Part 1
Transcriber’s notes: Italicized text is surrounded by underscores: _italics_. Bold text is surrounded by equal signs: =bold=.
Booklet Making
An Art-Craft Problem
Booklet Making
An Art-Craft Problem
Henry Turner Bailey
Editor of “The School Arts Book”
The Prang Company
New York Chicago Boston Atlanta Dallas
Copyright, 1912 By Henry Turner Bailey
BOOKLET MAKING
THE MODERN BOOK SHOULD BE THE OUTGROWTH OF ITS OWN TIME, CONSISTENT IN ALL ITS FEATURES.--_DE VINNE_
The making of a good booklet involves the vital correlation of several school topics and processes, presents many opportunities for sound instruction, gives a wide scope for individuality and furnishes genuine training of hand and eye. From such work the pupils derive more pleasure and more solid satisfaction than from any other school project yet discovered.
Success depends upon forethought. The teacher who thinks the problem through to the end, who sees clearly the steps to be taken in order from first to last, and who makes adequate preparation for the taking of each step with the class, will not be disappointed in the result. One may rise to a higher level in many ways: the ancient “spiral” incline, the notched log, the ladder, stairs, and, in these days, the moving sidewalk, and the elevator, are all good lifts. These all have their correspondences in school work, and all have been efficient. This little book presents ten well-worn, fireproof steps which, if taken without haste, will land the aspirant safely on the floor above the present level of average school work.
=First, Decide upon the Kind of Booklet=
The choice would be influenced by the grade of school, by the previous experiences and achievements of the children, by the course of study, and by the amount of time to be devoted to the work. In primary grades, possibly a six- or eight-paged pamphlet with paper covers, bound with a single thread, may be all that should be attempted. In the grammar grades a booklet with covers of paper or cloth over cardboard may be achieved, while in the high school a book properly bound in boards may not be too desperate a venture.
=Second, Decide upon the Subject=
Here, again, a wide range presents itself. The subject, also, must be determined by local conditions. A classified list may serve to present a general survey of the field.
_Personal_--Records of adventures, mishaps, strolls, games, fads.
_Geographical_--Records of journeys, real and imaginary; studies of towns, cities, counties, states and countries, and of world features such as a pond or lake, the ocean, a mountain, etc.
_Natural_--Studies of individual objects or of a group of objects in the realm of the plants, the birds, the animals, insects, fishes, or among the elements, clouds, minerals, metals, etc.
_Historical_--Studies of myths and legends, the records of events and achievements, of famous sites, buildings, etc., of historic significance.
_Industrial_--Studies of occupations, trades, manufactured materials and processes, commerce, inventions, etc.
_Biographical_--Studies of the lives of famous people, inventors, leaders of thought, statesmen, poets, artists, sculptors, architects, authors, musicians, etc.
_Appreciative_--Studies of masterpieces in the arts, pictures, poems and other forms of literature, statues and other forms of sculpture, architecture and handicraft, pieces of music, etc.
_Technical_--Collections of papers having to do with such school topics as writing, spelling, arithmetic, algebra, geometry, mechanical drawing, grammar, and the like.
The subject selected for the first booklet should be a popular one with the class, and one for which illustrative material is available or may be easily made.
=Third, Determine the Contents=
To make this discussion as helpful as possible I have decided to make it concrete, and therefore have selected a project--a grammar-grade booklet bound in paper covers--and a subject--the poet Longfellow.
Let us suppose I am a seventh-grade teacher. My pupils have heard about Longfellow from their first-grade days; they know by heart some of his poems. Moreover, he is one of my own favorite poets. With the first money I ever earned working for strangers I purchased a copy of Longfellow’s poems. I have that book in my desk this moment. I visited his home in Cambridge once. I know a man who knew him. I can make Longfellow real to the children, make them enthusiastic about him and his poetry.
I therefore present the matter to my class.
