Binding in China's Ancient Books

Appeared in the mid-Ming Dynasty, it soon replaced Bao Beizhuang and became the last and most popular form of ancient books in China. Today, ancient books are often called "thread-bound books". Because the back of Bao Beizhuang's book is easy to be damaged, he used two bookends with the same size as the pages to separate the front and back of the book and punched holes and threads in the brain of the book. Generally speaking, only four holes are punched, which is called "four-needle eye patch". For thicker books, sometimes a hole is punched in the upper corner and the lower corner, which is called "six-needle eye paste". Staple needle and thread should use white or beige silk thread, and use two lanes. Sometimes the upper and lower corners of the book are wrapped with light blue, light yellow or brown silk, which is called "wrapping corner". At least one blank page, sometimes as many as two or three, is set between the cover and the text, which is called "protection page" or "secondary page".