Bookbinding by hand started thousands of years ago. Bookbinding is technique in which several pages are stacked together to form one readable document. Before bookbinding was introduced the people used to keep scrolls of document. This was hectic and difficult to maintain after certain length. So the pages were attached one below the other by sewing. This started the bookbinding era. People from different parts of the world bound books in different forms. Some are very easy and some are highly complicated. Let us see some of the hand bookbinding techniques that are common today.

1) Saddle Stitch: In this technique, all the papers are placed one above the other and it is stapled or sewn through the center.

2) Yotsume Toji: This is a Japanese bookbinding technique in which four holes are made near one edge. Then it is sewn in a particular way to get a hand bound book.

3) Perfect Binding: Many books published using machines are perfect bound. You can do this by hand also. This is what you do.All the signatures are held tightly. The spine is roughened and glue is applied. After the glue dries, it is applied one more time and the paper cover is attached.

4) Hardcover Binding: In this method a thick cardboard is used as cover. First the signatures are sewed and glue is applied. Two extra papers are attached on the top and bottom of this book. Glue is applied on the outermost pages and also on the spine. Now the cover is attached and kept under
pressure to form a hardcover book.

5) Coptic Binding: Another method which is very old is coptic binding. In this method the spine of the book is exposed. Two covers are placed on the top and bottom and directly sewed. The spine will not be damaged even if you connect the two covers back to back.

The above 5 techniques of bookbinding by hand are practised by hobbyists and self publishers. The process for these bookbinding methods are simple and easy to follow. You just need to practice for sometime and then you'll become perfect with hand bookbinding.