Glueing device in bookbinding

Disclosed is a glueing device for adhesive bookbinding of a page stack (A) to a cover sheet (B), which comprises a housing (65) for containing hot melt adhesive (61') in a molten state; a coating roller (64) with a periphery, at least a part of which is immersed in the molten adhesive in the housing, having an axial length substantially greater than a lengthwise size of the back surface of the page stack. The coating roller is rotatable about a shaft extending substantially in alignment with a center of thickness of the page stack. The glueing device further comprises a first drive mechanism (66) for achieving press-contact between the periphery of the coating roller and the back surface of the page stack to apply the molten adhesive on the periphery of the coating roller to the back surface of the page stack; and a second drive mechanism (67) for rotating the coating roller in forward and reverse directions over a predetermined small angle range, while the periphery of the coating roller is being in press-contact with the back surface of the page stack by the pressure applying mechanism, so that the molten adhesive effectively enters every interstice between adjacent pages from the back surface of the page stack. Accordingly, not only the back surface of the page stack but also opposing areas, in vicinity to the back surface, of the adjacent pages are coated with the molted adhesive for improved bonding therebetween.