NOTES ON TECHNIQUES FOR PRODUCING AND BINDING YOUR OWN PRINTED PAGES

The printed book is here to stay. Self-published works, whether produced and printed through the Internet, or by any other means, have shown a great surge in popularity in recent years. The final result is usually indistinguishable from a commercial product and in many cases, noticeably superior. The system is very useful when just a few copies are required. The cost per book will be higher than something equivalent from a publishing house, but can usually be justified. 

Another recent development is the advent of the so-called eBook, where the entire contents of a book are converted to digital format and either burned onto a compact disc or posted on the Internet for downloading. The book is then read on the screen of a computer, or on a hand-held eBook reading device. 

There is also a more personal approach to self-publishing in small numbers, combining hand crafting with the literary and graphical skills of the operator. For those with the aptitude and the opportunity, that what this article is all about.

A few years ago, these notes would have been written in an entirely different manner. The techniques for desktop publishing have changed so dramatically that relatively simple computers and peripherals can now produce results of professional appearance. There is no longer any excuse for denying future generations all of the scandalous details of the family history. So, round up those old family records that have been collecting dust for ages and get to work. Photographs are a slightly different matter. We'll talk about that later.

The recipe for an interesting story should focus on the sort of things that would not necessarily be sought in public records, although the latter may not be completely ignored. Biographic anecdotes, written or remembered; diaries; old letters that do not contain a great deal of incriminating evidence; mementoes of trips enjoyed but not completely forgotten. And if the family has been exposed to the attentions of the newspapers, there may very well be some useful information to be gained from old and treasured cuttings. But be a little cautious there. Even if the names have been spelled correctly, remember that newspapers are notorious for juggling "facts" to suit their slant of the topic. After all, they are in the business of selling their papers and a degree of responsibility may occasionally be just a tiny bit adrift. Such things can however add a lot of colour to family histories. By recording some of the more mundane events that are taken for granted as we live them, those who come after us would be able to appreciate the finer points of their family background. If we don't look after our memories they will soon be gone for ever.

A book that I finished in December, 2002 (pictured at right) was started in 1987. That was BC — Before Computers. In those days, state-of-the-art was an electric typewriter. For multiple copies of the output, a Xerox machine was the best answer. That would have worked very well as indeed it could today if necessary. Setting out the pages was tiresome as the layout had to be drafted, the boxes for pasted-in photographs drawn in by hand, headings etc. set in transfer type and the copy typed in around the obstructions. The colours of the photographs would have been lost in Xeroxing but for the seven copies planned the results would have been acceptable. And then along came the Wang 5 word processor with its massive, noisy daisy-wheel printer. Still not much of an improvement in the output area but easier to store the data. When the 286 PC arrived on the scene things looked a lot brighter. No colours in the prints as colour ink-jet printers were expensive and the exception rather than the rule. But graphics programs were coming along nicely in rudimentary form and we haven't looked back since. Several models of PCs have come and gone in my office since then, as have printers and scanners. More recently, digital cameras have been added to the collection of hardware. That simplifies picture reproduction to some degree but is not essential. The whole point here is that at any stage of the game in the period since 1987, any one of the equipment combinations would have sufficed to produce an acceptable result for the record. My equipment is seldom leading-edge for more than a few minutes at a time but it works!

Therefore, to summarise the equipment situation, the better it is, the better will be the results — if you know how to use it. If what you’ve got is not good enough for your ambitions, snuggle up to someone who has what you need and go from there. If you are adequately provided for with the nuts and bolts, we’ll have to assume that you have the software situation under control as well and are ready to roll. Go to it!

GENERAL INFORMATION

The first point to make here is that only soft-cover books are being considered in these notes. Some of the procedures can be applicable to hard covers but that is beyond the scope of the present subject.

