- Accordian Fold: Two or more folds parallel to each other with adjacent folds in opposite directions, resembling the bellows of an accordian. (Binding & Finishing)
- Adhesive Binding: Applying glue or another, usually hot-melt substance, along the backbone edges of assembled, printed sheets. The book or magazine cover is applied directly on top of the tacky adhesive. (Alternative term: perfect binding)
- Assembling: Collecting individual sheets or signatures in a complete set with pages in proper sequence and alignment. Assembling takes place prior to binding. (Alternative terms: collating, gathering, inserting)
- Bank: One successive row of staggered tabs from first to last position.
- Backbone: Alternate term for the spine of a publication.
- Bind: To attach pages of a book or other publications to each other with staples, adhesives, thread, wire or other means, commonly between two covers.
- Binder: A book-like device used to hold a quantity of sheets, commonly loose-leaf paper. Binders can either be temporary or permanent, the former allowing the easy removal and insertion of sheets, the latter not. Binding: Binding and finishing are activities performed on printed material after printing.
- Body Copy: Text or graphics printed other than on tab extensions (i.e. the “body” of the sheet).
- Buckle Folder: A device used in the folding phrase of binding and finishing, which uses a set of plates (collectively called a folder plate) to force a sheet to buckle slightly, allowing it to be pulled through a set of folding rollers.
- Cerlox Binding: Plastic rings (19 rings in 11″) in twelve different colours that are put through rectangular-punched holes to bind paper.
- Child Proof Stitches: A method of stitches in which they are turned in down the center spread.
- Clip Seal / Wafer Seal: Clear plastic or white paper varying in size, which are glued and wrapped around the open edge of folded paper.
- Coloured Stitches: Coloured stitching is a stitch with coloured wire.
- Collate: In bindery and finishing, the act of arranging printed pages into sets that can be bound into a book.
- Collation: Gathering of individual tabs into sequentially ordered sets.
- Collating Marks: In printing, a set of numbered symbols that are printed on the folded edge of press signatures as a means of indicating the proper collating or gathering sequence.
- Creasing: A score or line indented in paper by the use of a rotary score wheel or a steel-ruled die.
- Cut: Number of tab positions in a bank (example: 1/5 cut = 5 tabs of equal size completing a bank.
- Die: Any metal plate or block etched with a design, lettering or other pattern used to stamp or press these designs into a substrate.
- Diecut: A finishing operation involving the use of sharp steel rules or knives to cut a specific pattern into a substrate or to cut the substrate itself into a specific pattern. Diecutting is used to create pop-up books and games, and to cut flat printed sheets.
- Eyeletting: Small circular metal “rims” applied around a punched hole in paper.
- Finishing: Any of a variety of processes performed to document or publication after printing. Finishing can include cutting, trimming, folding and binding, as well as decorative operations as embossing, foil stamping, and laminating.
- Foil Embossing: A finishing operation combining embossing (the stamping or pressing of images or pattern onto a substrate) with foil stamping (the application of a layer of foil in a particular design or pattern to a substrate).
- Foil Stamping: The application of a layer of foil in a particular design or pattern to a substrate
- Folding: An operation performed – commonly after printing and cutting – to fold a press sheet into a signature.
- Fugitive Glue: Glue produced that lacks permanence; temporary removable glue.
- Gatefold: In folding, a four-page insert or configuration of foldout. A large page is folded with two parallel folds to produce a center spread revealed by opening two folded flaps.
- Hotmelt Glue: Hotmelt glue is used in traditional perfecting binding.
- Imposition: Imposition is the positioning of the pages on the press sheet so that when the sheet is printed, the pages fall in the desired order, in the correct orientation. (i.e. right-side up) and with the correct margins.
- Inkjetting: A type of nonimpact printing process, used most frequently in computer output devices, that utilses tiny droplets of highly fluid ink that are given an electric charge. During printing, these droplets are sprayed in a continuous fashion towards the substrate.
- Insert: In bindery and finishing, an insert is one printed signature that has another signature wrapped around it. Insert also refers to any preprinted page or set of pages that are placed into separately printed publication. Examples of inserts are advertising supplements, maps or foldouts.
- Lamination: A layer of clear plastic applied to a sheet of paper (or other material) for preservation, protection or other purposes. Also refers to the process of applying such a clear plastic layer.
