27.09.2022 / Frank Baier

Ribbon – Page Finder of Remembrance

Everyone who reads a printed technical book, non-fiction book, art book, vacation travel guide or work of fiction probably asks themselves the question at the end of reading the first few pages: how can I find the page I was on again? At what point exactly do I open the book again?
 
Usually, you can slide in the flap of the dust jacket or the gatefold cover and conveniently continue reading at the chosen place of the respective page at any time. With the purchase of the favored publication in the local bookstore, the bookseller sometimes also encloses a separate bookmark with a more or less beautiful picture motif for the lucky customer. After buying a fiction book during my last vacation in a bookstore, I even received an art postcard along with a commemorative stamp.
 
Comprehensive selection
Publishers for whom a coherent design and a high utility value of their books are important, often set an accent with a bookmark volume, which is quite useful for reading. This is a 4 to 5 mm, sometimes 8 mm narrow cloth band that is usually attached to the upper edge of the book block spine and serves as a firmly integrated bookmark. In the past, bookmark ribbons, also known as drawing braid, were made of silk, but today they are made of cotton – or of a cellulose-based manufactured fiber, the viscose subspecies rayon. Several specialist wholesalers for print finishing provide bookmark ribbon in rolls – from 100 m – in various colors.
 
In addition, the finishing product is less of a consumable and more of a decorative material in favor of aesthetics and design. The article can now be ordered in many colors – whether it is classic blue, red, black or perhaps old gold, anthracite, bottle green, corn yellow, steel blue. After all, bookmark ribbon is matched in terms of coloring to the headband, which is also made of cotton or artificial silk, to the endpapers and postscript, the book cover – and thus basically to the design of the book.
 
Typical application: ecclesiastical editions
Numerous book manufacturers today incorporate bookmark ribbon into their hardcover editions. Drawing lace is a haptic thought helper to the book content, a flattering page finder of memory, a dwelling element of the reading eye. In the meantime, many church editions, such as the classic Bible or prayer and hymn books, are unthinkable without a bookmark ribbon. Again, there are also special custom forms that require manual production activities.
 
For example, the "Reise- oder Kapellenmissale" (see photo) was recently produced jointly by the C. H. Beck printing company in Nördlingen, Germany, and the J. Steinbrener KG bookbindery in Schärding, Austria. This ecclesiastical edition was enhanced with six 18 mm wide bookmark ribbons as well as ten register letters made of cow split leather. In contrast to such handcrafted productions stands the industrial edition production of hardcover copies.
 
Ribbon – the fully automated solution from Muller Martini
The fully automated Ribbon inserting machine from Muller Martini for inserting the bookmark ribbon makes hardcover production economically perfect. The Ribbon is used as a stand-alone machine or in inline systems between the three-knife trimmer and the bookline and pulls two (optionally three) bookmark ribbons tightly into the book block.
 
Thanks to its high level of automation, it achieves extremely short make-ready times. Even with large formats, it does not restrict the production speed of the Diamant MC bookline.
 
Your
Frank Baier
Editor-in-Chief "Bindereport"
 
27.09.2022 Frank Baier Editor-in-Chief «Bindereport»