Masters Bookbinding Ltd

Lay flat binding is the ideal brochure binding method for high end, exclusive and very visual based printed brochures. Typical clients include property developers and creative agencies that are looking for a continuous flow across pages. This allows detailed maps, property plans and in general any image or text to not be broken by the spine or joining of printed sections that conventional printing and binding are known for.

No longer will you have the frustration of a perfect bound brochure that never lays flat and the need to force the brochure to lay flat, usually resulting in damage or pages becoming loose. If you have experienced the usual brochure binding methods, then lay flat binding is the revolutionary alternative to unacceptable conventional brochure binding methods.

Lay flat binding is available in paperback or hard back with a maximum size of 385-365 portrait and a minimum paper weight of 240gsm.

How lay flat binding works; We take a sheet of printed paper for example 120gsm which is printed one side, folded print to print, then glued to another folded sheet of 120gsm. This now means the page weight is 240gsm, very much the standard text weight of any corporate, product or annual report brochure. This continues until the book is completed, it is then finished to any design spec required. Our latest binding machinery installed, means the ability to produce low to very high runs of brochures and books on a fast turnaround to an astounding level of quality and finish compared to conventionally bound brochures and books.

We know how tight your deadlines are and how important your theses and dissertations are. That's why we offer reliable, high quality thesis binding and dissertation binding for Reading and London based universities, colleges and institutions across the UK and throughout Europe. We always go the extra mile to help you out, no matter how quickly you need it.

Our guaranteed services include:

• Two-working-day (48 hour) service
• Next-day (24 hour) service
• 5 hour emergency service (our record is 35 minutes!)
• International service

As experts in university bookbinding for Reading and London based institutions, universities and colleges across the UK and Europe, we bind to all university specifications, hold details of most university and college requirements and offer a large choice of colours in Library Buckram (material specified by universities).

Our regular hard binding has your degree, name and year lettered on the spine. The books are usually lettered in gold foil, but we have silver and coloured foils as well, marker ribbon, head and tail bands, and double gold lines at the top and bottom of the spine.

The most cost-effective soft binding is a paperback in a coloured card cover, with the title page photocopied on the front.

International students

Wherever you're studying, we can bind your theses and dissertations. Just use the same procedure as for UK students and we'll post your bound documents back to you via courier or Special Delivery. Cost of postage depends on size and weight of package.

Email and photocopy service

Our e-mail and photocopy services are via a local high quality printer. The standard of their work is high and we are very satisfied with their excellent standard of service.

PDF file conversion

We can only print from PDF files, due to pagination issues. If you'd like us to convert to PDF from MS Word, we'll need to send you the PDF for approval. There is a small charge for this service.

Email us your thesis or dissertation for binding

Simply e-mail your thesis to us, there's no need to ring first, but if the job's urgent just give us a call to let us know on: 0845 3720323. Collated book-blocks, discs or CDs can be bought in or sent to our bookbinding workshops in Reading, Berkshire.

Post

Royal Mail special delivery is reliable and safe.

Delivery

We'll deliver your theses by our next day courier service.

There is a full list of thesis binding prices available on our website, please click on the link; http://www.mastersbookbinding.co.uk/thesis-and-dissertation-binding.aspx or call us on 0118 324 0120

Our master craftsmen bookbinders provide solutions that will enhance your documents, to make them stand out from the rest.

Come to us with an idea and we'll make it work; you're only limited by your imagination. If it can be made out of paper, board, book-cloth or leather, the chances are that we can make it. And we have a wide range of materials, from coloured papers, acrylic coated papers and cloths to leather, in stock to make your item really special.

We produce:

• Documents
• Thesis binding
• Dissertation binding
• Proposals
• Schedules
• Binders
• Fancy boxes
• Document tubes
• Portfolios
• Visitors' books
• Condolence books
• Corporate magazine
• And more.

We guarantee we'll meet your deadline - even if we have to stay up all night.

Printing and binding short-run books

We can produce short runs of cased and paperback books to a professional standard at an economical price. Through our contacts and knowledge of the printing trade, we can also arrange the most economical and efficient method of printing them. We handle runs of up to five thousand books.

Cloth cased, printed laminated paper over board (PLP), padded, slipcases, foil blocking and plate sinking, you name it - we can do it.

National and international service

From our Berkshire premises, we take on bespoke work from across the UK, Europe and worldwide.

Restoration

We've been lovingly restoring old and valuable books for over thirty years. The quality of our workmanship is first class and the materials we use are the very best. Everything that can be saved will be saved, including old endpapers, headbands, inscriptions, old boards and spines. Types of books we restore include:

• Leather books
• Sentimental books
• Family books
• Archives
• Albums
• Religious books
• Large family bibles
• Small personal bibles
• Old leather accounts' books
• Any book that's past its best

The restoration process

The usual place for a book to break is along the joint - this is the working part of the book. When this happens the book needs
re-backing.

Re-backing is the process of lifting the old cloth or leather, re-binding the back of the book in a matching material, then re-fixing the old material on top. The old spine is then fixed to the new back.

That sounds easy but it takes a little practice, maybe thirty years! Corners are treated in a similar fashion; if the old spine is missing, the book is re-lettered in a sympathetic way, to match the age and style of the book.

Leatherwork

Beautifully bound books are exquisite, lovely to look at, lovely to feel and a privilege to own. And our leatherwork specialist, Chris Masters has been lovingly binding books in leather for over forty years. He's been a professional bookbinder for nearly fifty years and rarely a day goes by without he feels that he has learned something new about the craft.

Chris served a seven-year apprenticeship at a large bookbinders in Reading, attending day release at London School of Printing and Oxford College of Technology.

Masters Bookbinding gives you the very best - the finest workmanship in the highest quality materials. If you have something special you treasure, why not have it bound in leather? It won't be cheap, but it will be well worth it.

Contact Chris directly on 0118 961 0038 or 07917 311413, or email chris@mastersbookbinding.co.uk

Masters Bookbinding has recently acquired more advanced foil blocking equipment and facilities. With this introduction to our factory in Berkshire we now have the ability to foil onto a much larger range of materials including plastics, giving the design and print industry greater flexibility and creativity whilst being able to offer this service across London and the South East.

So whether your requirement is for foil blocking; in pigment or any other metallic foils over a wide range of materials including paper, leather, material and plastics; embossing or heat stamping onto thermo reactive materials, Masters Bookbinding now has the ability to provide a full array of foiling and embossing facilities offering you a complete all round binding service.

Services include:

• Hot foil stamping
• Foil blocking
• Foil embossing
• Blind embossing
• Thermal blocking
• Blind debossing
• Blind stamping
• Personalising service (initials or name)

Substrates:

• Papers
• Card
• Plastics
• PVC
• Cloth
• Leather
• Acrylic coated paper
• PU coated paper
• High Touch products