November 2020
Bookbinding, once considered a trade, consisted of folding paper into signatures and sewing them together to form a book. Now pages are glued together with a cardboard cover firmly attached to hold them all in place. As a consequence, hand-sewn books are now designated as an art.
Open spine books, held together only by their stitching, allows for decorative and varied uses of thread. Below are two examples.
The Japanese Stab Stitch book, originally from China, is a simple method of holding loose pages together. Holes are made on the edge of the covers and these, along with the pages, are bound into a simple book. Over time the stitching has become more elaborate and intricate patterns have been created using various coloured threads. The picture shows a simple stab stitch book with the use of different coloured threads to match the individual covers.
Another open spine method is to pull the cords on which the pages/signatures are sewn through the front cover. The cords can then be knotted, plaited or decorated with beads.
