Have a browse around any large or medium-sized bookstore today and you’ll surely find some great examples of the following book binding methods:
1. Saddle stitching (stapling)
Saddle stitching, also called saddle stapling, is probably your cheapest book binding option. Pages are folded in half and then stapled together, the staples becoming the spine. Needless to say, saddle stitching is not very durable and hence mostly used for booklets and comic books.
2. Perfect binding
Grab a random paperback off the shelf. Chances are you’re now looking at a typical example of perfect binding. The preferred binding method for paperbacks, perfect binding involves folding and sewing together paper sections which are then glued to the cover using a strong adhesive. In some cases, the edges of a stack of paper are simply roughened, after which a plastic strip is melted to attach the pages to each other and the soft cover to the pages.
Although not always the sturdiest of options (much depends on the quality of the adhesive), perfect binding offers a very neat finish and is a particularly cost-effective binding method considering the price of most paperbacks.
3. Case binding
Case binding or hardcover binding is the most commonly used method for, you’ve guessed correctly, hardcovers. Sections of pages are folded and sewn together, after which they are glued into the cover.
4. Section sewn
When a book is section sewn, each folded page section is sewn into the following section along the spine. A book bound in this way is able to lay flat regardless of its page count. Although expensive, section sewn is one of the most secure binding methods available.