Before we get to the main topics of printing and finishing, we should have a look at some aspects of the procedures and materials used to produce the pages. The first thing to consider is the paper on which you will do the printing. Obviously it must be compatible with the printer but it should also be acid free. If the paper is impermanent, you will be wasting your time. Cheap paper will produce a cheap result. This comment applies whether you are writing the entire work by hand (an interesting option), pumping it out on a typewriter for photocopying, or doing a first class job on the computer. If you go the photocopying route, remember that the copy paper can be acid free for the asking.

The inks used in ink-jet printers may not be waterproof or light resistant. Some inks are being advertised as permanent for 100 years but you need the right printer in which to use them, as I have at present. Some protective sprays are available but they are rather expensive and may be something of a nuisance to use. The easiest way out is to keep the end product dry and away from fierce lighting.

The cost of normal inks for desktop printing may be a factor that you need to take into account. For my work, which is fairly heavy in coloured graphics, I need to allow about 2.5¢ per page. Add to that the cost of the paper and your contribution to posterity will run you into more than a few dollars.

Another factor that requires attention fairly early in your program is the type of cover stock that you plan to use. If you are not going to print on it, the main points of consideration will be its potential longevity and willingness to be cut or folded. If the cover is to be printed, the type of stock can be limited by what the printer can handle. The material thickness capability of wrap-around machines is not as great as those in which the paper passes straight through from a top tray. A good range of materials should be available from a reputable art supply store. Choose appropriately and well. More about making covers later.

GETTING DOWN TO IT

When setting up the page layout in the computer, consider whether or not to use the facing-pages option if your program provides for it. By doing so, an allowance can be made for the material that will be lost in the spine of perfect binding. Saddle stitching does not necessarily need such an allowance, unless you want to make it easier for the reader to see into the gutter of the pages. Talking of gutters, I find it very bad practice to run a picture across facing pages, unless those pages are at the centre of a saddle-stitched book. The part of the picture right in the gutter cannot be seen properly unless the pages are forced open, which usually causes permanent damage.

Give a little thought to the choice of typeface for the main body of your work. There are thousands out there but a simple serif font such as Times New Roman not only reads well, but is quite universal for viewing on Web browsers. A sanserif font such as Arial (which is what you are reading here) is less formal, provides good impact for headings and is equally universal.

The general layout of your book will be a totally personal matter. History shows us some beautifully illustrated works as well as the totally functional type of family records. With the facilities available today, the nature of your work will be limited only by your imagination. Remember that plain words may make boring reading. Readers like pictures. If you have some, use them. You may already be bored by the lack of pictures so far in these notes, but read on.

There are several ways of including graphics in a privately produced book. Scanning into a graphic file format will be the route most would take. Not only does that enable placement of pictures just about anywhere required, it permits re-touching of old photographs to make them look as if they were taken yesterday. The advent of reasonably priced digital cameras provides another means of copying art and artefacts. The output will already be digitized and ready for incorporation into the pages.

Another interesting alternative is to paste up arrangements of pictures etc. and have them photocopied in colour at the local print shop. The results can be bound into the work amongst the printed pages. Contemporary colour copying can produce excellent results. They will however, be on one side of the page only; but that’s all right.

Once you have assembled all of the data and processed them into an outstanding collection of printed pages, we then get to the main purpose of this essay. Binding the results. For this you will need a few tools that you probably have already. The rest can be knocked together quickly and cheaply from some odds and ends in the workshop. If you’re planning to do a lot of this sort of thing you may want to make the jigs and fixtures a little more permanent than jury-rigged. We’ll address the details at each stage of the discussion.

BINDING AND FINISHING

Before we get down to the details of binding your Magnum Opus, let’s look at some of the options available. In the commercial field there would be several alternative methods to be considered, depending on the nature of the work. For hand-bound works, some of these can be simulated quite adequately to give a really professional-looking result. Only two of the standard methods will be considered here and they are Saddle Stitching and Perfect Binding. The former we can reproduce exactly as would a bindery. The latter is different.

