Reddit reviews Bookbinding: Its Background and Technique (Two Volumes Bound as One) (v. 1 & 2)
We found 2 Reddit comments about Bookbinding: Its Background and Technique (Two Volumes Bound as One) (v. 1 & 2). Here are the top ones, ranked by their Reddit score.
Coptics are super popular for one reason: They lay flat. A lot of folks love this for sketchbooks. I hate them though. Too much play in the spine means it wiggles a lot and just doesn't feel right to me.
The spine is not going to be too much more worn than any other structure. Paper and linen thread are actually really strong. Like I said, Coptics are favored for sketchbooks, which means they survive being thrown into bags and stand up to a lot of abuse.
There are literally hundreds of different types of bindings. Coptics are actually on of the oldest types of a codex binding, being developed in Africa in the 2nd century CE. Some use only thread to hold the book together and are called non-adhesive bindings. Others use only glue and are called adhesive bindings. Some use both thread and glue. "Regular binding", that you mention is not the name of any binding I'm familiar with. Is that a link stitch? Sewing all along on tapes or cords? Book binding has been around for literally thousands of years, so there are a lot of different structures.
Each binding has it's own advantages and disadvantages, and which one to use on which book depends on size, type of paper used to print on, and desired look and functionality. I went to school for two years to learn all this stuff and to practice a ton of different structures. If you're looking for something to get you started when it comes to traditional Western bookbinding, check out Laura Young's Book or Edith Diehl's. They explain a lot of structures pretty well and are something every binder should read.
This, in the absence of an on-line edition of Edith Diehl's seminal work "Bookbinding: Its Background and Technique", is an excellent survey of the state of traditional binding as it stood ca 1910, in the US, France, and the UK.
Some of the techniques may no longer be advised, but this is a decent free, readable, illustrated introduction to hand bookbinding, if somewhat oversimplified.
I wince at the sawing of the backs, but it was common then, and certainly common now... And the book is no guarantee of success, given that there's no replacement for instruction and practice under the direction of someone who knows what they are doing. But it's still a good overview.
Even Edith Diehl, who does go into many subtleties, glosses over things. This just glosses a bit more. Still, it's a good start-to-finish overview.
EDIT: formatting