab binding, but in fact there are Chinese traditional binding form Tang Danasty. I think we should clarify the difference between Chinese and Japanese binding.

First of all, they are both stab bindings. Complex sewing pattern may be used, such as the tortoise shell and hemp leaf pattern.

Like many other aspects of Chinese culture, bookbinding was spread to Japan during the Tang Dynasty. In Japanese bookbinding, widths between every sewing stations are of equidistance; while in Chinese bookbinding, it's not necessarily the case.

Japanese bookbinding (from Transient Books):


Chinese bookbinding:


To read more on historic bookbindings from Dunhuang, visit the International Dunhuang Project.

Happy New Year! I wish everyone a great 2006 to come.

To start off the year, I suppose a perfect binding is perfect for the occasion. A perfect binding for a perfect year. A prefect bound book comprises of single sheets glued together on the spine, without any stitching or folding. The cover is usually a paper-cover rather than using boards. The key to a "perfect perfect bound" book is jogging. The pages should be jogged evenly on the spine before gluing. After jogging on the spine edge, I clamp the book block together with clamps. You can also put it between a press or a vice. Always check and make sure every sheet is flushed and aligned at the spine before appying glue.

I stumbled upon this site and there is absolutely no reason for me not to write about it.

The Online Dictionary for Library and Information Science (ODLIS) is the online version of Joan M. Reitz's Dictionary for Library and Information Science. There are different versions of dictionary on the subject matter, but Reitz has hers online as well. This dictionary is a great resource for those of you who are interested in bookmaking and wonder what those jargons mean.

Now what is bookbinding, afterall? From ODLIS: "The process of fastening the leaves of a manuscript or book together in a particular order and enclosing them in a protective cover (forwarding), then applying lettering and decoration to the cover (finishing)..."

When a book is closed, the amount of cover sticking out from the book block (in other words, the sections or pages, to be simple) is called the square or sometimes the square of the book.

(Read the original entry on this book.)

Usually the end sheet has the same height as the book block, leaving the square uncovered:

(Read the original entry on this book.)

We know that making a book involves so many different steps: folding the paper, slitting the sections open, piercing, stitching, gluing, and covering... Sometimes I just don't feel like going through the entire process from head to toe for a book. Say I like to stitch but I hate to prepare sections. Preparing sections is so monotonous: you fold, then you slit; you fold and you slit.

Once in a while, when I don't feel like doing any stitching and gluing, I would just fold, and fold, and fold. I would have all these sections that I could simply put away and use later when I am ready to put together a book. And at that time, I won't need to fold and slit again. It's great to stock up on prepared sections, so when you need them, they are ready to go. Beside being efficient, it also helps to generate new ideas. I constantly flip through my stock of sections, and by holding and rearranging time, I come up with ideas on how I can use them.

It's like doing all the prep work when you come back from the grocery store, and when you're ready to cook, you can just focus on cooking. Wash and cut up all your vegetables!

Oh, one thing regarding "sections" vs. "signatures": a signature is essentially a printed section. Therefore, empty pages create sections, and printed pages create signatures. A section could be a signature, but not vice versa.