With linen thread the bookbinder binds books. Most of the books the bookbinder makes are empty. People would buy these to keep records. The first stage to make books is to fold the paper to the appropriate size. Then the paper would be put in a large press to flatten it. Back then there were two kinds of presses, the large press held paper in the bottom and had a large screw that would be turned to put pressure on the paper. The lying press, which is the smaller one, was on its side. Two parts called the press and the plow make up the lying press. The smaller piece on the top is the plow, and the bottom portion is the press.
Bookcovers were made of leather, and were usually decorated with tooling or engraving. The tooling was done with an instrument called the finishing tool. Finishing tools have wheels at one end that have a pattern on the edge. When the wheel of the finishing tool is pressed firmly on the bookcover, the pattern from the wheel becomes engraved in the leather.