Square-Back Score Care & Rebinding: A collection of notes in search of a workflow

Draft workflows - 11/1/2024

I am very much a self taught binder/rebinder of square-back scores; these are the methods I taught myself from books, online guides & videos on bookbinding, plus a wonderful webinar/conference on music score binding and care in Spring 2024, and a weeklong artistic bookbinding class way back in the 1990s. An excellent book that I made extensive use of is Binding and Care of Printed Music (revised edition) by Alice Carli (see sources at end).

DEFINITIONS

Parts of sewn bindings:

• End Leaf or End leaves: are usually two sheets, folded in half, to match the size of the signatures; then tipped into the front & back covers to the text block. I tend to sew these as one of the signatures, and completely glue each cover to the outer leaf.

Open

Folio

• Folio: here I’m using the definition of one sheet folded in half (to make 2-4 pages). One or more folios nested together and sewn as a unit are a Signature.

• Kettle-stitch: the knotted stitch (or stitched knot) used at each end of multi-signature stitching, in the direction of your current sewing.

  • The method I first learned a few years ago (from an old diagram like the one below), may be Half Kettle Stitch: insert the thread behind the stitch two signatures down; then cast the working thread behind the needle, (a little like knitting); and pull thread tight as you draw the needle through:

  • Open

    

  • The photos below show the steps for a Full Kettle stitch: 1-insert needle behind the stitch two signatures down, 2-but hold back a small loop of thread; then run the needle thru that small loop; and 3-pull the loop tight as you finish pulling the needle through forming a more complete knot:

See also this site for full Kettle Stitch: Every bookbinder should know how to sew a kettle stitch

• One or more folios nested together and sewn as a unit are a Signature

• Station: each hole punched in a signature for sewing through is a station

• Signatures sewed or glued together (but without the cover boards) are usually called the Text-Block (or Textblock).

• Tipped In: here used for a folio or plate glued to its neighbors with just a narrow glued band just above the fold (often the only attachment for the cover and the text block). Also called Tipping. Again, the meaning may vary outside of this set of notes: this is how I will be using it.

Bindings:

• Perfect Bound scores are printed on single sheets of pages that are not sewed, but just glued at the spine (although the spines are sometimes Double Fanned for a sturdier bond). These square-back scores are pretty common in modern scores (especially for albums).

• Smyth Sewn (1870’s-to date) a kind of Machine Sewn Binding was often used to produce square back scores, with visible signatures at the head and tail of the spine, Modern higher quality scores still use Smyth or similar Interlocking Machine sewn bindings, usually with paperback covers glued or tipped in to the folded end leaves (good) or the first and last page of the music (not as good).

TOOLS & SUPPLIES

• Acid free paper - for endpapers

• Awl or dissection-tool - for punching holes

• Bees wax - to wax the thread

• Binding needle, straight and/or curved

• Buckram tape (with no adhesive on back) or cloth, or bookbinding cloth - to cover spine

• Cutting mat or clean cardboard

• Jade or similar PVA bookbinding glue

• Linen bookbinding thread, thin gauge: 25/3 or 30/3

• Medium-sized paint brush (for gluing) and (optional) detail brush (for wetting old glue)

• sponge or wet paper-towel - wetting Tyvek tape

• Tyvek wettable pre-gummed tape and/or Filmoplast mending tape - repairing folios

• Wax paper - protecting from glue

SQUARE-BACK SCORE PROCESSING or rebinding

ASSESSMENT of perfect bound scores

• If the score is new or its damage hasn’t affected the textblock, we can use Carli’s Stiffening for square-back scores or using our old Kapco sheet covers.

• If the damaged score has a few folios splitting apart, they could be joined back together, with Tyvek Tape, and then bound using one of the below multi-signature bindings.

• For longer, thicker, perfect-bound scores coming-apart, we could scrape off as much old glue as possible, clamp with spine upright, and reglue the spine, using the double-fan gluing method.

• Or, we could simply reorder/replace the score if it’s still in print.

• Or, if the score is extremely high use and no longer printed, we could send the item off for commercial library binding. The result will more difficult to open, but users will be able to continue to use it, and it would last almost forever.

