Perfect bound booklet (Bound printing)

Perfect bound booklet

Perfect binding, or softcover binding, suits publications with too many pages for saddle stitching. The sheets are cut into single leaves, the spine is milled, glued with Panamelt hot-melt and the cover wraps the block. The result is a square spine you can print a title on, just like a book.

Formats and extent

Choose A4 (210×297 mm) or A5 (148×210 mm), 48 to 500 pages and runs from one to 300 copies. The calculator steps in fours up to 200 pages and in sixteens above that. If you need an exact page count in between, send an enquiry and we will do it.

Perfect binding or saddle stitching

Up to 100 pages saddle stitching is cheaper and opens flatter. From about 60–80 pages perfect binding starts to look more finished, and above 100 pages it is the only sensible choice. Catalogues, manuals, annual reports, textbooks and softcover books all go to perfect binding.

Papers

• Silk – matt coated paper with a silky surface. Colours stay accurate and the surface does not glare.
• Gloss – glossy coated paper. Images come out with more contrast and deeper colours.
• Uncoated paper – matt surface with the feel of writing paper. It suits text-heavy publications and long reading.
• Nautilus Classic – white uncoated paper made from 100% recycled fibre. The most environmentally sound choice in our range.

Inside papers are coated 115 and 130 g, and uncoated or recycled 80 and 100 g. Covers are 250 g silk, uncoated, recycled or board. The cover is creased before binding so the spine folds cleanly.

Lead time

The glue must cure for at least four hours before trimming, so a perfect bound job takes one day longer than a saddle-stitched one.

Not quite the product you need?

If you need another format, more than 300 copies, more than 500 pages, a hard cover or a different paper, send an enquiry – we answer within one working day.