- Lap Glue: Lap glue is a generic term to describe hotmelt or cold glue which is applied in the perfect binding process inside the front and back cover, near the spine, to produce a hinge effect on the covers.
- Layflat Binding: Perfect binding that has a spine that “floats” – not glued to the pages.
- Loop stitching: Loop stitching allows a booklet to be saddle stitched and inserted into a loose-leaf binder without drilling.
- Loose-leaf Binding: A means of mechanical binding in which pages are bound together by means of inserting the metal rings or poles of a three-hole binder into drilled or punched holes along the binding edge of the pages.
- Mechanical Binding: Mechanical binding is a means of fastening sheets of paper together using metal or plastic attachments inserted through punched or drilled holes in the paper. Mechanical binding is the process of binding a book using methods such as cerlox, spiral wire, wire-o or plasticoil binding.
- Miniature Folding: Miniature folding is commonly defined as any folding job with a panel size smaller than 2″.
- Mylar reinforced bind edge: Strengthened bind edge resulting from application of a mylar strip to the bind edge on the back side of the sheet.
- Mylar reinforced tab: Strengthened tab extension resulting from application of a mylar coating around tab extension and onto the body of the sheet.
- Notch Binding : The gouging of grooves (commonly 1/4″ wide) in the spine of a book block to facilitate the penetration of adhesive during subsequent perfect binding.
- Oversized Stitching: The maximum loop for saddle stitching is 19″ (with 20″ backbone length). Specialties have 8 stations with oversized saddle stitcher.
- Padding: A finishing operation in which a flexible adhesive – called padding glue – is applied to one edge of a stack of sheets. When the adhesive is dry, sheets can be torn off individually. (also used to create notepads)
- Padding Glue: A flexible adhesive used in padding.
- Perfect Binding: A type of binding in which signatures are bound together with adhesive. This is used to eliminate the thread-sewing method of bookbinding.
- Perforating: Any operation that punches tiny slits or holes in a sheet of paper or other substrate. Perforating is performed using perforating dies. Materials are perforated either to allow a portion to be easily removed (such as an order form or coupon), or to allow air to escape from folded signatures, which helps prevent wrinkling.
- Plastic Comb Binding: A means of mechanical binding in which the pages are bound together by means of a plastic comb. This comb consists of a plastic strip which extends a series of curved plastic prongs. These are inserted into drilled or punched holes along the binding edge of the pages.
- Position (tab): Sequential location of a special tab in a bank.
- PUR Glue: Polyurethane-reactive hot-melt glue, which is more flexible than older types of glues and is used as layflat adhesive binding. PUR glue is considered to be the most flexible and durable bookbinding glues on the market. They yield products that lie flatter and require less backbone preparation than other glues.
- PVA Glue: PVA glue is applied cold; once dried, the resins penetrates deep into the structure of the paper stock, forming a solid bond.
- Remoistenable Glue: A line (typically 3/8″ to 1/2″ wide) of glue applied to paper that when moisture is applied stick like an envelope flap.
- Reverse printing: Printing of solid background behind tab or body copy with actual copy appearing in colour of unprinted paper.
- Saddle Stitch: Saddle stitching is the process of inserting forms on top of other forms over a saddle and driving stitches through the gathered piece’s backbone.
- Set: One each of every individual tab in a job or group.
- Shrink Wrapping: Sealing and heat-shrinking in plastic film of individual or multiple tab sets or pieces.
- Signatures: In printing, any single press sheet on which multiple page have been imposed which, when folded and cut, forms a group of pages. Most books and other publications are printed as group of signatures. The multiple imposition allowing a significant reduction in the number of independent pressruns required to print all pages.
- Smythe Book Sewing: A form of thread sewing used to attach signatures together.
- Spiral Wire Binding: A means of mechanical binding in which the pages are bound together by means of a wire or plastic coil threaded into drilled or punched holes along the binding edge of the pages.
- Tab copy: Text or graphics printed on tab extensions.
- Tab mylar: Clear or coloured plastic coating around tab extension.
- Tip-On: To bind a foldout or other insert into a book by means of an adhesive.
- Undersized Stitching: Automated saddle stitching can be as small as 3″ x 3-7/8″ one-up and 3″ x 3″ two-up. At Specialties we’ve stitched products as small as 1-1/2″ x 2″ with offline trimming.
- Wire/o Binding: A type of spiral binding comprising a double set of wire loops inserted into punched or drilled holes along the binding edge of a set of pages.