SADDLE STITCHING

The term "saddle stitch" probably derives from its use as a running stitch in fabric or leather. Nowadays the "stitches" used for binding are invariably metal staples. The term is used universally in the packaging and box making business. Most magazines are saddle stitched, usually with 2 or 3 staples along the spine. This is a quick and easy way to finish off your book if it does not contain too many pages or if the paper is not too thick. The expression "too many pages" is of course subjective. If you don’t mind your book looking like a magazine, saddle stitching can be a completely satisfactory method of binding. Note that with this technique, you are folding the printed sheets in half. Therefore, if you are using paper that is limited in size by printer restrictions (and in most cases you would be) your folded size will be half of the original, which might be a little small for what you have in mind. If your printer is large enough there is unlikely to be a problem. For the purpose of these notes we will be considering the North American "letter" size standard of 8½" by 11", or the "legal" size of 8½" by 14". The European A4 is close enough for the same comments to apply.

If you are making your book to survive for generations to come, remember that unless the finished product is kept in a completely dry environment, the staples will go rusty. This will of course damage the paper — which should be acid free.

Very few tools are required for this type of binding. A good domestic stapler, a robust trimming knife and a steel ruler to guide the knife are the principle weapons as shown in the illustration. A useful addition would be some spring clamps of the type shown in the Perfect Binding section below.

When the pages are assembled in the correct order and all the right way up, you are ready to insert the staples. Jog the sheets nicely square in the open condition and if there is any risk of them moving, use spring clamps to hold them together. Several attempts at this may be necessary to obtain a completely satisfactory result. See the illustration on the right, showing how the stapling should be done and finished off. If you staple your finger instead of the pages, clean up the mess and start over. After the pages are stitched together, fold them into the closed-book condition. The outer edges will be staggered and should be trimmed square and flush using the trimming knife and steel rule on a suitable cutting board. And there’s your finished work of art to be proud of.

PERFECT BINDING

The sort of Perfect Binding that we will be looking at here is not quite perfect in the commercial sense. Commercially, the pages would be in “signatures” and glued together tightly down the spine. We shall be dealing with individual pages prior to the actual binding. The method is well recognised and is described in the book “Simplified Bookbinding” by Henry Gross. In that work, the author describes a similar method to this as a means for repairing hard covered books. 

The first step in binding is to assemble the pages in the correct order and the right way up. That may sound rather obvious but if you discover a page out of place or upside down after the glue has dried you are stuck. And so are the pages! I find that a simple fixture like the jig in the picture on the right helps considerably in getting things started properly. It isn’t essential but it makes things a lot easier both in the initial stages and at the end. 

The jig shown here is slightly smaller than the pages being bound, so that retaining clips can be applied to the edges of the stack to keep things in order. The side fences shown here are clear acrylic strips (they could be any suitable material), screwed to adjacent sides of the bed, which must be square. Their squareness will control the final appearance of the finished work. This particular jig is for letter-size pages. It could be any size to suit the job, as long as the pages overhang the bed to permit clips to be attached as shown in the next picture on the left. In this next picture, note the small pieces of folded card between the jaws of the clips and the pages to prevent the latter from getting marked. Note also that the area adjacent to the spine must be left clear of clips to allow room for the clamping boards to be fitted. These illustrations show a book in landscape format. If portrait format is used, the clips and the clear area will obviously be different. 

In order to keep the pages under tight control during the next steps, a pair of clamp boards will be required. These are rather crude items but quite critical in holding the pages together firmly while they are being slotted, laced and glued. A pair is shown in the diagram on the right. The top edges are bevelled to allow clearer access to the spine of the pages while they are being worked on. Thickness of the material is not critical as long as it is sufficient to maintain rigidity, but not too thick for the clamps that will be required to hold everything together during assembly. (This will be clear from the pictures coming along later.) The length must be sufficient to slightly overhang the dimension of the spine being bound. The boards must be wrapped with polyethylene about 4 mils thick and stapled or otherwise firmly held in place outside the clamping area. The top edges and inside faces will be in contact with the glue when it has been applied and is drying. The glue will not stick to polyethylene, which is why it is used. A piece cut from the end of a drop sheet would be the best choice of plastic. A good thick shopping bag may also suffice. Supermarket shopping bags are of no use for our purpose. Having said all that, I am sure that the reader will no doubt be able to come up with a suitable alternative to the above, that will work just as well. Or better.

