Recasing books

In recasing a book, new endpapers are tipped or overcast onto the front and back, old linings cleaned off the backbone, and covering materials assembled. Covering materials consist of two boards, cut to the width of the book and its height plus 5 millimeters, and a piece of bookcloth cut to wrap around the book with a fore-edge turn-in and the height of the book plus 8 centimeters. The machine direction of the boards should be on the long dimension and on the short dimension for the bookcloth. A spine strip of file folder stock, a piece of kraft paper backbone lining, and a backbone lining of hinge cloth is also cut (see book repair and double-fan adhesive binding for lining instructions).

The boards are placed onto the book. The boards are held firmly in place as the book is laid onto one half of the glued bookcloth approximately 2.5 centimeters from the edge. The other half of the cloth is brought over onto the top board, opened, and the book removed, leaving the two boards adhering to the bookcloth.

The corners are cut at a 45-degree angle roughly one and a half times the thickness of the board away from the board, and the cloth turned in and rubbed down with the folder. The book is laid into the new case, and the joints are set with the folder. The endpapers are lightly glued to the inside of the case, and the book is pressed.

A paper label can be produced on a computer and attached to the spine.