an make from 600 to 800 covers a day. About
fifteen years ago a machine was invented, which turns out from 3000 to
4500 a day. This machine is automatic in its operation, gluing the
cloth, laying on the boards, turning in the edges, and delivering a
more perfect cover than can be made by hand.

Stamping the cover is a trade by itself. It requires long experience
and skill to make an expert. There are several branches in this trade,
such as blank or blind stamping, stamping with ink (or a colored leaf
made to take the place of ink), and stamping with gold. Laying gold
preparatory to stamping is a distinct branch, and is done by girls.
This is such a delicate operation that it requires long experience.
There has been no improvement in the principle of the stamping or
embossing press since the first machines came into use. The die or
stamp is held in the head of the press by clamps, and the cover is
placed on the platen or bed of the press, which is raised up to the
stamp by a "toggle joint" operated with a "cam."

Since covers began to be ornamented with ink, attachments have been
added to the presses for inking the stamps. There have also been
invented powerful printing presses, made for stamping covers in ink.
The process is the same as on common printing presses.

The dies used for stamping covers are cut on hardened brass, and are
capable of standing an immense pressure. They are not set in chases,
as are the forms on printing presses, but are glued to iron plates.
The head of the press to which the plates are clamped is heated,
either by running a jet of live steam through it, or by gas jets.

For gilt work, or colored leaf, heat is necessary. The cover is
prepared with a coat of size. The gold or ink leaf is then laid on and
an impression is given with the heated die, which melts the size and
fastens the leaf only at the point where the die strikes. The surplus
leaf is brushed off, leaving only the design visible.

The binding of cheap leather-covered books is essentially the same as
with cloth. The difference is that the covers must be made by hand. No
machine will do any part, except paring the edges of the covers. There
are several machines that will do this work, one machine doing as much
in a day as three men could with knife and paring stone in the old
way.

Edge-gilding is another distinct branch of the trade, and is generally
done before books are rounded and backed. The books are clamped, after
trimm