ll-illustrated
book, especially if intended for youthful readers, like the one we are
considering, is doubled in value by its pictures. For ordinary books
very little engraving or wood-cutting is now done, since by the aid of
photography and electricity so many cheap processes for reproducing
drawings have been discovered that the slower methods of the engraver
are only employed for the very best and finest work. If the picture is
to be engraved it is either drawn directly on the wood or transferred to
it by photography; while if it is to be reproduced by one of the cheaper
processes, it is photographed on a prepared plate of metal, from which
the light spaces are eaten out by acids, while the shadows remain
untouched. The thin plate is given a substantial wood-backing to
preserve its form, and is then ready for use.

[Illustration: STITCHING THE SHEETS.]

From the press-room the printed sheets are sent to the bindery, where
they are folded, once into quartos (4tos), twice into octavos (8vos),
three times into sextodecimos (16mos), or into any other size that shall
have been agreed upon. Then the sheets are stitched together, pressed,
their edges are cut by powerful machine knives, and the whole, finally
glued into its cover, is set aside under pressure to dry.

[Illustration: IN THE BINDERY.]

The making of covers is a distinct branch of book-building that gives
employment to a great many skilled workmen and workwomen. The most
conspicuous of these is the artist who draws the cover design, and
suggests its scheme of color--for the sale of a book depends very hugely
upon whether or not its cover is attractive. Covers are made of paper,
cloth, or leather. Most books are bound in "cloth," as it is called,
which means pasteboard, covered with muslin stiffened with sizing, and
colored a uniform tint before the design is stamped or printed on it. A
book bound in "boards" is enclosed between covers of pasteboard, and one
bound in calf or morocco has its heavy pasteboard covers hidden beneath
very thin sheets of leather. The inside of covers is often made of
"marbled" paper, and one of the most interesting corners of the bindery
is that devoted to marbling. Here a bath of gum-tragacanth, looking like
a mass of smooth black glue newly melted, has wet colors sprinkled over
it from paint-brushes. These are drawn into lines or figures with coarse
wooden combs. A dampened sheet of paper is spread over the colored
surface, quick