This little book by Hazen is quite in the spirit and manner of one published at Frankfort-On-Main in 1568, in which the various professions and trades (paper-making, printing, and book-binding amongst them) followed in Germany, in the sixteenth century, are described in metrical Latin and represented pictorially with engravings by Hartman Schopfer. It is not probable that Hazen was acquainted with this work of Schopfer, and guilty of an act of plagiarism, and we may, therefore, regard this coincidence simply as a proof that in the kingdom of letters, lapse of years and accident of locality, play little part.
The description of the various processes involved in the binding of a book contained in Mr. Hazen's "Every Mans Book" which with its woodcut head-band we here present to the reader, is, so far as I am aware, the first treatise upon the subject printed in the United States, and considering the backward state of the Art in America at the time it was written, it is noteworthy for the general knowledge of the subject it evinces.
" The first process of binding books consists in folding the sheets according to the paging. This is done by the aid of an ivory knife, called a folder, and the operator is guided in the correct performance of the work by certain letters called signatures, placed at the bottom of the page, at regular intervals through the book.
" Piles of the folded sheets are then placed on a long table in the order of their signatures, and gathered one from each pile, for every book. They are next beaten on a stone, or passed between steel rollers to render them smooth and solid. The latter method has been introduced within a few years. This operation certainly increases the intrinsic value of the book ; but it is not employed in every case, since it is attended with some additional expense, and since it diminishes the thickness of the book, and consequently its value in the estimation of the public at large.
"The sheets, having been properly pressed, are next sewed together upon little cords, which in this application, are called bands. During the operation these are stretched in a perpendicular direction at suitable distances from each other, as exhibited in the foregoing cut. The folded sheets are usually notched on the back by means of a saw, and at these points they are brought in juxta-position with the bands. After the pages of several volumes have been accumulated, the bands are severed between each book. The folding, gathering, and sewing are usually performed by females.
" At this stage of the process, the books are received by the men or boys, who generally take on one hundred at a time. The workman first spreads some glue on the back of each book with a brush. He then places them, one after the other, between boards of solid wood, and beats them on the back with a hammer. By this means the back is rounded, and a groove formed on each side for the admission of one edge of the pasteboards.
" These having been applied, and partially fastened by means of the bands, which had been left long for the purpose, the books are pressed and the leaves of which they are composed are trimmed with an instrument called a plough. The pasteboards are also cut to the proper size by the same means, or with a huge pair of shears. In the preceding picture a workman is represented at work with the plough. The edges are next sprinkled with some kind of coloring matter, or covered with gold leaf, A strip of paper is then glued on the back, and a headband put upon each end.
" The book is now ready to be covered. This is either done with calf, sheep, or goat skin, or some kind of paper or cloth; but whatever the material may be, it is cut into pieces to suit the size of the book, and having been smeared on one side with paste, it is drawn over the outsides of the paste-boards, and doubled in upon the inside.
" The covers, if calf or sheep skin, are next sprinkled or marbled. The first operation is performed by dipping the brush in a kind of dye, made for the purpose, and beating it with one hand over a stick held in the other; the second is performed in the same manner, with the difference that they are sprinkled first with water, and then with the coloring matter.
" After a small piece of morocco has been pasted on the back, on which the title is to be printed in gold leaf, and one of the waste leaves has been pasted down on the inside of each of the covers, the books are pressed for the last time. They are then glazed by applying the white of an egg with a sponge.
" The books are now ready for the reception of the ornaments, which consist chief- ly of letters and other figures in gold leaf. In executing this part of the process, the workman cuts the gold into suitable strips or squares on a cushion.
" These are laid upon the books by means of a piece of raw cotton, and afterwards impressed with types moderately heated over a charcoal fire; or the strips of gold are taken up and laid upon the proper place with instruments called stamps and rolls, which have on them figures in relief. The portion of the leaf, not impressed with the figures on the tools, is easily removed with a silk rag. The books are finished by applying to the covers the white of an egg and rubbing them with a heated steel polisher.
" The process of binding books, as just described, is varied, of course, in some particulars to suit the different kinds of binding and finish. A book, stitched together like a common almanac, is called a pamphlet. Those which are covered on 30 And Kindred Subjects the back and sides with leather are said to be full bound, and those which have their backs covered with leather, and the sides with paper, half bound.
" The different sizes of books are expressed by terms, indicative of the number of pages printed on one side of a sheet of paper; thus, when two pages are printed on one side, the book is termed a folio; four pages, a quarto ; eight pages, an octavo; twelve pages, a duodecimo; eighteen pages, an octodecimo. All of these terms, except the first, are abridged by prefixing a figure or figures to the last syllable. Thus, 4to for quarto, 8vo for octavo, I2mo for duodecimo, etc."
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