Click on any picture to see how ArtFire’s quick checkout process using PayPal or Amazon Payments works- no account necessary!

Ever wonder how to describe your book, or what each part is called? Here is a little primer on book anatomy.

Boards- the hard front and back of a hard cover book.

Case- another word for a hard cover, usually covered with cloth or paper. A case is made separately from the text, then attached to the text block.

Endsheet- the decorative or plain paper visible right inside the cover when you open a book. The part glued onto the board is the pastedown, the part that turns with the pages is the flyleaf.

Foredge- the edge of the book that opens. Parallel to the spine, it runs between the head and tail.

Gutter- the area of the text block where the pages meet each other. Often the sewing can be seen if you look carefully into the gutter.

Head and Tail- the top and bottom edges of the book.

Headcaps or endcaps- the part of the cover material that curves around the spine at the head and tail. These are subject to damage when used foolishly as a place to hook one’s finger when pulling a book off a shelf.

Headbands or endbands- the narrow strip of decorative material along the head and tail of the text block at the spine. Usually woven, they are not a structural part of a case binding.

Hinge or joint- the area where the boards meet and move at the spine (just like a door.) Some people use hinge to refer to the inside and joint to refer to the outside and some people use them interchangeably, relying on “inner joint” and “outer joint” (or hinge) to clarify.

Hollow- the space between the spine of the cover and the spine of the text block, a tunnel that allows the pages to move away from the cover cloth (called “throwing up”) and drape properly when the book is open. A hollow is a necessity for a case-bound book; paperbacks do not have them.

Mull- the mesh strip that supports the connection of text block to case in a case-bound book. It can usually be seen under the pastedown right inside the cover. It is also sometimes called super or crash.

Pastedown- see endsheet.

Spine- this is the area of the book that is visible when the book is on the shelf, usually where the book is titled.

Text Block- the pages, either sewn or glued together.

Our new workspace is finally as it should be, and everything has found its right place. The big paper drawers and the guillotine were the tricky parts, but once they were right everything else followed.

The space is bright and much warmer than the old shop, and the windows look out into stone walls and woods. There are even multiple closets for all of the necessary and desirable supplies, and a place of pride for the all-important board shears used for cutting everything from gossamer thin Japanese tissue to cloth to heavy binder’s board. Mine is a Marshall, Son and Co. model, made in Boston, with a beautiful wooden bed and graceful cast iron legs and brackets. It has served me well and traveled across the country with me. Now it seems to be suited to its new home.

I hope to be blogging more frequently this year about projects, materials, techniques and the interesting people in and around the world of books and paper.

Paper Moon Bookbinding’s new space is fabulous- bright, perfectly sized and comfortable to work in- and I’m thinking about a new line of photo albums for Spring: cloth-bound primarily, although gorgeous wood and cork veneers have been taking up a lot of brain space lately. The other main obsession at the moment is bird- and egg-patterned papers. Maybe it is due to watching the birds outside the snowy window of the bindery…

Very blue bird with a beak extending onto the spine of the book.

This is a small vintage-style archival album with end sheets that have the most beautiful natural history-themed print of eggs from various birds.

Lovely perching bird in earthtones on the cover of a journal.

Ribbon gift/hang tag with a fabulous black bird and nest; this image was used in an antique hat advertisement.

Check out our new store!

PaperMoonBookbinding

Sell Handmade

I just got back from a great trip to the Catskill mountains in upstate NY and made a visit to Hobert- the Book Village of the Catskills. There are multiple used book dealers right on the main street of this tiny downtown (and one more a short drive down the road,) and there is a range of books for sale. There is also another shop several miles away in Delhi, NY.

www.hobartbookvillage.com

I was very restrained in my shopping, and only got two books: a copy of “Little Men” and one called “Naomi”, both beautiful examples of stamped 19th publishers’ bindings in need of small repair. I’ll put a photo of them up soon. I also saw a fabulous book about phrenology with a beautiful stamped cloth binding, but it was too rich for my blood so I left it for somebody else. The book shops in and near Hobert had everything from inexpensive mass market trade books to super high-end antiquarian editions (Voltaire, anyone?), charming & well read vintage copies to big, lovely, artsy coffee table books with glossy pages. If you have the chance, go on over for a visit; it is a great place for anybody who loves books and the booksellers could not be nicer or more helpful.

People ask me all the time about acidic materials vs. acid free materials. Lots of materials used in bookbinding, art, archives, paper conservation and photography should be acid free to help ensure longevity; these include papers, adhesives, and photo sleeves. Acidity matters in paper because it contributes to yellowing, brittleness and overall deterioration of the paper over time. We’ve all had the experience of seeing old newspaper or book pages that simply fall apart in our hands; that weakness and lack of flexibility is due to the effects of acidity on the internal structure of the paper fibers. Acidity is measured on the pH scale (1-14).

While most art papers and fine writing papers have long been acid free, now even plain old printer paper from chain stores can be acid free. If you want to check on the relative acidity of your paper, you can use one of my favorite gadgets- the pH pen. They are available at good arts stores and online, they look like a regular felt tip pen and they’re super easy to use: just draw a tiny line on your paper and check the resulting color. If the line is lavender or purple the paper is acid free; if the line is yellow or colorless the paper is acidic. Easy!

If you are on Facebook, you may become a “fan” of Paper Moon Bookbinding.  Once connected, you can see additional pictures and galleries of recent projects.  You will also be able to receive updates and occasional special offers, such as free shipping.

I also discovered today that another of my hand-bound journals is currently featured in an Etsy Treasury.  If you are not aware of Etsy, check out the plethora of wonderful hand-made items (from folk art to unique socks..and hand-bound albums and journals as well, of course) that artisans sell through the site.  I could spend all day browsing the various beautiful and interesting creations!