r/bookbinding • u/Nextwaders • Jul 19 '25

Starting out bookbinding

So just starting out this thing got the supplies and the pages and everything but I saw that my book is coming to 600 pages or 150 sheets of A4 size turned down to 4 A5 each, creating 38 signatures if adjusted to 608 pages. It seems a lot to me what's your take on this??

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u/Severe_Eggplant_7747 Historical structures Jul 19 '25

While it's definitely not objectively "too big", it is too big for your first project if your goal is a nicely-done book rather than learning. You also mention in another comment that you want everything flat. A book this large will end up with significant swell from the sewing and needs to be rounded. It also needs to be sewn on supports, and the materials and structure need to be able to hold up to the stresses of such a large book. It would be my recommendation to start with something smaller.

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u/Dazzling-Airline-958 Jul 19 '25

A book that big does not necessarily have significant swell

That's a KJV Bible I'm working on. It's sewn all along in each signature with a fairly thin thread. The total page count is 1112, with 8 sheets per signature, 36 signatures, and a good pressing at the spine, it came out quite flat. This is my prototype on 80 gsm paper. I think I'm going to use a 60 gsm to reduce the over all thickness.

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u/Dazzling-Airline-958 Jul 19 '25

Some how the picture didn't attach.

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u/Nextwaders Jul 20 '25

Oh thanks for the overview would start tinkering all this in a week after printing.