Across the spine blocking
Lines of type embossed to read horizontally across the back of covers

All Along Sewing
A continuous form of sewing along the centre folds of sections to build up the sewn book block

Along the spine blocking
A line of type embossed to read either down the back of covers from top to bottom or up the back from bottom to top

Back
Rear board and end of the book

Backing
Forming of the front and back pages and endpapers to form shoulder for hinging case

Bleeding
Occurs when text or graphic print has no margin and extends to cut edge of page

Blind lines
Decorative tooled lines without use of gold

Book block
Also known as text block being a mass of sewn or glued pages

Buckram Cloth
A woven and impregnated cotton cloth that is durable and waterproof used extensively for journals, newspapers, reference and local studies bindings

Case
Protective covers or binding of a book consisting of a front and back board and spine

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Cloth pocket
Gussetted pocket mounted on to inside of front or back board to house maps or other inserts

Collating
The process of checking for completeness and correct pagination of a journal prior to sewing that may also include the removal of unwanted pages or replaciement of some pages

Compensatory Stub Guards
The addition before sewing or gluing of narrow strips of paper in the spine to allow for the addition of extra pages or inserted material without the danger of distorting the spine

Conservation
Art of stabilising existing original material as far as possible

Dry Cleaning
The process of cleaning paper of dust, grime and dirt without affecting the images or printing inks

Dust jacket
Original artwork printed and wrapped loose around binding

Encapsulation
Sandwiching document between two layers of protective material

Endpapers
Blank sheets of folded paper at the front and rear of volumes to form union of book block with case

Flyleaf
The free part of a folded endpaper - usually forming the first page of a volume

Folio
The folded spread of a section to form two leaves or four paginated pages

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Foredge
Front leading open edge of the leaves. Pronounced "forrege"

Fox marks
Dark stains resulting from the ageing process of paper or inks containing impurities that cause a chemical reaction with the atmosphere

Front
Upper-most board and beginning of the book

Full binding
Case is covered in one piece of covering material

Gilt edges
Top, bottom or all round gold burnished on edges of book block for decoration

Gold lines
Decorative tooled lines with use of gold

Grain
The fibres making up paper and board whose direction should always be lying the same way running from head to tail in a bound book to avoid warping of boards and cockling of paper

Gutter
Margin between spine and text on a page

Half binding
Spine and board corners covered in matching material but boards are covered in contrasting material

Head and tail
Top and base of the book

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Head and tail lines
Single or double gold or blind lines tooled near to the top and bottom edges of the spine

Head cords
Strengthening cord let in to the top and bottom of the spine of the case beneath the covering material

Headbands
Decorative striped feature added to protrude from the top and tail of the spine

Joint
Hinged joint between case and book block formed by a groove where the board is set at a distance from the spine to enable full opening of book without stressing the binding

Leather label
Title piece of additional leather lettered with title, author and volume number mounted on to spine of case

Margins
Blank area of pages surrounding edge of text

Oversewing
Also known as overcasting - a method of sewing deriving from the name of the semi-automated machine) producing a robust form of leaf attachment

Page
Individual leaf of a book

Pastedown
The fixed part of endpapers pasted on to inside of boards to form union between case and book in a casebound book

Patch
Repair to missing part of paper or board covering material to make whole again

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Perfect Binding
Quite different from the publishers use of the word "Perfect" where a hot melt adhesive is used, this describes our milling/notching and double fan application of cold emulsion adhesive to the spine of a book

Preservation
Generic term for preserving the intellectual content for posterity which may include conservation treatments

PVA
Polyvinyl adhesive used extensively in non-craft bookbinding with the advantage that when it dries it remains flexible and malleable

Quarter binding
Spine of the case is covered in contrasting material to that of the boards

Raised bands
Real or artificial mounds or ridges under spine of case covering or simulating sewing cords to help panel the appearance of the spine

Rebacking
New spine is incorporated in to the case but retaining the original boards

Recase
Rebind and repair of book retaining and re-using the original case

Recto
Any right hand facing paginated page of a book

Remount boards or covers
Original front and/or rear board covering materials mounted over new boards of a rebound or rebacked book

Remount spine
Original spine is mounted over a new spine of a rebacked or rebound book

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Restoration
Retaining as much of the original binding materials as possible in the restored binding

Rounding
Convex/concave shape of spine and foredge of book created during the binding process

Rubbing
Record of how a book or journal is bound and lettered used for future matching purposes

Section
Also known as a gathering or signature - sections consist of folded group of pages to be sewn through the centre folds

Shoulder
Raised profile of front and back spine area to form hinge with case

Sleeve
Clear plastic loose covering to protect dust jacket

Spine
Back part of book or case incorporating leaf attachment (sewing threads or adhesive)

Square
Overlap area of case exposed around pages

Tail
The bottome edge of a book

Tail band
Decorative coloured strip, hand sewn or artificial, found at top of book spine

Trimming
Cleaning of page edges by cutting off using hand or powered guillotine

Unsewn or perfect binding
Method of leaf attachment without using sewing threads - usually a cold PVA applied by brush using the double-fan hand application method

Verso
Any left hand facing paginated page of a book

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