age has a double ruled line at top
and bottom and on the inner edge. The top and bottom lines and the
fish's tail, being printed across the front fold, show as black lines
banding the front edge when the book is bound. The bottom line is taken
by the binder as his guide in arranging the sheets, this line always
appearing true on the front edge and the others blurred. The top margin
has more than twice the breadth of the lower. After the sheets are
gathered, holes are punched at proper distances from the back edge--four
seems to be the regulation number whether the book be large or small,
but large books have an extra hole at top and bottom towards the corner
from the last hole. These holes are then plugged with rolls of paper to
keep the sheets in position, and the top, bottom, and back edges are
shaved with a sharp, heavy knife, fifty or more volumes being trimmed at
the same stroke. A piece of silk is pasted over the upper and lower
corners of the back. Covers, consisting of two sheets of colored paper
folded in front like the pages, are placed at front and back, but not
covering the back edge, or there is an outer sheet of colored paper with
inside lining paper and a leaf of heavy paper between for stiffening.
Silk cord is sewn through the holes and neatly tied, and the book is
done--light in the hand and lying open well, inexpensive and capable
with proper treatment of lasting for centuries.

What are the chief defects of the Chinese book from an occidental point
of view? The most obvious is that it will not stand alone. Another is
that its covers, being soft, are easily crumpled and dog's-eared. A
third is that it is printed on only one side of the paper and therefore
wastes space. All these objections must be admitted, but it may be urged
with truth that our books, in spite of their relatively costly binding,
do not stand alone any too well, and in fact this is a function seldom
asked of books anyway. Its covers are soft, but this means at least that
they are not so hard and foreign to the material of the book as to tear
themselves off after a dozen readings, as is the case with so many of
our bindings. There is no danger of breaking the back of a Chinese book
on first opening it, for it has no lining of hard glue. As to the
utilization of only one side of the paper, it must be remembered that
the Chinese paper is very thin, and that this practice makes it possible
to secure the advantage of opacity without loading