About the Binding: Bradel Binding -part 2 a Case Bound Pamplet

This version of the Bradel binding is a single signature in a hard case. It was sewn using a four hole pamphlet stitch. Before it was sewn, a piece of book cloth approximately 3 inches wide was folded in half with the cloth side next to the text and was sewn together with the text pages.

I made the case up from two cover boards, a spine piece and a strip of paper to connect the pieces. The boards were cut to the height of the pages plus 3/16 of an inch, and were cut wider than the page width. After I attached the spine piece I can measure and cut cover boards to the final width.

I glued the spine board in the center of the paper strip and then turned it over and folded the paper around the board. This allows me to see the position of the spine board as I attach the covers

I decided to use a 1/4 inch joint and used a brass bar to space the cover boards and glued them to the paper strip. The paper was glued to the underside of the cover boards.

To soften the transition of the edge of the paper glued to the board, I brushed an area on the boards about half the width of the paper area.

After the glue had dried I peeled off the area of the paper that was not glued down and then sanded the edge smooth. This give and feathered edge which will not be as noticeable under the endpapers.

I began putting the bookcloth on by gluing up the cloth and placing one of the cover boards down while holding the rest of the cover up. Then turning the cover over I worked the cloth into the joint area and then across the other board and turned over the edges of the cloth and glued them in place.

To prepare the inside cloth joint that was sewn to the textblock, I trimmed off the corners at a 45 degree angle.

The hinge needs to be glued down to the cover along the joint area. Because the folded edge of the textblock was round and the spine of the cover was square, it was difficult to glue the hinge in the center while rubbing the cloth down into the inner hinge area.

I found a solution to this problem in an article written by Barb Tetenbaum in the Bone Folder Journal, which can be downloaded as a pdf at http://www.philobiblon.com/bonefolder/vol6no1contents.htm

Taking two book boards cut slightly wider than the book size and placing them between the cloth joint and the textblock, the cloth can be pushed into position for gluing. The extra boards I used here are millboards which come in a green color

I opened up the book and slipped a piece of waste paper under the joint and glued the hinge. Then I removed the waste paper when the book was closed and the extra boards held the cloth in place.