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Binding and finishing
Also called finishing, binding
All the operations that, after printing, give the book its final form: folding the sheets into sections, gathering them, sewing or gluing, putting on the cover, trimming. On a specification sheet or a quote, the binding line says how the book is bound, for instance “Perfect binding” or “Sewn”.
In practice
Compare two quotes with the same binding and finishing, and have this line spelled out before you compare prices: the binding, glued or sewn, the adhesive planned for a perfect binding, a soft or a hard cover, the flaps, the endpapers. “Perfect binding” on its own does not say which adhesive is planned.
