The beating hammer and stone are adjuncts of an old-fashioned bookbinder's shop, and have been replaced by the rolling machine. The amateur, however, unless he can get his work rolled for him, must use the beating hammer, and he should endeavor to obtain one that has been specially made for the purpose. The beating hammer weighs from 10 lb. to 12 lb., is more or less bell-shaped, and has a short handle (see Fig. I, p: 10). A stone or iron slab will also be required. The slab must be level and perfectly smooth and it should be firmly bedded. When not in use the surface of the slab should be kept covered. It will be found convenient to bed the slab in a box of sand, and to provide the box with a cover.

The standing press is used to compress books during the process of binding and there are several different forms of it. The typical standing press (Fig. 2, p. 11) consists of vertical pillars, a long stout screw, a platen, and the bed. A letter-copying press represents, roughly and on a small scale, a bookbinder's standing press, but in the bookbinder's press the power is applied by a long iron bar that is inserted in holes drilled in a ball of iron that forms the bottom of the screw. The folded sections of the book are piled upon the bed of the press, and the platen is screwed down as tightly as possible by the combined strength of two or more men. A stout copying press, however, can be used for bookbinding on a small scale, smooth slabs of iron or hard wood called pressing boards, not less than the size of the book, being placed between each three or four sections. Or, if a copying press or similar contrivance is not available, heavy weights may be laid on the folded sheets and the pressure continued for twenty-four hours, or longer if necessary. A small press, like that shown my sometimes may be bought second-hand, and would be a valuable acquisition. The pressing boards should be of some hard wood, generally beech, planed perfectly smooth on both surfaces, and rectangular in shape. Iron plates sometimes are used.

The sewing press is not a press in the modern sense of the term, as it is not used for purposes of compression; it is a contrivance by which the bands or cords upon which a book is sewn are kept at tension and in their proper places, while the sections pr sheets of a book are sewn to them. The usual form of the sewing press is shown by Fig. 4, and its use will be described later. In Fig. 4 are shown the keys employed to hold down the cords.