• If the score is extremely brittle, and worth keeping, we could copy the pages and rebind as a preservation measure (I haven’t yet done this) - as long as USU owned/purchased the score, fair use should cover this.

Square Back Scores with parts

Kapco EasyBind ‘laminating’ (current method, undergoing review)

Stiffening Method: hardback binding without disbinding

Found in Binding and Care of Printed Music by Alice Carli. This a semi-quick and fairly cheap way to extend the lifetime of square back music scores. It does include some drying overnight time and multiple measurements.

My first attempt at a workflow (with optional reinforcement for covers, if needed):

1. Access the score:

   1. example: Easy Classics to Moderns score: Perfect bound, worn page ends and corners, no original attachment of cover to text block (just spine glue) causing slight separation at top of covers, but text block is sound. (Carli doesn’t recommend stiffening for scores that have loose covers, but I blame the cover separation on the publishers lack of gluing or tipping in the covers, so I will take care of their oversight and firmly attach the covers myself.) As usual, when I use my own scores to learn a method, I use my own personally purchased supplies.

If loose, reinforce covers

1.  

   1. Found a score of similar size to brace the top cover, then laid down wax paper to protect it

   2.  

   5.  

Stiffening workflow (for both perfect & signature bindings)

1. Cut boards to fit under the paperback covers with a enough space between cover and spine for easy movement without putting stress on cover attachment (usually they’re tipped in with glue to text block).

2. Measure and cut strip of buckram or bookcloth for height of spine, plus 1 1/2 to 2 inch for fold-over and tabs:

   1. Make sure width of strip has at least 5/8 inch overlap with the coverboard: I used 3 inches wide

   2. Use a pencil to mark & fold 5/8 inch on top & bottom of strip

   3. Measure width of score spine when closed and transfer measurement to middle of tape, score, and fold each side (I also draw an arrow to show top of spine):

   4. Then cut the two tab pieces on the top and bottom of the strip (as above)

   5. Set the spine/cover strip aside for now.

3. Applying glue to the cover boards under the original paper covers

   1. Spread glue all over top of board, making sure to get the glue up to the edges,

   2. Line up each board to the outside edges of the score (I gently knocked up the board to the bottom of score and edge of the scores).

   3. Press down the front cover to the board underneath; making sure it’s is still squared up (especially the board/page edges which will rest on the shelf), work quickly in making any adjustments as the glue can set pretty fast…

   4. Press and smooth until glue holds

   5. Repeat the same steps for the back board.

   6. you can either set the score under heavy weights to dry overnight, then work on the spine, or go immediately to step 4

4. Applying the spine strip to spine and covers

   1. I double-checked the fit of the strip at this point, and made small adjustments to the top and bottom:

   2. Fold over the middle section at the top and bottom of strip, then glue, pressing it until the glue holds,

   3. Apply glue to the back cover strip, and press to the back cover, while pressing down with fingers and/or folder, while making sure to fold over the two tabs to the inside of the cover,

   4. Then press until all the glue is holding,

   5. Flip the score over, and spread glue over spine and front cover areas on the strip

5. Press finished score under heavy weights overnight (or for a few hours if it’s needed in a rush).

6. NOTE: with Stiffening, the spine area will be just a little narrower in width than rest of the score.

Double-Fan Adhesive Binding for ‘perfect’ scores coming apart

• How to video: Binding loose leaf sheets using the double fan method

• How to text & pictures: https://www.greenchairpress.com/blog/?page_id=613

• IU Libraries Preservation preparation and double fan binding steps: https://libpres.sitehost.iu.edu/manual/treatments/qj/qj.html

ASSESSMENT of multiple signature scores

Based on the abbreviated assessing I do when I come across damaged scores.

• Does the score need simple repair, such as tipping in a loose sheet, or reattaching a cover?

• Does it need a just a single signature to be resewn and sewed or glued to the others?

• Is the score coming apart entirely?

• Is the score even worth further work?

  • Instead of repair/rebinding, do we want to order a new copy?

  • Do we want to simply discard it?

