Concept
Bookbinding is the process of building a book of codex manuscripts from an ordered stack of paper sheets with one's hands and tools. Firstly, one binds the sheets of papers along an edge with a thick needle and strong thread. One can also use loose-leaf rings, binding posts, twin-loop spine coils, plastic spiral coils, and plastic spine combs, but they last for a shorter time. Next, one encloses the bound stack of paper in a cover. Finally, one places an attractive cover onto the boards, and features the publisher's information and artistic decorations. The trade of binding books is in two parts: The first is stationery binding (vellum) for books planned to be written in. These include: accounting ledgers, business journals, blank-page books, guest logbooks, notebooks, manifold books, day books, diaries, and portfolios. The second is letterpress printing and binding deals with books planned to be read. This comprises: the library binding fine binding, edition binding and publisher's bindings. Bookbinding is a skilled trade that requires measuring, cutting, and gluing. A finished book requires many steps to complete. This is usually determined by the materials needed and the layout of the book. Bookbinding combines skills from the trades of paper making, textile and leather-working crafts, model making, and graphic design in order to create a book. For instances, these design and cut pages, assemble pages into paper sheets, et cetera. The trade of bookbinding is both a craft done out of creativity and passion and a process happening in a factory. But each type of bookbinding always resolves three problems in making a book: (i) how to bind the paper sheets into a book block; (ii) how to cover and protect the bound pages; and (iii) how to label and decorate the book covers that protect the pages. Writers in the Hellenistic-Roman culture wrote longer texts as scrolls; these were stored in boxes or shelving with small cubbyholes, similar to a modern winerack. Court records and notes were written on wax tablets, while important documents were written on papyrus or parchment.
