BOOKBINDING AS A SCHOOL SUBJECT Douglas Cockerell Stage 1 Binding books of one section
Fourth edition
W hen I was asked for advice about the equipment of bookbinding classes in schools I read all the text-books I could find dealing with the craft as a school subject, and I ascertained what appliances and tools could be got from the regular dealers. As I was not satisfied with either the text-books or the tools, I have written these pamphlets and, with the help of my sons, have designed and made models of the kind of bookbinding equipment that it seemed to me schools would want, and that the educational authorities could afford to buy. These speciallydesigned appliances are illustrated in these pamphlets.
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BOOKBINDING AS A SCHOOL SUBJECT II
F IR S T STAGE H E simplest form of bookbinding follows naturally on the cardboard work of Standard I. Children who have learnt to cut cardboard truly square and to cover it with paper neatly can pass on to simple binding without difficulty and can produce, from the first, books that they can use. Even without any previous handwork training the average child will not find the first stage of elementary binding unduly difficult. That the books produced or covered in the class can be used by the children in school gives book binding a special educational value and connects it in the child's mind with the ordinary needs of everyday life, whereas many otherwise admirable handwork exercises tend to the production of pretty trifles that have no such obvious utility. The tools needed for a beginning are very simple, but some form of press will be necessary, and an efficient and cheap press has been designed for school use (see illustration on cover). The ordinary iron office copying press answers well, and this can sometimes be bought from secondhand furniture dealers. At one time these presses were in use in every business office in the cou ntry; but since the use of typewriters became universal they are no longer used for copying letters, and being practically inde structible they survive. i