  • Is it worth enough to have it done by a commercial bindery?

  • Has it been checked out recently?

  • Or, does it align with the university’s needs?

DISBINDING

1. First find the middle of each signature and cut the threads:

2. Next very carefully remove any glue remaining,

   1. Poulticing: up to the 1960/1970’s, binders usually used animal glue, so for older scores, you can dampen old glue with water or methyl cellulose on a brush. But be sure to dampen just the glue on the spine; try to avoid wetting any already exposed paper folds.

      • This would be easier with a vertical clamp of some kind, but it can be done without

   2. I alternate gently scraping or picking off glue, and, equally gently, detaching one signature from the next, while softening what glue I can with a wet detail brush.

      • The first minutes of this video shows a much more elaborately bound book undergoing spine glue removal:

4. Continue gently easing the signatures away from each other.

5. Carefully pick off any bits of glue or thread left in the holes.

6. Wait until any dampness in the spine dries before mending any tears;

   1. …however, if the signatures did get damp despite your best efforts: you can press any badly bent spines of the signatures under a heavy weight.

7. Rejoin any of the folios that are splitting along the fold with Tyvek wettable pregummed tape or Filmoplast mending tape. Tyvek is much sturdier for scores that will receive hard use, but is much thicker & stiffer; Filmoplast is thinner & can tear during sewing, but is gentler on older paper and invisible (good when music notes are close to the gutter fold).

   1. Move the torn folio edges as close as to each other as you can get, before taping them back together.

   2. Tape both back and front of the torn edges.

      • Tyvek will need to be wetted to activate the adhesive: I use a damp (not too wet) sponge.

      • Filmoplast is easy to get twisted while separating it from the backing, but does have a nifty box structure that helps with the process.

      • For both: tape both sides of the torn folio.

   3. Once the signature has been repaired (and dried); fold and score it, then punch it with the same stations using one of its intact folios in the signature and nest it where it belongs.

   4. See folio joining here: Music Scores - Binding Procedures | 1 Taping/gluing into a set of folios:

8. I usually fold new endpapers for these rebinds, using an acid-free paper, and punch holes in them using one of the signatures as a guide. If sewing these as I do, count each folded set of endleaves as one more signature.

REBINDING MULTIPLE SIGNATURE SCORES

Binding on tapes without a frame:

NOTE: I first like to create a model or two, when learning new binding, using blank folded sheets, so these are complete directions for making a model, (I also may do a rebind of one of my own scores, in which cases, I use my personal binding supplies). When Rebinding skip Steps 1-2

1. For a practice model: prepare the signatures by folding each sheet into a folio and nesting them into 3 or 5 into signatures. I used standard printing paper for my first attempt, with 3 signatures containing 5 folded folios in each, but I took apart one of my mother’s old textbooks for my second practice model.

2. Create a template for making the holes.

   1. for regular printing paper: 8 1/2 x 11 inch, folded in half, these spacings will work:

      • 1/2″

      • 2″

      • 2-3/4″

      • 3-3/4″

      • 4-1/2″

      • 6″

      • Punch all the holes, using the template, to make sure each signature is the same.

3. Measure out the thread:

   1. Use a thinner linen thread for sewing signatures than single signature scores. You can double the thread for added strength.

   2. A good rule of thumb for the multi-signature bindings is to count the number of signatures, then measure out thread for 1 length of the score for each signature, (using the height of the spine); I always add 2 more inches for the tail.

   3. If you want to sew them, the two new folded end-leaves count as two more signatures (2 more lengths of thread).

4. Wax the length of the thread, slowly, so it doesn’t try to tangle into a knot.

5. Start sewing by inserting the needle into the first station from the outside, leaving a 2 inch tail.

6. Just sew in and out of the station holes across the spine until the end.

7. Then insert whatever number of tapes you have into position:

   • or you could wait for the second signature to add them if you find it easier, like I did here:

8. Add the second signature by inserting the needle from the outside, into the 2nd signature station right above it and sew in and out across the spine as usual, but running the threads over the tapes.

