We used to use a rubber and solvent based glue called cow gum. Good, because it was re-positionable and didn’t mark the paper. Bad because after a couple of hours the solvent would get you high and give you a cracking headache.

My dad is a graphic designer who spent quite a bit of his career working pre-computer. One story he told was of a colleague who seemed to always make his columns of typeset text perfectly fit The space available. Turned out he’d just fold anything extra underneath, not caring that the last bits were missing.