swell
The additional thickness in the spine of a book
caused by the sewing thread and/ or extensive
guarding. If the sections are thin and large in
number, the sewing swell may become so great as to
cause problems in subsequent operations. This is
particularly true with hard-finished papers,
because, when a book is made up of soft paper, the
sewing threads will become embedded in the paper
to some degree when the book is smashed or nipped
and the swell reduced; however, since the threads
will not be forced into hard paper by smashing
without cutting it, the book retains the swell.
Excessive swell can cause the spine of the book to
buckle and run in, uneven trimming, and poor
rounding and backing. While excessive swell is
undesirable, some swell is required for proper
rounding and backing. In hand binding, the danger
of excessive swell can sometimes be avoided by
sewing the book TWO
ON . (256 , 339 )
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