Bradel binding

A one-day course at Morley College. I wanted to follow directions and actually "make something", rather than always have to make decisions! This course was offered last year, and I did it then, but seem to have completely forgotten everything I knew about bookbinding. This was a great refresher, calmly taught by Young Sin Kim; other bookbinding courses are available at Morley, and her course on drop back box on 23 July still has places available.

The photos are here less to set out the process of making a Bradel-bound book, but as a (findable) record of key moments for me. I took notes, but a picture is worth a thousand words.

notched guide for punching sewing holes

protect the section with paper under the weight while sewing

flat brush for glueing; two thin coats

making headbands to match endpapers

cutting endpapers to size

keep spine free when pressing the book block after endpapers added

cloth and two layers of brown paper on spine

use bookcloth for the spine, but fabric or paper is ok for the covers

glue spine to both covers, then turn up head and tail before foredge

Bradel bound - in six hours

Wikipedia says: "A Bradel binding (also called a bonnet or bristol board binding, a German Case binding, or in French as Cartonnage à la Bradel or en gist) is a style of book binding with a hollow back. It most resembles a case binding in that it has a hollow back and visible joint, but unlike a case binding, it is built up on the book. Characteristic of the binding is the material covering the outside boards is separate from the material covering the spine." It can be traced back to 18th century Germany.

Comprehensive instructions can be found here and elsewhere on the internet.