The Making of Books
Traditionally the technical process of binding books falls into two parts, ‘Forwarding’ and ‘Finishing’. Forwarding is mainly concerned with the folding and gathering of the pages into units or quires and the sewing and attachment of a protective cover. Finishing, the second stage, is usually executed by a more skilled binder, who applies the lettering, gilding or other decoration with heated tools and stamps.
These two processes formed the division of labour in many binderies with women predominantly connected with Forwarding and men with Finishing. Like many craft industries, entry was controlled by apprenticeships and time spent as a journeyman before full membership of a Guild could be obtained.
In eighteenth and nineteenth-century Dublin many binderies were located in the streets and ally-ways off Dame Street as this street united the main patrons of books, the church, state and the university.