How to Paste Down Thin Endpapers Without Wrinkles or Visible Spine-Lining Ridges

The pastedown covers the inside board; the facing, unattached leaf is the flyleaf. Mull, also called crash or super, is the open-weave reinforcement attached to the text-block spine and extending beneath the pastedowns. These distinctions matter because a line near the spine can originate beneath the paper. Dartmouth College Library, Simple Book Repair Manual.

Before applying adhesive, lay a spare piece of your endpaper over the prepared board and inspect it under light coming from the side. Feel across the lining edge through the loose sheet. The following diagnostic sequence is a practical synthesis of the paper-movement and board-leveling principles discussed below.

What you observe	Likely explanation	Next action
A straight raised line follows the edge of mull or another lining	A thickness transition underneath	Level the surrounding surface before pasting down
Broad ripples develop after adhesive application	Paper expansion or uneven wetting	Test grain direction and adhesive application on scraps
A loose dome appears in one area	Incomplete contact or trapped air	Check placement and adhesion while the adhesive remains workable
A crease forms when the cover closes	Hinge fit or placement needs checking	Rehearse the closing movement before gluing the second side

Use this table to decide what to investigate first. Appearance alone does not establish the cause: check the exposed substrate whenever possible.

Thin endpaper is sensitive to the moisture introduced during pasting. Roberts and Etherington’s Bookbinding and the Conservation of Books explains that thin sheets can swell when wet, shrink during drying, and allow adhesive to strike through. It also specifies grain parallel to the binding margin: cross-grain endpapers can buckle along their attached edge and become wrinkled during casing-in. Roberts and Etherington, “Endpapers”.

Check orientation before committing the sheet. Compare gentle bends in two perpendicular directions on an offcut; use this as a preliminary indication, then confirm with the paper supplier’s grain information or a more definite test on waste material. Keep the grain running from the head to the tail of the finished book.

Make a small trial using the same paper, board, lining material, adhesive, and pressing arrangement planned for the book. Include a lining edge in the sample. A trial on bare board alone cannot show whether that edge will remain visible.

Assess the dried sample for wrinkles, adhesive marks, surface texture, and the visibility of the lining boundary. If it fails, change one variable at a time. For example, compare two adhesive applications while keeping the paper and substrate identical. This makes the trial useful for choosing a method rather than merely producing another sample.

Inspect the board for dried adhesive beads, loose threads, folded reinforcement, and abrupt overlaps. Thin decorative paper should be treated as a finishing layer; preparing the surface underneath is a separate operation.

Board infilling is an established way to compensate for raised covering turn-ins. Dieter Räder’s Making the Case for the Edelpappband calls for infill to accommodate their thickness before the pastedowns are attached. Räder, Making the Case for the Edelpappband.

A maker’s account illustrates why matching heights matters. Hannah Brown describes unequal leather-joint and turn-in thicknesses and adds paper along the lower area before proceeding. Her construction differs from a simple cloth case, but the applicable principle is clear: address the height discrepancy beneath the final paper. Hannah Brown, Rebecca Edition Run Part Five: Leather Joints, Infilling and Edge-to-edge Doublures.

For a ridge caused by a lining extension, apply that leveling principle cautiously: fit suitable paper into the lower board area rather than overlapping the already raised strip. Dry-fit it and check its boundary with a loose endpaper sample. The aim is a continuous surface, without creating a second ridge at the infill edge.

Do not cut away structural mull simply to improve appearance. If the proposed infill creates a bulky stack or interferes with the hinge, revise the lining arrangement before proceeding. Allow any newly adhered leveling layers to dry, then repeat the surface check.

Fit the text block into the case without adhesive. Check its position, the exposed cover margins, and the cover’s closing movement. Räder explicitly includes fitting the case without glue before final assembly. His measurements belong to his particular binding structure; use the dimensions appropriate to yours. Räder, Making the Case for the Edelpappband.

