How to Make a Pamphlet With a Fold-Over Cover

My latest bookbinding tutorial is up on HandmadeNews: How to Make a Pamphlet With a Fold-Over Cover. It's the latest in a series of "Bookbinding 101" tutorials with the aim of helping interested folks learn bookbinding, starting simple and working through to more complex. You'll find the whole series (so far only a couple articles), plus other articles on bookbinding here (if you click on my profile thingy in the right column once you get to that page, you'll find the whole list of things I've done for the site, including a few other articles on books and printing, plus a pile of word finds and a few odds and ends of other things).

"How to Make a Pamphlet With a Fold-Over Cover" includes instructions for two versions of the basic structure, one slightly more complicated than the other. The first version leaves the sewing exposed, so in my model I used ribbon to bind the book, and sewed it so the knot would be on the outside instead of the inside as is usual with pamphlets.

I used that leaf green paper on the inside so the different parts would be easily visible, but then I ended up using mostly diagrams in the instructions instead of photos. Oh well.

The second version uses a longer sheet of cover paper and has more folds so the sewing on the spine is hidden under the fold of the cover. The book in this photo is one I made a few years ago when I took a bookbinding class with Susan Mills. I wish I knew what the paper is, as I'd sure love to have some more.

These variations on the basic pamphlet are super-simple to make, but with the right paper can be quite elegant. It would be a lovely form to use for a chapbook--say if you're a poet or story writer and wanted to give a little book of your work to friends instead of a holiday card (I've done that myself, and people really seem to enjoy it). I can even imagine a little book of sketches or even colour illustrations. I might try that next year.