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The hardcover book backing machine was used in making hardcover books. It was used to crease the area where the spine meets the edge of the paper. This made the spine bulge outward slightly and had a height equal to the thickness of the book cover. The creasing improved the book's appearance and durability.

This hardcover book backing machine is a wooden manual binding machine left over from the Japanese Colonial Period. It was placed on the tabletop for binding hardcover books. This was the main pressing method before the process was mechanized, with the worker tapping on the book with a mallet to form the spine. Though this type of binding is now mostly done by machines, the operating principles remain the same. An example of this is the rounding machine.

L:43.00 cm X W:18.00 cm X H:48.00 cm

Movable type printing