Book Makers Craft

Learn · Glossary

Learn the Language of the Craft

Bookbinding has a vocabulary of its own. Search or browse clear definitions of the terms used to describe a book’s structure, materials, tools, and construction. Selected entries expand into illustrated guides.

This glossary is a growing resource. Entries marked as placeholders are planned but not yet written.

signature (also called Section)

A group of folded sheets nested together to form one section of a book. Multiple signatures may be sewn together to create a text block.

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grain direction

The predominant fiber alignment in paper, board, or book cloth. Grain affects how a material folds, opens, curls, and behaves when moisture is introduced..

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text block (also called Book block)

The assembled body of pages, sewn or otherwise joined, before or independent of any cover or case.

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endband (also called Headband)

A decorative and sometimes structural band at the head and tail of the spine, sewn or attached where the spine meets the edges of the text block.

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book anatomy

The named parts of a book, spine, boards, joints, squares, endpapers, text block, head, tail, and fore edge, and how they relate to one another.

In development

head, tail, and fore edge

The three open edges of a book: the head is the top, the tail (or foot) is the bottom, and the fore edge is the front edge opposite the spine.

In development

spine

The bound edge of the book where the sections are joined, and the part of the cover that wraps it. A spine may be flat or rounded, and its treatment shapes how the book opens.

In development

board (also called Cover board)

The stiff sheet material, commonly binder’s board or greyboard, that forms the front and back covers of a hardcover book.

In development

cover

Everything that encloses the text block: boards, spine piece, and their covering material, cloth, paper, leather, or a combination.

In development

joint

The flexible channel on the outside of the cover between the board and the spine, along which the cover swings open. The inside equivalent is the hinge.

In development

hinge

The flexing area inside the cover where the board meets the spine, often reinforced by the endpaper and spine linings. The outside equivalent is the joint.

In development

square

The small, even margin by which the cover boards extend beyond the text block at the head, tail, and fore edge, a protective and visual feature set deliberately during case-making.

In development

turn-in

The portion of the covering material that wraps around the edges of the boards and is adhered to their inner faces, later concealed by the pastedown.

In development

endpaper

The folded sheets at the front and back of the text block. One half is pasted to the inside of the board (the pastedown); the other remains a free page facing the text.

In development

folio

A single sheet folded once to form two leaves (four pages). Also used historically as a book-size name.

In development

leaf

One physical piece of paper in a bound book. Each leaf has two pages: its front (recto) and back (verso).

In development

page

One side of a leaf. A book’s page count is twice its leaf count.

In development

sewing station

A pierced hole along a signature’s spine fold through which the sewing thread passes. Stations are marked and pierced before sewing begins.

In development

swell

The extra thickness at the spine created by accumulated sewing thread. Controlled swell is useful, rounding a spine depends on it, while excessive swell distorts the book.

In development

case

The complete detachable cover of a case-bound book, two boards and a spine piece covered as one unit, made separately and then attached to the text block.

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case binding

A binding method in which the cover (case) is built separately from the text block and then glued on, the standard structure of most modern hardcover books.

In development

book cloth

Woven fabric prepared for bookbinding, usually with a paper backing or coating that controls adhesive strike-through and keeps the surface clean.

In development

mull (also called Super)

An open-weave cotton material glued across the spine of the text block. Its overhanging flanges anchor the block into its case and reinforce the hinges.

In development

shoulder

The ridge worked into each side of the spine during backing, forming a step against which the cover boards seat.

In development

backing

Shaping the sewn, rounded spine by working the outer signatures over to each side, forming shoulders for the boards. Usually done immediately after rounding.

In development

adhesive

Any of the glues and pastes used in binding, commonly PVA, wheat or rice starch paste, or mixtures. Working time, flexibility, moisture, and reversibility guide the choice.

In development

pressing

Applying even pressure, with a press or weights, while adhesives dry, keeping materials flat, joints defined, and moisture-induced warping under control.

In development

Expanded Illustrated Entries

signature (also called Section)

A signature is a group of folded sheets nested together to form one section of a book. In many binding structures, multiple signatures are sewn together to create the text block.

The number of sheets in a signature may vary according to paper thickness, folding behavior, binding structure, and the desired appearance and function of the finished book. Too many sheets may create excessive swell or cause the inner leaves to project farther at the fore edge. Fewer sheets create thinner sections and may require more sewing.

Where it appears

Inside the text block. Look at the head or tail of a sewn book and you can often see the folded spines of individual signatures gathered side by side.

