What is Perfect Binding
Perfect binding is a popular soft cover book binding method. With this process, the pages and cover are glued together at the spine using a strong but flexible thermal glue. The other three sides are then trimmed to create clean, even edges. Many of the soft cover books you see in bookstores are perfect bound. These books usually have a square printed spine, and the cover is often made from paper or cardstock that is thicker than the inside pages. The cover is also often coated for added durability and a better look. Beyond books, businesses and organizations often choose perfect binding for a variety of print projects because it offers a professional look at a relatively low cost. It is commonly used for annual reports, corporate reports, manuals, catalogs, and thicker brochures and magazines.
Benefits of Perfect Binding
The main benefits of perfect bound books are their professional look, strong visual appeal, lower production cost compared to hardcover books, and their ability to stack neatly. The square spine created by perfect binding also gives you space to print the title or other important details on the spine, which is not possible with saddle stitch or spiral binding.
In addition, perfect bound books can be printed in Short Runs and are a great candidate for On Demand Printing. This provides tremendous benefits to book authors as well as cost-conscious businesses and organizations. For more information, see our article "The Benefits of Short Run Printing / Print On Demand"
The Perfect Binding Process
To assemble a perfect bound book, your printer first stacks the interior pages together to form a crisp block. Then the spinal edge of this block is roughed up with blades or abrasives. This exposes more paper fibers and increases the bonding area for the glue. Hot glue is then applied along the roughed up edge of the interior page block. The cover of the book is then wrapped around the block of pages and it adheres to the glue along the spine. After the glue has cured, the three open edges of the book are trimmed as needed to give them nice clean edges.
If you have any questions about Perfect Binding or any other book binding method, give us a call at 866-367-6221. Book printing is one of our specialties so we can definitely help.
Take care! Rick
