It may be well to refer now to another more detailed branch of this work which is necessary for certain purposes. If books which have already been used or bound are sent for rebinding it would be very unsafe to rely upon the pages being in proper order, especially if they have been much torn and have to be mended. Very frequently the leaves of a section have been misplaced. In such cases the book is laid flat upon the table, the head lying to the top, and, beginning at the title, leaf by leaf is lifted with the point of a knife after the way some ignorant persons have of using a moistened finger. The knife point is not inserted under the leaf lying uppermost but is lightly placed at the top of the leaf near the page number and the leaf pushed up from the side so that the left index finger takes it as it separates from the succeeding leaf whilst the eye scans the page numbers 1, 3, 5, 7, 9, &c. Also with other things that do not admit of any other method of collating, e.g., ledgers, documents, &c., this is the only possible way of doing it.

Nowadays, paper received in the printer has been so well calendared beforehand that is to say, polished between rollers-and after printing the sheets are once more so well rolled that the gathered sheets may at once be prepared for sewing. Old paper, however, must be beaten or rolled to make it firm and solid. The former work will be completely forgotten at no very distant date, as the younger generation of masters and men show less and less inclination to learn it. For beating, a stone about the height of a low table, and a surface about the size of a sheet may be used, or a cast iron plate about 6 cm in thickness embedded in a block of wood the same height as the stone. Upon this firm base which, of course, must stand on the ground floor or in the cellar the book, or section of it if too thick, is beaten with 11 shorthanded iron hammer, the face of which measures about 100 sq. cm. All corners and edges are well rounded off, and the face is slightly convex. The handle must be short not above 12 cm long, cut oval, and just thick enough to be well grasped. The hole in the hammer is made so that the handle drops a little at the (outer) end.

In beating, the sections should be held by the left hand after being knocked up. In order to prevent injury to the paper, the sections are placed between pieces of waste paper of same size also a mill board or piece of waste paper to size is laid upon the beating stone. The right hand wields the hammer, which must strike the sections (or book) fairly and squarely with the full face. The beating is begun at the edge, and blow after blow is given in gradually lessening circles until the centre is reached, the left hand, of course, keeping up the necessary motion of the sections. It requires considerable practice to do this without shifting the sections, but if this happens they must again be knocked up.

The experienced workman knows by the touch where the book has been beaten much or little and works accordingly. The main thing in this, as in all other work, is that the book should be again pressed for some time for a night at the least. The beaten volumes are divided into several lots or sections about a finger thick, and pressing boards placed between them. If any sections show folds or creases even after pressing, they must be once more beaten and pressed.

Forwarding Part 8