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damped and washed off. The object of the paper is to prevent the thin leather from stretching when it is
pasted.
For white inlays it is better to use Japanese paper than leather, as white leather, when pared very thin, will
show the colours of the under leather through, and look dirty. If paper is used, it should be sized with vellum
size before tooling.
When many dots or leaves are to be inlaid, the pieces of leather, cut out with the punch, may be laid face
downwards on a paring stone, and a piece of paper, thickly covered with paste, laid on it. This, on being taken
up, will carry with it the "inlays," and they can be picked up one at a time on the point of a fine folder, and
stuck on the book.
"Inlays" of tools are attached after the pattern has been "blinded" in, and must be again worked over with the
CHAPTER XIV 80
tool, in blind, when the paste is nearly dry.
On vellum an effect, similar to that of inlays on leather, can be obtained by the use of stains.
CHAPTER XV 81
CHAPTER XV
Lettering--Blind Tooling--Heraldic Ornament
LETTERING ON THE BACK
Lettering may be done either with separate letters, each on its own handle, or with type set in a type-holder
and worked across the back as a pallet. Although by the use of type great regularity is ensured, and some time
saved, the use of handle letters gives so much more freedom of arrangement, that their use is advocated for
extra binding. Where a great many copies of the same work have to be lettered, the use of type has obvious
advantages.
A great deal depends on the design of the letters used. Nearly all bookbinders' letters are made too narrow,
and with too great difference between the thick and thin strokes. At fig. 90 is shown an alphabet, for which I
am indebted to the kindness of Mr. Emery Walker. The long tail of the Q is meant to go under the U. It might
be well to have a second R cut, with a shorter tail, to avoid the great space left when an A happens to follow
it. I have found that four sizes of letters are sufficient for all books.
[Illustration: FIG. 90.]
[Illustration: FIG. 91.]
[Illustration: FIG. 92.]
To make out a lettering paper for the back of a book, cut a strip of good thin paper as wide as the height of the
panel to be lettered. Fold it near the centre, and mark the fold with a pencil. This should give a line exactly at
right angles to the top and bottom of the strip. Then make another fold the distance from the first of the width
of the back; then bring the two folds together, and make a third fold in the exact centre. The paper should then
be as shown at fig. 91. Supposing the lettering to be THE WORKS OF ROBERT LOUIS STEVENSON,
select the size of letter you desire to use, and take an E and mark on a piece of spare paper a line of E's, and
laying your folded paper against it, see how many letters will go in comfortably. Supposing you find that four
lines of five letters of the selected size can be put in, you must see if your title can be conveniently cut up into
four lines of five letters, or less. It might be done as shown at fig. 93. But if you prefer not to split the name
STEVENSON, a smaller letter must be employed, and then the lettering may be as at fig. 94.
To find out the position of the lines of lettering on a panel, the letter E is again taken and impressed five times
at the side of the panel, as shown at fig. 92, leaving a little greater distance between the lowest letter and the
bottom of the panel, than between the letters. The paper is then folded on the centre fold, and, with dividers
set to the average distance between the head of one letter and the head of the next, five points are made
through the folded paper. The paper is opened, turned over, and the points joined with a fine folder worked
against the straight-edge. It should leave on the front five raised lines, up to which the head of the letters must
be put.
[Illustration: FIG. 93.]
[Illustration: FIG. 94.]
The letters in the top line are counted, and the centre letter marked. Spaces between words are counted as a
letter; thus in "THE WORKS," "W" will be the centre letter, and should be put on the paper first, and the
others added on each side of it. Some thought is needed in judging where to put the centre, as the difference in
the width of such letters as "M" and "W" and "I" and "J" have to be taken into account.
CHAPTER XV 82
As a general rule, lettering looks best if it comfortably fills the panel, but of course it cannot always be made
to do this. The greatest difficulty will be found in making titles of books that consist of a single word, look
well. Thus if you have "CORIOLANUS" to place on a back which is not more than 5/8-inch wide, if it is put
across as one word, as at fig. 95 (1), it will be illegible from the smallness of the type, and will tell merely as a
gold line at a little distance. If a reasonably large type is used, the word must be broken up somewhat, as at
(2), which is perhaps better, but still not at all satisfactory. The word may be put straight along the back, as at
fig. (3), but this hardly looks well on a book with raised bands, and should be avoided unless necessary.
[Illustration: FIG. 95.]
The use of type of different sizes in lettering a book should be avoided when possible, and on no account
whatever should letters of different design be introduced. Occasionally, when the reason for it is obvious, it
may be allowable to make a word shorter by putting in a small letter, supposing that only thus could
reasonably large type be used. It is especially allowable in cases where, in a set of volumes, there is one much
thinner than the others. It is generally better to make some compromise with the lettering of the thin volume,
than to spoil the lettering of the whole set by using too small a letter throughout (see fig. 115).
On very thin books it is sometimes hardly possible to get any lettering at all on the back. In such cases the
lettering is best put on the side.
In the case of some special books that are to have elaborately decorated bindings, and are on that account
sufficiently distinct from their neighbours, a certain amount of freedom is permissible with the lettering, and a
little mystery is not perhaps out of place. But in most cases books have to be recognised by their titles, and it
is of the utmost importance that the lettering should be as clear as possible, and should fully identify the
volume.
For lettering half-bindings and other books on which much time cannot be spared, it would take too long to
make out a paper, as described for extra bindings, nor is there on such work much occasion for it. For such
books the lettering should be written out carefully, the whole panel prepared and glaired in, and the gold laid
on. Then with a piece of fine silk or thread lines may be marked across the gold as a guide to the finisher, and
the letters worked from the centre outward, as described for making out the paper pattern. Of course this
method does not allow of such nice calculation and adjustment as when a paper pattern is made out; but if a
general principle of clear lettering is recognised and accepted, very good results may be obtained.
BLIND TOOLING
[Illustration: FIG. 96.]
At the end of the book characteristic examples of blind-tooled books are given (pages 321-25). It will be seen [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]