9. When you reach the end of the 2nd signature; draw the thread tight, then tie it to the 1st signature’s tail in a square knot.

10. Add the third signature and start as above; and continue sewing in and out to the end.

11. When you reach the end of the third signature, go down 2 signatures, insert the needle behind the stitch from the left and sew a kettle stitch.

12. Then place the forth signature on top and enter the first station above the needle as usual.

13. Keep on adding signatures, entering the first station, sewing in and out and around the tapes, and alternating the kettle stitches at each end of the signature.

14. When the last signature is sewn (in my case the last endleaves), do a final kettle stitch, then insert needle inside the signature, tie a slip knot to the long stitch inside, and reinsert the needle to the outside and pull (gently) until the knot pops outside.

15. Snip threads. Hurray!

16. Use the bone folder to thoroughly press the folds together at the spine and set entire book block under heavy weights (or a book press) to compress for awhile.

17. Then, holding the sewn signatures spine up (or put into a press/under weights): lightly apply a thin layer of glue over the spine threads and spread with a relatively dry brush or fingertip over the spine.

    • Let dry. Then test the movement of the score.

    • If needed, add another thin layer of glue to the spine.

18. Set entire text block under a weight to dry for awhile; overnight is best.

19. Glue front cover board to outer fold of the end leaves

20. Then glue the last end leaf fold to the back cover.

21. Measure out the buckram or bookcloth spine strip to the same height of the spine with enough width to wrap the spine with at least 1/2 inch overlap on the cover boards. If not using buckram, make and glue two layers of bookcloth strips. I glued the sprine cloth to the back cover first, then the front:

    1. The tapes make this a supported binding; so I could’ve made the boards taller and wider than the text-block if I had wanted.

22. Put finished score under a heavy weight (I use several heavy books) overnight.

23. All done!

French sewing without tapes:

To learn this binding, I repaired Let us have Music for the Piano, an old score belonging to my family. Its original sewing was punched in the middle with nifty double stations, which seemed ready-made for this this binding (again, for my own score, I used my own binding supplies).

1. Repair any outer folios that are coming apart at the fold with Tyvek wettable tape.

   • For repaired folios, re-punch the original station holes using an intact folio as a guide.

2. Fold new endpapers for the front and back cover attachment and punch the station holes, again using a folio as a guide:

   •  

3. For measuring thread: count the number of signatures; measure out 1 length of the score spine for each signature using the height of the spine; then add 2 more inches for the tail.

   • If sewn, the two new folded end-leaves will count as two more signatures (2 more lengths of thread).

4. Remember to wax the thread before sewing

5. From the outside, go in the first station hole of the first signature as usual (leaving a 2 inch tail).

6. At the first double station: just sew the needle out and in the double stations, and continue sewing to the end to the first signature.

7. Lay the second signature on top and sew into its first station; at the first double station of the second signature, catch the first signature’s double station thread with the needle:

8. continue doing this to the end of the second signature, then tie a double knot to the first tail end.

9. Place the third signature on top and continue catching the lower threads at the double stations while sewing across the third signature.

10. At the end of the third signature, I made my first (Half) Kettle Stitch (for this 1st kettle, go down 1 signature in this first kettle:

11. Continue sewing for each signature, catching the double station threads, but with Kettle stitches going down 2 signatures at each end of the signatures:

12. The last true signature:

13. Sew the new end leaf pages exactly as if it were a regular signature, until the end:

14. Tie a knot to the inner thread of the endleaves:

15. Return the needle outside, and pull gently until the knot exits the station, then cut the thread:

16. Optional: leave book-block overnight under a pile of books to remove any air between the signatures.

17. If space is showing between the signatures when opened (and for added strength), add a thin layer of glue on the spine; then leave the book block under weights to dry overnight. You can also add another thin layer, if the signature still lets space show between signatures, but be careful not glue too far into the pages.

18. Before going further: lightly write “T” on the top end leaf page, and “B” on the bottom one (it only takes one permanently glued upside-down cover to start scrupulously doing this).

