So What will the definition be of the perfect book. That will depend on who you ask I suppose. But My answer will be a book that has a square back, lays flat open, doesnt fall apart and trimmed to perfection
So What will the definition be of the perfect book. That will depend on who you ask I suppose. But My answer will be a book that has a square back, lays flat open, doesnt fall apart and trimmed to perfection
bookbindingrules 
We get a lot of request for perfectbound books that lays flat open. However, we found that the books are not strong enough. How do we solve this problem.
This is a common problem. Unfortunately the problem is compounded by promises made by manufacturers that just is not true. I have made the same mistakes. We took on work based on technical information provided from the manufactureer of the binding units, and have lost a lot of credibility due to it. So, for the past two years I had to recreate our own bindind set of rules:
1- never bind wrong grain paper with hotmelt units. The quality of the book is compromised. The book is riged, Difficult to bind with higher % errors during the binding run and in the end it falls apart. Indeed a costly exercise for every one
2 – I will recommend against binding of gloss on any hotment unit, Rather saddle stich or treat sow the books. Another very effective solution is using cold glue, but unless you have a machine doing for you, this is very time consuming.
3 – This point I wil open for discussion a bit later on. The % of water content in the paper can cause the paper to buckle or wave after printing as the heat in the printers cause the water to expand in the paper. To bind paper that has buckled is very risky. Always fan the printed stock while it is still in the tray immediatly after printing to allow ecxess heat to escape
4 – recycled paper has more water and more prominent grain. Always test a book first before taking on a job
I hope this answers your questions
Michele
For glue bound books there are only three options: PUR, fanbinding by hand, or the new doublebinding technology, which is the most inexpensive solution.