Set out clean waste paper, a brush, a smooth folder, protective interleaving, pressing boards, and weights or a press. Support the open board so that you can work without pulling it away from the text block. Brown’s account uses a supporting block to keep the board level and solid during work on its inside surface. Hannah Brown, Rebecca Edition Run Part Five.

Rehearse one complete movement: expose the pastedown, place the waste sheet, simulate brushing, remove the waste, and close the board into position. Resolve awkward handling now, while the paper is dry.

Choose a bookbinding adhesive and working consistency that passed your scrap trial. There is no universal dilution or waiting time for all thin papers. Your working window must accommodate coating, positioning, and smoothing before the adhesive loses tack.

S. J. Vaughn’s Printing and Bookbinding for Schools describes placing waste paper beneath the endpaper, applying paste, settling the paper onto the board, and working the joint with a folder. It also describes checking closure and carefully lifting and resetting a misplaced sheet while correction remains possible. Vaughn, Printing and Bookbinding for Schools, “Paste-downs—Bone Folder”.

1. Place fresh waste paper beneath the pastedown to protect the flyleaf and text block.
2. Brush on a continuous, even film, including the edges. Remove visible accumulations rather than leaving thick brush tracks.
3. Remove the soiled waste sheet without transferring adhesive to the visible paper.
4. Bring the board and pastedown together using the movement rehearsed during the dry fit. Avoid tugging the fore-edge to force alignment.
5. Smooth gently through a clean protective sheet, working progressively toward a free edge. Use the folder’s broad surface rather than concentrating pressure on its tip.
6. Check that the hinge settles properly as the cover closes. Correct placement only while the sheet can lift without resisting.

These handling steps adapt the cited casing-in methods to a delicate sheet. Do not keep rubbing a persistent straight line: return to the substrate diagnosis. Additional burnishing does not correct a thickness mismatch.

Protect the facing leaves before pressing. Dartmouth identifies polyester film as a moisture barrier; it also describes using flat boards and weights when a book press is unavailable. Dartmouth College Library, Simple Book Repair Manual.

A moisture barrier and an absorbent sheet perform different jobs. In Räder’s casing-in sequence, a card “fence” between pastedown and flyleaf absorbs some moisture and limits impressions from the turn-ins. He changes the fences after an initial pressing period and continues drying under weight. Räder, Making the Case for the Edelpappband.

Use clean, smooth interleaving compatible with your adhesive, as established in the trial. Keep the book aligned between flat pressing boards. Follow the pressing arrangement appropriate to its spine and joint structure; avoid introducing a new stack of thick inserts that distorts the fit.

An initial nip is only one stage of drying. Vaughn’s instructions finish with light pressing until the book is thoroughly dry. Do not treat a short pressing interval as proof that moisture has left the assembly. Vaughn, Printing and Bookbinding for Schools.

Inspect the finished pastedown under the same side lighting used during preparation. Check the board field, the lining boundary, the edges, and the hinge separately. This gives you a specific change to make on the next trial.

If the surface is wrinkled but the substrate was level, revisit grain, wet expansion, coating consistency, and handling. If a straight ridge matches a buried lining edge, revisit leveling. If the paper is smooth until the cover moves, revisit the case fit and hinge placement. Avoid peeling up a dried thin pastedown merely to investigate; the useful correction may belong in the preparation of the next binding.

The most effective checkpoint comes before the final sheet is attached: a dry fit that closes correctly, a board surface that feels continuous through a loose sample, and a dried adhesive trial that preserves the paper’s appearance. Once those conditions are met, pasting down becomes a controlled finishing step.

• Dartmouth College Library. Simple Book Repair Manual.
• Matt T. Roberts and Don Etherington. Bookbinding and the Conservation of Books: A Dictionary of Descriptive Terminology, “Endpapers.”
• Dieter Räder. Making the Case for the Edelpappband.
• Hannah Brown. Rebecca Edition Run Part Five: Leather Joints, Infilling and Edge-to-edge Doublures.
• S. J. Vaughn. Printing and Bookbinding for Schools.