What is involved in Hardcover Book Binding?

Hardcover book binding, often called casebinding or casing in, is the process of (you guessed it) binding a hard cover book. In the print and finishing industries, hard cover binding involves a specially-formulated glue that is applied to the spine of a book block (book pages) and a liner sheet (attaches to the front and back hard covers). This process involves three general steps, which usually use three different machines:

1. Seweing - Sewing your book block together
2. Casemaking - to make the hard cover itself
3. Hard cover binding - to bind the hard cover to your book pages

The steps involved will vary a bit depending on the machine brand and model that you are working with, but these general overviews will give you a good idea for how the processes work.

Thread Sewing - Making your Book Block

Step one for hard cover book binding is called thread sewing, and is the process where your book pages are actually sewn together with a needle and thread. Typically pages are folded together into booklets called "signatures" and then those signatures are sewn together. This can be accomplished by hand for those making their own hard cover books, or using an automated machine for print and finishing shops. After sewn together, the book blocks are trimmed to be flush.

Thread sewing is not required for all hard cover books, and is primarily used for novels. Thinner books, such as for photo book binding, will often skip this step and simply glue the signatures together.

Casemaking - Making the Hard Cover Itself

Step two for case binding is to make the case (or the hard cover) itself. To do this, you can use any number of machines, or do it by hand with some patience and skill. It involves printing your wrap-around cover page, and then adhering it to chipboards to create a hard cover. With a machine like the Casematic, lining up the 3 boards and your printed cover, and then wrapping the corners is fast and accurate.

Hard Cover Binding - Binding the Hard Cover & Book Block Together

Step three is to bind the two pieces together, finishing your hard cover book. This process involves a special binding glue that is heated up and applied to the book block spine, and then pressing the spine into your cover. Sometimes a gauze/fabric sctrip is also applied. An end sheet is also used on the first and last pages of your book to attach the book block to the covers more thoroughly, as well as hide the inside of the boards from your case.

Here at Binding101, we offer hard cover book binding machines specifically for the photobook industry (rather than publishing). This skips the sewing step, and goes straight to the case making and binding of your book block. The photo book binding process is simpler than you may imagine, though the machines can look a little intimidating to someone new to the idea. Just click here to see the photobook binding machines and supplies that we offer, and start making premium-quality photobooks for your prints shop or photography studio today.

About the Author • Mallory Morsa is the product expert and content specialist at Binding101, and has been a valued team member since 2008. She started her career here in customer service, moved onto sales supervisor, product management, and then onto content. She takes a hands-on approach to products, and truly gets to know how every item works before she writes about them, with a goal to give you all of the honest information you need to make a confident buying decision. She has a bachelor's degree with a focus on management and marketing, and has been a writer, photographer, and videographer for many years. In her free time, she loves to read by the pool, volunteer at the local animal shelter in the kitten nursery, and snuggle her three furbabies while she binge watches Netflix.