Book Binding Ideas Anyone?

Question

I want to make a book where the pages are the traditional side-by-side...you know...like a regular book. But I want the cover to open up from the center. In other words, the cover will not open from the right. Instead, the cover will be split down the middle, and then open from the center, so that two parts open opposite eachother. I wish I could draw u a picture. Anyway....any ideas on where I woulf ind something like that?

Answer 1

As I read your description you need to make the book as usual, but make the cover much longer on one side. This longer side will have a second 'spine' and will fold up round the book and cover the front from the other side too.

Normally when you make a book cover, on your linen for the outside of the cover you place one piece of board just bigger than your pages, a narrow opening, a piece of board as wide as the stack of pages is high, an opening again, and a second board as big as the first.

In this case, you cut one of the cover boards in halve, start with one half, opening, spine, opening, whole board, opening, spine, opening, the other half.
The inside paper of the back of the cover needs to be long enough to cover all of the extended cover, rather the size of the pages.

You can also make the front board the normal size, the second spine a bit wider than the first and have the second cover on the front closing over the first one.
There are notebooks like that sold in Europe at the moment, they even have some magnets included in the covers that keep them closed.
This page show one of those, with different colours on the front cover and the flap from the back: http://www.thepencompany.co.uk/range/paperblanks_journals/french_ornate_wraps
This is to the site of the company that makes them: http://www.paperblanks.com/

Answer 2

I'd make it as two books, then join them together with the spine/cover. So, your stitch your signatures together in two separate pieces, then when you assemble your cover, put both "books" in it.
If you need directions for traditional binding techniques, I recommend Creative Bookbinding by Pauline Johnson (I'm pretty sure it's out of print, but it's really good), but there's a bunch of other books on the subject out there.