Full leather binding of a paperback: “Un sac de billes”
A year ago, when I started rebinding mass-market books, JB asked me to rebind the paperback “Un sac de billes” that he and his brothers had read a thousand times. The book is also signed by the author.
At first, I wanted to do a simple case binding without even touching the text block, but when I saw the pages falling out, I shelved that idea because in August 2023 I had no experience making this type of book.
The good news is that no tape was used inside the book, only on the outside. I made the mistake of throwing away the cover (I didn’t know at the time that you could incorporate it into the binding).
It took two bookbinding workshops and reading several books before I dared to tackle this project. I highly recommend the book “Reliure : technique et rigueur” for this kind of binding. It doesn’t mention ribbons, but you can treat ribbons the same way as cords. This book is out of stock and overpriced, but if you’re attentive, you can find it at a reasonable price on Leboncoin or Amazon (I bought it for 160 euros).
First, I had to create signatures; I made small signatures of 10 folios with my sister’s sewing machine.
Then I sewed the signatures using ribbons, but without a sewing frame, which is tricky, so I won’t show you because it’s totally embarrassing. My teacher absolutely refused to answer my questions about ribbons, so luckily I was able to ask another bookbinder student and use my logic to figure out how to hide the ribbons under the boards. At home, I have very few tools. Luckily, I have all the necessary paper, but the only bookbinding tool I have is a mini finishing press.
However, I dared to tackle sewn endbands. I couldn’t do it during the last bookbinding workshop but I saw the teacher do it, so I tried. Even though it wasn’t perfect, I had to start somewhere.
For the leather, I chose Epsom leather from Hermès scraps. It was already shaved to 0.5mm, and despite my paring to 0.3mm, it wasn’t enough. It was very stiff leather, more suited to leather goods, so I couldn’t get the suppleness I wanted. It’s not a big deal; it’s my first full leather binding, and future projects will be better.
JB is thrilled with the result. I followed his specifications: full leather binding, boards covered, 5 raised bands, sewn endbands (gold and blue thread), gold bookmark. I’m waiting for the title pieces that a professional is making for me, and then we’ll be all set. Let me leave you to watch the video here.
There are many flaws, but they’re on the inside: the flyleaves and the squares aren’t quite straight. But the book stands upright, and you can open the pages easily without seeing the machine stitching. That’s the most important thing! I couldn’t trim the edges due to lack of tools, and the edges aren’t perfectly aligned because I didn’t have a sewing frame. I did the best I could with my current skills. I’m delighted!
And here is the book with its title pieces (made by a gentleman in Tours for 21 euros):
