bound if the sewing is
slighted in any degree. Insist upon strong, honest linen thread--if it
breaks with a slight pull it is not fit to be used in a book. The book is
prepared for the sewer by sawing several grooves across the back with a
common saw. The two end grooves are light and narrow, the central ones
wider and deeper. Into these inner grooves, the cords fit easily, and the
book being taken, sheet by sheet, is firmly sewed around the cords, by
alternate movements of the needle and thread, always along the middle of
the sheet, the thread making a firm knot at each end (called the
"kettle-stitch") as it is returned for sewing on the next sheet.
Sometimes the backs are not sawed at all, but the sheets of the book are
sewed around the cords, which thus project a little from the back, and
form the "bands," seen in raised form on the backs of some books. Books
should be sewed on three to six cords, according to their size. This
raised-band sewing is reckoned by some a feature of excellent binding.
The sunken-band style is apt to give a stiff back, while the raised bands
are usually treated with a flexible back. When sewed, the book is
detached from its fellows, which may have been sewed on the same bench,
by slipping it along the cords, then cutting them apart, so as to leave
some two inches of each cord projecting, as ends to be fastened later to
the board. In careful binding, the thread is sewed "all along," _i. e._:
each sheet by itself, instead of "two on," as it is called.

The next process is termed "lining up," and consists of putting on the
proper fly-leaves or end-leaves, at the beginning and end of the volume.
These usually consist of four leaves of ordinary white printing paper at
each end, sometimes finished out with two leaves of colored or marbled
paper, to add a touch of beauty to the book when opened. Marbled paper is
more durable in color than the tinted, and does not stain so easily. One
of these end-leaves is pasted down to the inside cover, while the other
is left flying--whence "fly-leaf."

After this comes the cutting of the book at the edges. This is done by
screwing it firmly in a cutting-machine, which works a sharp knife
rapidly, shaving off the edges successively of the head, front and end,
or "tail" as it is called in book-binding parlance. This trimming used to
be done by hand, with a sharp cutting knife called by binders a "plough."
Now, there are many forms of cutting machines, some of