Why it matters

Understanding signatures helps a learner plan page count, paper use, sewing, swell, spine shape, and the overall behavior of the text block.

Beginner note

You may see the same unit called a “section” (common in British and traditional workshop usage) or, loosely, a “gathering.” They describe the same thing: one folded, sewable unit of pages.

Related: Folio · Leaf · Page · Text block · Sewing station · Swell

one signature
Four folios, sheets folded once, nested together make one signature of sixteen pages.
Close view of folded signature spines sewn over a woven tape support.
Signature

grain direction

Machine-made paper, board, and cloth have a grain: most of their fibers align in one direction. Materials fold cleanly and flex easily along the grain, and resist folding across it.

In most common book structures, grain should run parallel to the spine, from head to tail, in every component: pages, boards, endpapers, and covering material. When grain directions are mismatched, moisture from adhesives makes the layers expand differently, which can cause warped boards, cockled pages, and a book that resists opening.

Where it appears

In every sheet material you use: text paper, decorative paper, board, and cloth all have grain.

Why it matters

Grain direction is one of the few genuinely unforgiving rules in bookbinding. A beautifully sewn book with cross-grain pages will fight the reader every time it opens.

How to identify it

Gently flex a sheet in both directions without creasing it: it bends with less resistance when curling parallel to the grain. Lightly moistening one side of a scrap also works. The paper curls around an axis parallel to the grain.

Beginner note

Plan cuts before cutting. A sheet labeled “long grain” has grain parallel to its long edge; check rather than assume, especially with decorative papers.

Related: Signature · Text block · Board

with the grain: bends across the grain: resists
Most fibers align one way. The sheet flexes willingly along the grain and fights you across it.
A hand flexing a sheet of marbled paper to feel its grain direction.
Grain direction

text block (also called Book block)

The text block is the book’s pages as a single assembled unit: folded signatures gathered in order and joined, most often by sewing, sometimes with endpapers attached and the spine glued, lined, shaped, or trimmed depending on the structure.

Almost everything else in binding exists in service of the text block: boards protect it, the spine treatment controls how it opens, and the case or cover dresses and defends it.

Where it appears

Between the covers: everything that is a page.

Why it matters

Understanding the text block as its own object explains the order of operations in most bindings: the block is built, shaped, and finished before it meets its cover.

Related: Signature · Endpaper · Spine · Swell

sewn into a text block
Signatures gathered at the spine and sewn through their folds become the text block.
A sewn text block with cord sewing supports resting on a workbench.
Text block

endband (also called Headband)

Endbands are the small bands, often striped silk or cotton over a core, visible at the very top and bottom of a book’s spine. Sewn endbands are worked directly onto the text block and can reinforce the spine ends; stuck-on endbands are decorative strips added with adhesive.

The band at the head is often called the headband; strictly, endbands include both head and tail.

Where it appears

At the head and tail of the spine, in the small gap between the text block and the cover’s spine.

Why it matters

Beyond decoration, a sewn end band supports the spine ends of the text block.. the exact spot where fingers pull a book from a shelf and where damage often begins.

Beginner note

Early projects usually skip endbands or use stuck-on ones. Sewing endbands by hand is a satisfying skill to grow into, not a requirement to begin.

Related: Spine · Head, tail, and fore edge · Text block

thread wraps over a core
At the head of the spine, thread wraps a round core, stripe by stripe, supporting the spine ends and finishing them beautifully.
Blue and white silk endbands being sewn onto a text block held in a press.
Endband

case

A case is the whole cover of a case-bound book, built as its own object: two cover boards and a spine piece, laid out on a single piece of covering material, cloth, paper, or a combination, and wrapped as one unit.

Because the case is made separately, it can be measured, covered, decorated, and pressed flat before it ever meets the pages. Only then is the finished text block attached, glued in by its endpapers and spine linings, a step called casing in.

Where it appears

Everything you see from the outside of most modern hardcover books is the case: front board, back board, and the spine between them.

Why it matters

Building the cover separately from the pages is what makes case binding approachable and repeatable, each part can be made carefully, flat, and square before assembly.

Beginner note

The small, even gaps between the boards and the spine piece are not mistakes, they become the joints that let the covers swing open.

Related: Case binding · Board · Turn-in · Square · Mull

the gaps become the joints
Two boards and a spine piece, wrapped as one on a single covering, made flat and square before the pages ever arrive.
Bone folders beside the flat components of a small case: two covered boards joined by a spine piece.
Case