different sections from getting mixed,
unless they were put into compact bundles and tied up until the
complete book is folded. This is accomplished by putting a quantity of
each section into hydraulic or screw presses, with a board at the top
and bottom of the bundle, which is tied with a strong cord. They are
then marked with name and signature, and piled up until wanted for
gathering into books.

If the book has plates printed separately from the text, they have to
be inserted before it can be gathered. Plating is done by girls, 5000
being a day's work for an experienced hand.

Gathering comes next. The sections are laid out in separate piles in
consecutive order, and one signature taken from each pile, making a
complete book. From 30,000 to 45,000 sections is a day's work.

After gathering, the book is pressed to make it solid. This is done by
passing it through a powerful press, called a smashing machine. The
old-fashioned way was to pile the books between boards in a standing
press, running the screw down with an iron lever, and allowing them to
stay in same for several hours. In a modern smashing machine a book
can be made as solid in half a minute as the standing press will make
it by ten hours' pressing.

From the smashing machine it goes to the collator, by whom it is
examined to see if any signature is misplaced or left out.

It then goes to the modern sewing machine. This is one of the most
valuable labor-saving machines for the binder ever invented, as it
almost, if not entirely, supersedes hand sewing on what is called
edition work. This machine will sew from 15,000 to 18,000 signatures a
day, and do it better than it can be done by hand. Each signature is
sewed independently and with from two to five stitches, so that if one
breaks the signature is held fast by the others, while in hand sewing
the thread goes through the whole length of the signature, and if by
chance it is broken, the book is ruined so far as the sewing is
concerned. In addition the machine does more work, in the same time,
than five or six girls sewing by hand.

After sewing, the books are prepared for trimming by "jogging up" in
bunches of the proper thickness, for the cutting machine. If the work
is large or the paper highly sized and slippery, a light coating of
glue is applied to the centre of the back, to keep the signatures in
place. In olden times books were trimmed in a press having hardwood
jaws and wood screws near each