When the pages have been nicely jogged square and clipped together, clamp them between the two blocks, with the spine section sticking up out of the bevelled edges of the blocks by about 3/16". That’s just over 4 mm in modern terminology. The protruding section will be grooved and laced together prior to the application of the glue. At this point we had better look for the tools require for the next stage.

* A fine-tooth saw for cutting the grooves in the page tips.  I use a coping saw or a dovetail saw for this part of the job.  

* White button thread for the lacing.  It doesn't have to be white as it will be buried in the glue but button thread doesn't seem to be available in too many colours and I like white.

* White glue.  This is available from several manufacturers but be sure to get a good quality product.  This is a water-based adhesive that is more or less clear and waterproof when dry.  It is strong and slightly flexible so that it is less likely to crack if abused.  

* A small flat-blade tool for working the glue into the spine of the pages.  I use a semi-rigid palette knife for this purpose.  

With the tools lined up and a space cleared on the workbench, we will be ready to get on with the serious part of the job. The clamped assembly should be gripped firmly in the bench vice or some similar device to hold it steady for the sawing, lacing and gluing. The illustration at the right shows a typical arrangement. Ensure that you are working on the correct end or side and then mark off the positions for the saw cuts at about 1" (2.5 cm) intervals, leaving the end positions about 3/8" or 1cm in from the ends of the pages. This is an arbitrary position but you don’t want to get much closer to the ends.

Make saw cuts about 3/32" (2.4 mm) deep at each mark. It will be necessary to grip the pages tightly as close to the cut as possible in order to give the saw blade something solid to cut into. This can be hard on the fingernails if you are not careful. Brush away the resulting dust when all of the grooves have been cut to prepare for lacing the spine.

The method that I prefer for lacing is illustrated in the sketch below. If you know of a better way, use it. Keep the loops as tight as you can without distorting the pages. All of this is going to be buried in glue shortly so it doesn’t need to be a work of art at this stage. Remember that the thread will be doing most of the work to keep the pages together in the finished book. The glue also contributes a great deal to the end result but is more likely to be damaged under conditions of abuse. The next picture illustrates the start of the lacing process. Despite what I said earlier about using white thread for this, dark thread had to be used in order to make it visible in the photograph.

 

When the lacing is complete, the glue can be applied. This is a straightforward operation but messy, so don’t wear your best clothes. Also, remember that you will be using white glue.

Run the glue somewhat generously along the exposed edges of the pages as shown in the next picture. Make sure that the sawed grooves are filled over the lacing. There will be enough flexibility in the edges to enable a tool to work the adhesive well into the spine but don’t overdo it and pulp the paper. Run glue beads along the outside edges as well to lock in the side loops of the lacing. Wipe off the sides with kitchen paper or something similar, leaving sufficient glue to encase the thread. Don’t waste any time over this, as the glue will set up rather quickly. Leave the lot for a short while to become almost dry to the touch, then run another bead of glue along the top and make it smooth. Now you can remove the assembly from the clamp boards. Clean the glue residue from the boards and place the glued section of the spine between the faces of the boards and re-clamp them together. This will compress the pages and lacing into a nice square and flat assembly. There will be a small amount of adhesive squeezed over the faces of the endpapers but if you cleaned up adequately prior to re-clamping it should not be excessive. Leave the whole lot to dry. This should take an hour or so. The clips may then be removed, as the pages are not going anywhere on their own from here on.

