s
to appear when bound. This is a degenerate form, to which is due much
of the want of durability of modern bindings. If the bands are not to
show on the back, it is better to sew on tapes or strips of vellum
than to use sawn-in string bands.

SEWING

The sewing-frame need by bookbinders is practically the same now as is
shown in prints of the early sixteenth century, and probably dates
from still earlier times. It consists of a bed with two uprights and a
crossbar, which can be heightened or lowered by the turning of wooden
nuts working on a screw thread cut in the uprights (see fig. 29).

To set up for sewing, as many loops of cord, called "lay cords," as
there are to be bands, are threaded on to the cross piece, and to
these, by a simple knot, shown at fig. 28, cords are fastened to form
the bands. The "lay cords" can be used again and again until worn
out.

[Illustration: FIG. 28.]

To fasten the cord below, a key is taken (see fig. 28) and held below
the press by the right hand; the cord is then pulled up round it by
the left, and held in position on the key by the first finger of the
right hand. The key is then turned over, winding up a little of the
string, and the prongs slipped over the main cord. It is then put
through the slit in the bed of the sewing-press, with the prongs away
from the front. The cord is then cut off, and the same operation
repeated for each band. When all the bands have been set up, the book
is laid against them, and they are moved to correspond with the marks
previously made on the back of the book, care being taken that they
are quite perpendicular. If they are of the same length and evenly set
up, on screwing up the crossbar they should all tighten equally.

It will be found to be convenient to set up the cords as far to the
right hand of the press as possible, as then there will be room for
the sewer's left arm on the inner side of the left hand upright.

A roll of paper that will exactly fill the slot in the sewing-frame is
pushed in in front of the upright cords to steady them and ensure
that they are all in the same plane.

When the sewing-frame is ready, with the cords set up and adjusted,
the book must be collated to make sure that neither sheets nor plates
have been lost or misplaced during the previous operations. Plates
need special care to see that the guards go properly round the sheets
next them.

[Illustration: FIG. 29.]