Glossary of Book Repair Terms
I know how confusing it can be to try and repair your books when instructions are full of terms you don't understand. Here is a glossary of the most frequently used terms.
Main source: Bookbinding and the Conservation of Books, Matt T. Roberts and Don Etherington (Library of Congress, 1982).
- Acid-free
- Materials which do not contain acid and have a pH value of 7.0 or greater (pH neutral or alkaline buffered).
- Against the grain
- Paper folded at right angles to fiber direction[cite: 1]. Well-produced books have the grain running head-to-tail so pages lie flat[cite: 1].
- Backing
- Shaping a shoulder or ridge on each side of the text block spine to accommodate cover boards and distribute swelling[cite: 1].
- Bone folder
- A smooth, tapered tool made of bone or plastic used for folding, burnishing tissue, and setting cloth into joints[cite: 1, 2].
- Case binding
- A method where the book covers (case) are made separately from the text block and later attached by pasting down endpapers[cite: 1, 2].
- Crash (Super / Mull)
- A coarse, open-weave starched cotton cloth used to line and reinforce the spines of books[cite: 1].
- Endpapers
- The sheets placed at the front and back of a book between the covers and text block[cite: 1]. The pasted section is the pastedown; the free leaf is the flyleaf[cite: 1].
- Hinging-in
- Reattaching a loose page by adhering a narrow strip of Japanese tissue to the page and attaching the remaining half to the text block[cite: 1].
- Japanese repair tissue
- Strong, thin paper made from long mulberry (kozo) vegetable fibers[cite: 1, 2]. Used with paste to mend tears invisibly[cite: 1, 2].
- Kettle stitch
- The locking stitch or knot made near the head and tail of a book that holds adjacent signatures together[cite: 1, 2].
- Polyvinyl acetate (PVA)
- A flexible, water-based synthetic resin adhesive that dries quickly, does not yellow, and is unaffected by mold[cite: 1, 2].
- Rebacking
- Replacing or restoring the cloth or leather covering the spine of a book[cite: 1, 2].
- Signature
- A gathering of flat pages folded in half to create a unit of pages (usually multiples of 4, 8, or 16) sewn together through the fold[cite: 1, 2].
- Tipping-in
- Attaching a loose page to the text block by applying a thin (1/16" to 1/8") line of glue along its inner margin and inserting it into the gutter[cite: 1, 2].