With a beautiful booklet or two that I have borrowed from some other teacher, or with a copy of the “School Arts Book,” describing and illustrating a booklet,[A] I present the project and call for suggestions as to subject. All subjects offered are considered and discussed, but being in the saddle, so to speak, I guide my class, without their knowing it, toward the subject I have decided upon as best for them, and we all vote with high anticipation to make Longfellow booklets.[B]
We next discuss how large a booklet we should attempt. Better do a little thing well than a big thing ill. We jot down on the blackboard a few possibilities. We could make or find the following, at least:
A portrait of Longfellow. A picture of his home. A map of the region where he lived. An account of his life. A list of his most popular poems. Quotations about him and his work. A copy of a favorite poem or verse. A brief statement as to why the quotation is a favorite. An illustration for this favorite quotation. A cover of appropriate color. An appropriate cover design.
We may not include all these items in every booklet, but we are now ready to take the next step.
=Fourth, Gather the Material=
A large flat open box is now placed on my desk or in some other convenient place in the schoolroom, in which the children may deposit any appropriate material they find. They begin with the pictures. They search everywhere for portraits of Longfellow, pictures of his house, illustrations for his poems, etc., that they can bring to school for use in the booklets. Each contribution to the box is marked with the initials of the pupil who brings it. We gather all the suggestive material we can--examples of well-arranged pages, ornamental initials, head bands, tail pieces, covers, cover ornaments, and the like, and secure through the superintendent, if possible (if not, by some other means),[C] such penny pictures as we foresee to be necessary.
Ultimately all this material will be distributed to the children and used in one way or another. I lead the children in the quest for information. I teach them how to “read up” and to make notes and quotations. I show them almost every day what I am gathering, for of course I am going to make a booklet myself. A teacher is a shepherd, not a cowboy! He doesn’t round up to drive; he calls together to lead. Here is what I have gathered for my booklet on Longfellow:
Several different portraits of Longfellow. The Longfellow statue at Portland, Maine. The house where he was born, Portland. The Longfellow mansion at Portland. Longfellow’s home at Cambridge. Longfellow’s armchair. Longfellow’s daughters. Evangeline. The Wayside Inn, Sudbury. A half-dozen pictures illustrating “Hiawatha.” Two illustrating “The Building of the Ship.” Five illustrating “Evangeline.” “The Bridge at Midnight.” “The Bell of Atri.” Three pictures that might be used in illustrating “The Birds of Killingworth.” A picture of the tower which contains the belfry of Bruges. A picture of a Viking ship and the head of an old Viking. A drawing of a prow of a Viking ship. A photograph of the portal of the old church of Trondhjem. A dozen examples of Scandinavian ornament. Several symbols appropriate to the subject of poetry, such as Pegasus the winged horse, the flying torch, the scroll of inspiration, a wreath of victory for the successful poet, a bouquet of flowers symbolical of a volume of fine poems, etc.
=Fifth, Plan the Booklet=
The orderly format of modern books and pamphlets is displayed in the following table:
THE ORDERLY FORMAT OF BOOKS AND PAMPHLETS
+------+------+--------------------+------+------+------+------+-----+ |The |Leaves| Order of Elements |Paging|For a |For a |For a |For a| |Essen-| | in a Sumptuous | |Bound |Thick |Thin |Leaf-| |tial | | Edition of a Book | |Volume|Pamph-|Pamph-|let | |Fea- | | An Edition-de-Luxe | | | let |let | | |tures | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | +------+------+--------------------+------+------+------+------+-----+ |FRONT | |Outside: Title | | A |A[10] |A[10] | | |COVER | |Inside: Pasted end | | B |B[11] |B[11] | | | | | paper[1] | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |FRONT | |End paper {decorated| | | | | | |MATTER| | { side | | | | | | | | | {blank | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |1st |Fly leaf {blank | | C | C | | | | | | {blank | | D | D | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |Half-title[2] | i[8] | E | | | | | | |Blank, or with | | | | | | | |2d | notice of other | | | | | | | | | work by same | ii | F | | | | | | | author | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |3d |Blank | | G | E | | | | | |Frontispiece[3] | | H | F | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |Title-page[4] | iii | I | G | C |A[12]| | |4th |Copyright notice, | | | | | | | | | printer’s | | | | | | | | | imprint, etc. | iv | J | H | D |B[13]| | | | | | | | | | | | |Dedication, or | v | K | | | | | |5th | quotation[5] | | | | | | | | |Blank | vi | L | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |Preface | vii | M | | | | | |6th |Preface continued, | viii | | | | | | | | or blank | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |Table of contents | ix | N | I | | | | |7th |Contents continued, | x | | | | | | | | or blank | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |List of | xi | O | | | | | |8th | illustrations[6] | | | | | | | | |List continued, or | xii | | | | | | | | blank | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |Introduction | xiii | P | | | | | |9th |Introduction con- | | | | | | | | | tinued, or blank | xiv | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |Repetition of | xv | Q | | | | | |10th | half-title | | | | | | | | |Blank | xvi | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |MAIN | |Chapter heading. I. | 1[9] | R | J | E | C | |TEXT |11th | Text | | | | | | | | |Text continued | 2 | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |Text continued | 3 | | | | | | | |through this and | | | | | | | |12th |succeeding | 4 | | | | | | | |chapters; pages are | | | | | | | |etc. |numbered, in order, | 5 | | | | | | | |throughout to the | etc. | | | | | | | |end of the index | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |END | |Appendix[7] | | S | | | | |MATTER| | | | | | | | | | |Notes[7] | | T | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |Glossary[7] | | U | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |Index | | V | K | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |Fly leaf {blank | | W | L | | | | | | {blank | | X | M | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | {blank | | | | | | | | |End paper {decorated| | | | | | | | | { side[1] | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |BACK | |{Pasted end paper | | Y |N[11] |F[11] | | |COVER | |{Outside | | Z | O | G | | +------+------+--------------------+------+------+------+------+-----+
NOTES:
[1] Sometimes plain, but often decorated.
[2] Sometimes omitted. In such a case this leaf is blank.
[3] Usually tipped in (pasted) when the book is bound, and therefore not paged. Always on a verso page.
[4] When the half-title is omitted the paging of the front matter begins as i.
[5] Sometimes omitted. In such a case the preface begins on this page.
[6] The illustrations themselves may be scattered through the text, or inserted in the form of plates, where easily referred to, or grouped together at the end of the volume, after the index. As a rule single plates should occupy a right-hand (recto, odd number) page. If the plate is an insert the back of the leaf (verso) is left blank. A leaf of thin paper called a tissue is sometimes inserted to protect the plate. In such a case the title of the plate is printed on the recto of this leaf in the middle, or on the verso at the foot.
[7] Sometimes omitted. In such a case the index follows upon the first recto page after the ending of the text.
[8] The front matter is usually set after the main text has been completed, hence the numbering separately. (_See Page 9._)
[9] In some cases, especially in pamphlets, this numbering begins at once, with the title-page.
[10] Paper cover, or, at least, flexible.
[11] In pamphlets the end paper is omitted and the inside of both the front and the back cover is left blank, whenever possible. Advertisements are printed on these pages.
[12] In leaflets the title-page and the chapter heading are often one and the same.
[13] Often omitted. In such a case this page continues the text commenced on the first page. The imprint is then placed at the end of the leaflet.
However simple our booklet is to be, its plan should be orderly. With this table as a guide and with such books as the children may have for reference, we work out on the blackboard the plan for our booklets. We will not be too ambitious at first. Here is our plan:
_Front Cover_ {Outside: Cover design of colored paper {Inside: Blank
_Front matter_ 1st leaf. Fly leaf {blank on white paper {blank 2d leaf {Blank {Frontispiece
3d leaf {Title-page {Imprint[D]
_Main Text_ 4th leaf {Chapter heading, I. Text on white paper {Text
5th leaf, Text continued with illustrations etc. to include the following chapters: I. Life. II. Most Popular Poems. III. My Favorite Poem.
_End Matter_ Appendix List of books consulted and on white paper sources of illustrations.
Fly leaf {Blank {Blank
_Back Cover_ {Inside: Blank of colored paper {Outside: Cover design
The _x_ in this equation is the main text. Inasmuch as all our leaves must be one-half of a folio[E] to bind properly, we must know just how many pages our booklet is to contain, before we begin to forecast its final form. This means that we make a dummy.
=Sixth, Make a Dummy=
A dummy is a sketch of the book, so to speak, made of cheap paper, but having the exact size and right number of pages.
Before we can make a dummy we must, of course, decide upon the size and shape of the pages. The illustrations will determine this.
The game is now “Follow the leader,” more closely than ever.
