How long will a perfect bound book last?
A perfect bound book can last for up to 20 years with the right care. The PUR adhesive that binds the inside pages together is powerful and durable. Another influencing factor behind how long perfect binding will last is how thick your spine is and the number of pages. Thicker text blocks can add greater strain on the glue over time.
How are perfect bound books made?
Perfect binding means all of the printed pages are stacked together (known as a text block) and squared off. The pages are then glued along the spine edge with PUR adhesive before the cover is then wrapped around the text block. Once this happens, the cover and artwork are trimmed to the correct size.
What are perfect bound books good for?
A perfect bound book is great for magazines, brochures, bound booklets and marketing material. They can be used for business as employee handbooks because of their professional and visual appeal or, a nice addition to your home bookshelf. Perfect bound book printing offers more range of customisation compared to saddle stitch and spiral-bound books and booklets.
How do I work out the spine width?
You can calculate your spine width based on the size of your book and the number of pages. The higher volume of pages, the thicker the text block will be. Meaning your cover will have more area to wrap around. In addition to this, you have to balance your paper type, also. If you have 200 pages of 150gsm paper, compared to 300 pages of 80gsm paper, the book may end up being similar thickness. If you’re struggling to work out the correct dimensions, please use our spine width calculator to help you set up your files.
What glue is used for perfect binding?
There are two types of adhesives used for binding a perfect bound book together. Traditional perfect binding relies on ethylene-vinyl acetate (EVA) whereas, PUR binding uses polyurethane reactive (PUR) adhesive. Despite the technical differences of putting a perfect bound booklet together, both techniques rely on hot glue is used to bind your pages to the front and back cover.
What lamination works best for perfect bound books?
If you want a perfect bound book that’s more scratch-resistant and better for a full-colour cover, gloss lamination would be the best choice. However, if you’re printing your first novel or auto-biography, matt lamination provides a professional and soft touch to your cover. The beauty of book printing is that it’s completely personal to you. If you’re unsure which would work best for your order, please let our customer service know!
Is there any limit to having my book being perfect bound?
The most notable limitation is the spine being too thin or thick. We’ll make sure that your book meets our minimum spine thickness of 2mm during our file check. Anything smaller than this, and a saddle stitch booklet would be the alternative option. Please note that whilst a book spine is extremely durable and we use fantastic quality cover materials, if the book is too thick, the binding glue may start to come apart due to excessive strain on the adhesive.
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