Our theme for January and February is Lay Flat glued bindings.
Lay flat glued bindings are often used where there are full spread illustrations such as in childrens board books, for photographic books where the gutter would interfere with the reading of the image or in printmakers books where double sided printing would be impractical.
Modern glued techniques adapt the historical asian binding styles – butterfly and flutter books.
Usually the sheet is printed on one side, folded and then the non printed side is attached with glue to the next sheet. This is particularly good for viewing full images with no gutter to obscure the design. Variations occur depending upon where the glue is placed and the amount of the page it covers.
Lay Flat Glued Bindings include :
- Board Binding (Folded sheets glued back to back)
- Double Fan Binding (Folded sheets glued at front and back edge by bending the book blocks)
- Drum Leaf Binding (Folded sheets glued at front and back edges individually)
- Butterfly Binding (Folded sheets glued at back edge)
- Flutter Binding (Folded sheets glued at front edge)
- Pop Up Books (utilising the fold and double thickness of the pages)
And a similar gluing technique can be found in Perfect Binding (Single flat sheets glued at back edge) although this does not lie flat and has a gutter.