19. Next, cut two cover boards exactly as high and wide as the book block.

    1. Since I wanted to save the old cover: I glued the old cover to the cover boards:

    2. place the old cover on cover board and press firmly but gently until all air pockets are gone. first with your hand, then, gently, press with a bone folder.

       1.  

          Place the glued covers overnight to dry, or begin gluing them to the outer endleaves.

       2. Coat the outer endleaf with glue, then press down the coverboard, with your hand, then continue pressing the endleaf to board with a bone folder to make sure all glue is adhered.

        

20. Finally Measure a piece of book-cloth (or buckram) strip for the spine; cover it with glue and press to back and front coverboards. I left the spine portion unglued, but gluing down the spine strip would probably add more longevity for library scores. Just make sure to use not too much glue so the spine won’t be too stiff to flex when opened on a stand.

21. Then I left it under a heavy bunch of books to dry overnight again.

For a library score, I would definitely reinforce the top and bottom spine strip, in some fashion (the ends are where multi-signature scores usually start failing). Possibly the pattern for the spine cover in the Stiffening procedure (further below in these notes) for a good pattern for a reinforced spine strip.

• I might also add tapes or cords between the double stations of the French stitches, which would allow me to add slightly longer boards to better protect the top and bottom page ends.

• But for this particular score, I glued another strip of book cloth slightly higher than the height of the spine; then folded over & glued 1/2 inch of the top;

• Finally, I glued this second strip over the first strip on the spine. This time, I glued down the spine portion as well, and the score still opens completely flat and handles well.

Link or Chain Stitch Binding

• This video demos an alternative form of binding a text block. I learned this binding a decade or more ago as Coptic Binding, but unlike true Coptic binding it is sewn horizontally along the spine, with just one needle. Each station is sewn through twice and is linked with the Coptic-like stitch, except for a kettle stitch at the end of each signature.

  • Sea Lemon video: How to Stitch a Text Block for Case Book Binding

• The hardcover boards need to be the same height as the text block (or score block), since this is an unsupported binding. Note: this is best sewed with a curved needle. It can be done with a straight needle, but it’s a bear.

Step-by-step procedure:

4.  

5. Measure thread by counting the number of signatures, then measure out 1 length of the score spine for each signature, (using the height of the spine); I always add 2 more inches for the tail).

   • The two new folded end-leaves will count as two more signatures (2 more lengths of thread), if you sew them as I do…

   • Remember to wax the thread before sewing

9. Tie a double knot using with the working thread to the tail end.

11.  

16. Lay down the third signature and run the needle inside

20.  

21.  

22.  

24.  

28.  

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35.  

36.  

39.

40. Glue the spine strip down;

    1. starting with the gluing the back cover portion, and pressing it down until it holds.

    2. Then glue the front part of the spine strip and carefully align it, before smoothing and pressing it down until it holds.

SOURCES

Webinar

• ALA/MLA Music Binding Panel Discussion (Apr 16, 2024). Presenters included: Alice Carli - University of Rochester; Michael Foley - University of California, Berkeley; Dan Lopata - University of Rochester; Steve Quintilian - University of Maryland, College Park; Katie Risseeuw - Northwestern University; Peter Shirts - Emory University. The title was slightly misleading, as this turned into veritable Conference on music binding and care. I am still referring to my notes for binding help.

Books

• Binding and Care of Printed Music : Revised Edition. Carli, Alice. A-R Editions, c2021. eBook held by USU library.

  • Chapter 7, starting page 172, is particularly useful for multi-signature rebinding. This is, I believe, the bible of music binding & repair.

• Binding and Care of Printed Music. Carli, Alice. Music Library Association, 2003. An earlier edition, held by USU libraries: ML 111 .C37 2003. Used this source a lot when it first came out; and it is still quite useful, but, does not cover Stiffening.

• In-House Bookbinding and Repair / Sharon McQueen with illustrations by Ellen Latorraca. Scarecrow Press, 2005. Personal copy.

  • brief intro to preservation for small to medium libraries. Explains a lot of binding jargon. I’ve used this source especially when I first set up the music binding area in the cataloging area at USU library.

Numerous Web videos and how to pages the most useful are linked the how to steps above.