I lay out my illustrative material, the pictures I have gathered for my own booklet, on my desk, and decide how I would better use them. Not being limited by conditions imposed by the printer or publisher, or by “the trade,” I will have all my pictures “read” with the text, so that I shall not have to hold the book one way to read the text and another way to look at the pictures. As a rule it is well to have the choicest, the most important, the most significant picture used as the frontispiece. If this happens to be the largest the problem of size and shape of pages is solved--almost. The picture is placed on a sheet of manila paper, and proper widths of margins to set off the picture to best advantage are determined by experiment. In the case of a picture on a page to be seen by itself, the top margin should be narrower than the bottom margin and the side margins slightly wider than the top margin (in the case of a wide picture), or slightly narrower than the top margin (in the case of a narrow picture) and equal to each other. In an opened book the two pages become the unit perceived by the eye. In this case the inner margins are narrower than the top margin. As the book presents a more harmonious appearance when the pages are uniform, picture pages and text pages are treated alike.[F]
If the picture to be used as frontispiece is not the largest, the size and shape of pages may be determined by that picture just the same; but it may be necessary to discard the largest picture in favor of the best one. In the case of my own booklet, for example, I decided to use a picture of the Longfellow monument at Portland as my frontispiece, Plate I. This, with proper margins, gave me a “vertical” page, nearly square in shape.[G] I found it necessary to discard the larger pictures I happened to have of his birthplace and home, and to trim severely my picture of the Wayside Inn. The illustrations should seem to place emphasis where it belongs. A picture of Mount Vernon, for instance, filling an entire page and a portrait of Washington cut from a postage stamp would be incongruous. The man should receive the emphasis rather than his house.
The children should now do as the teacher has done. The resultant frontispiece pages will vary, of course, each pupil having his own, thus insuring booklets of various sizes and shapes (unless the pictures selected happen to be uniform in size). From an educational point of view the greater the variety the better.
Having decided the size and shape of my pages, I next estimate the number of pages I can fill with my other illustrations and my probable text, and then proceed to make a dummy of any sort of inexpensive paper I can find. The folios must, of course, be twice the size of the frontispiece page, to fold to that size. I have decided to make six folios, giving me a total of twelve leaves, or twenty-four pages. The cover will make one folio more. But that need not be considered as yet. This dummy may be bound by using a couple of ordinary pins in the fold. Place the folios one inside another, open the whole, flat, and insert the pins so that the heads and points will be inside when the dummy is folded in pamphlet form. I now number the pages and designate them as follows:
(First page, outside) i. Fly leaf. (Second page, inside) ii. Fly leaf. (Third page, recto[H]) iii. Blank. (Fourth page, verso) iv. Frontispiece. (Fifth page, recto) v. Title-page. (Sixth page, verso) vi. Personal. (Seventh page, recto) 1. Chapter I. Longfellow’s Life. Initial. (Eighth page, verso) 2. Text.
And so continue, leaving the last leaf unnumbered.
Up to this point the booklets of the children will be alike in arrangement. Beyond this point they will vary according to contents.
My own booklet continues as follows:
Page 3. Portrait of Longfellow. 4. Text. 5. Text with two small illustrations, Birthplace and Home. 6. Text. 7. Chapter II. Popular Poems. Initial. 8. Text. 9. Chapter III. My Favorite Poem. Initial. 10. Text. 11. Text with illustration, The Wayside Inn. 12. Text. 13. Illustration, Ships of the Norsemen. 14. Text. 15. Text. 16. Text with tailpiece. Fly leaf.
The margins decided upon, with the aid of the frontispiece, should now be transferred to all the pages of the dummy (except the fly leaves). This may be done by pricking through the frontispiece sheet with a pin. The margin lines should be ruled lightly, in pencil, on all the pages, and the position and size of each illustration should be indicated by drawn rectangles. Space should be set apart for the chapter headings.
“The amount of blank space at the head of a chapter should be governed by the amount of matter, shape of the page, the style of leading, and often by the character of an initial letter. In very open text matter (lines far apart) nearly half a page of blank may be given to the chapter heading and head piece; in leaded matter (lines not very far apart) one-third or less is sufficient; when there is no head piece the space is usually less, one-quarter or one-fifth. The space allowed for the first chapter heading of a book should be, when practicable, the same in other similar headings.”[I] In some manuscript books no space is allowed, the chapter heading being emphasized by the ornamental initial and first line.