When everything is nicely dry, there will probably be some small lumps or protrusions of hardened glue on the spine. These must be smoothed down with fine sandpaper in order to allow the cover to fit snugly around the spine. Before we get down to gluing the cover in place, let’s consider some of the preparations required.

PREPARING AND ASSEMBLING THE COVER

The old maxim "Don’t judge a book by its cover" should not be appropriate in this case. Having spent a great deal of time and effort producing the material inside the book, you will no doubt want the cover to be as attractive and presentable as the contents. With the present state-of-the-art equipment, most bookmakers would want to have a printed cover to suit the interior. We are talking soft covers here of course, with the limitation of material thickness that can go through the printer. Alternatively, non-printed covers can be made from stiffer materials or even hand-made papers, collages or, with some inventive thinking, mounted embroidery. Once again, the results will be limited only by the artist’s imagination. Whichever route you take, remember that the inside of the cover stock itself will be glued to the spine and compatibility is necessary.

A word of caution here. Laminating printed covers at the local print shop is not a good idea. It is an inexpensive temptation but the protective outer laminate does not always bond to the cover stock properly and a substantial amount of shrinkage is common. A better method of protecting the finished work is to make a wraparound loose cover from acetate sheet, which is readily available at art supply stores. It can be folded easily at the corners and is fairly resistant to rough handling. It will crack at the folds over time, which means that you may need to replace it every fifteen years or so.

In order for the back of the cover to snug the spine tightly, pre-creasing (grooving) will be necessary. The neatest and most appropriate way of doing this is by embossing a fold line. This is a very simple operation and requires only rudimentary tools. One way of making a tool is described here. Others will most probably come to mind.

The grooving template illustrated here is the sort of tool that I use. It would be made from hard plastic sheet such as polystyrene or anything equally suitable that would not mark the cover. The thickness of the material should be about 0.04" (1 mm). The embossing or grooving tool is used to press the cover stock into the groove. The tool could be anything with a smooth end, such as a knitting needle or scribing instrument.

In addition to the allowance for the thickness of the assembled pages of the book, there will be some loss in the width of cover material due to the folding operation. Therefore it is best to leave the cover widths a little oversize, to be trimmed to match the page dimension after final gluing.

The fold lines should be marked out on the inside face of the cover. The space between the two lines will need to be determined experimentally. It is best to take an offcut of the cover material and wrap it around the spine to get the best fit. Then transfer the information to the appropriate place on the cover. If you are doing several books at a time, it should only be necessary to make this determination once.

To make the fold lines, lay the cover face down on the template with the marks for the fold lines centred on the grooves. Hold the cover in place so that it cannot move during the embossing and run the tool along the groove to press the cover material into it. You will do this three times; once for each corner of the spine and once for the fold in the front to enable the cover to be opened after gluing. Fold the cover on the embossed lines and ensure that everything is nicely square and aligned. You will then be ready to attach the cover to the rest of the book.

Fit the assembled pages into the folded cover to make sure that everything goes together neatly. Then apply a bead of the white glue to the spine of the pages and down the sides over the lacing. Push the pages back into the folded cover and press the parts together tightly to ensure that the glue is in good contact with the components. Open the front cover and make sure that glue does not come past the front fold line, or the cover will be bonded to the front endpaper. Make sure that the top and bottom edges of the cover line up correctly with the pages and then place the assembled parts between the clamping blocks and apply the clamps to hold everything together tightly while the glue dries.

When everything is completely dry, remove the clamping blocks. Trim the front and back covers with a sharp knife on a cutting board so that they align perfectly with the ends of the pages. Any minor irregularities can be trimmed by re-inserting the book into the clamping blocks and sanding the edges of the pages carefully and squarely with fine sandpaper on a flat block. As an alternative to sanding, you may choose to have the local print shop make guillotine "kiss-cuts" along the three unbound edges. That will give your masterpiece a final professional touch. You’ve made your book.

Unless otherwise stated, all art work and literary material on this Web site is copyright © Albert Seaman.