A central strip (16) of the inside surface of the cover of a book, ledger or the like is left exposed from laminating material applied elsewhere to the surface so as to bond better to the stack of pages or to a glue strip binding the left-hand edges of the pages of the book. In a preferred embodiment a central strip is cut from a sheet of laminating material as it is drawn from a roll (10) by a pair of cutters (13, 14) the spacing apart of which is adjustable to be not less than the height of the stack or glue strip.