Charles Purvis' photography book prototype

The enpaper attachment to the book block

These endpapers will be the main an additional attachment of the book block to the covers. They're made with an outer sheet of Mohawk Superfine text weight and an inner sheet of Mohawk Superfine cover weight, guarded with a strip of black book cloth. This folio is sewn into the book just like all the image folios. I'll glue the text sheet to the covers first, then later I'll attach the cover weight sheet to the cover. Charles plans on adding imagery to the inside covers.

A detail of the spine function on opening

At this point, the backing is done and I need to decide on the details of the binding method. The spine doesn't fold back on itself as much as I expected, but I'll still have to avoid any structure that can't absorb a lot of spine compression. Anything too stiff or resistant will inhibit full opening of the pages

backing for the photography book

The book is backed and ready to be cased in. The mull will serve as an important connection between the book block and the case. The mull is glued to the backs of all the folios and, since the it is an open weave, the liner also glues to the mull and through to the folios locking the mull in place.

The book block is heavy and the squares are going to be large so the strength of these attachments is a concern.

Checking the fit and effect of the proposed cover on a book of photographs

I checked with Charles to see what his thoughts were regarding the squares for this book. He wants the covers to provide a bit of framing for the images. So large squares are the order of the day.

I cut these boards to have 1/2" squares. I'm dry fitting them on the open book to estimate how the spine will function. Gotta watch out for that compression when the book is open.

backing for the photography book

The book is backed and ready to be cased in. The mull will serve as an important connection between the book block and the case. The mull is glued to the backs of all the folios and, since the it is an open weave, the liner also glues to the mull and through to the folios locking the mull in place.

The book block is heavy and the squares are going to be large so the strength of these attachments is a concern.

Creating an endsheet to be sewn into a photo book

Charles provided the folios for this book, ready to be sewn but the pictures started on page 1. That left nothing in the way of an attachment component to join the block to the case. So I made new folios to sew in front and rear. These would have a solid integration to the book block and would serve as pastedowns for attachment to the case.

Marking the position of the book block on the boards before casing in.

The edge alignment of the folios after sewing are all over the map, each one having been individually made and never given a final trim. This irregularity combined with the extra large squares make it trick to get the block positioned correctly when casing in. So I drew some guide lines to help with the process.

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Last updated: 2016-06-09 | Published:

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