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 BOOKBINDING 
 FOR BIBLIOPHILES
 
 OF THIS BOOK so COPIES ON JAPANESE VELLUM AND 
 300 ON ENFIELD PLATE PAPER HAVE BEEN PRINTED 
 AND THE TYPE DISTRIBUTED. NO./
 
 BOOKBINDING 
 
 FOR BIBLIOPHILES 
 
 BEING NOTES ON SOME TECHNICAL 
 
 FEATURES OF THE WELL BOUND 
 
 BOOK FOR THE AID OF 
 
 CONNOISSEURS 
 
 TOGETHER WITH 
 
 A SKETCH OF GOLD TOOLING 
 
 ANCIENT AND MODERN 
 
 BY 
 
 FLETCHER BATTERSHALL 
 
 GREENWICH, CONN. 
 
 THE LITERARY COLLECTOR PRESS 
 
 MCMV
 
 Copyright, 1905, 
 BY THE LITERARY COLLECTOR PRESS
 
 TO 
 DOUGLAS COCKERELL 
 
 772562
 
 INTRODUCTION 
 
 THIS is not a technical treatise on 
 bookbinding, neither is it a his- 
 tory of the craft. These fields 
 have been covered ably by others. The 
 appeal is to the collector and book- 
 lover to those who love the book 
 in its physical being, as an objet d*art y 
 apart from the literary value of the 
 thought expressed. The cult is ancient, 
 and numbers now as of old its enthu- 
 siasts and its satirists. It has its own 
 apologetics. The author is content to 
 step aside from the controversy. Let 
 us not take our bric-a-brac too serious- 
 ly, but stand ready to enjoy the humor 
 of our folly, as well as its charm and its 
 delight. 
 
 The finely bound book is an article 
 of virtu. But as such it has its laws, its
 
 Introduction 
 
 own little philosophy and rule of being. 
 One cannot know it to be good or bad 
 without knowing the history of its 
 structure. Was it built on sound prin- 
 ciples ? Does it fulfill the full purpose 
 of a binding? Is its beauty a proper 
 and natural beauty, the inevitable efflor- 
 escence which the structure was des- 
 tined to call forth ? There is one 
 beauty of the sea, and another of the 
 hill. The beauty of the bound book 
 differs from the beauty of a shoe lach- 
 et, because it follows a different 
 growth to serve a different purpose. 
 The connoisseur is he who, holding 
 the work in hand, can point out in 
 how far each follows its organic law. It 
 is to aid the Bibliophile to such knowl- 
 edge that the present work is written.
 
 CONTENTS 
 
 PART FIRST: FORWARDING 
 
 I Of Mending and Repairing ... 3 
 
 II Of Pressing ; With a Note on Collation . i 5 
 
 III Of End Papers 21 
 
 IV Of Leather Joints, and of Sewing . .31 
 
 V Of Rounding, of Backing, and of Boarding 41 
 
 VI Of Edges and Edge Gilding , . -53 
 
 VII Of Headbands . . . . .65 
 
 VIII Of the Choice of Leathers . . .73 
 
 IX Of Covering .... . . . 83 
 
 PART SECOND : FINISHING 
 
 I Gold Tooling: the Technique . . -93 
 
 II Gold Tooling in Italy . i . .103 
 
 III Gold Tooling in France . . . -113 
 
 IV Gold Tooling of To-day . . . .125
 
 PART FIRST 
 
 FORWARDING
 
 I 
 
 OF MENDING AND REPAIRING
 
 I 
 
 OF MENDING AND REPAIRING 
 
 THE Bibliophile should have a part 
 in the binding of his books. 
 They should reflect his person- 
 ality equally with that of the crafts- 
 man. There are few possessions more 
 personal and intimate, reflecting the 
 owner, not in their selection only, but 
 in their physical being. How carefully 
 the book-lover considers the edition of 
 the work which he sets out to acquire ! 
 Shall it be ancient, full of the atmos- 
 phere of the century which gave it 
 birth, quaint in typography, and im- 
 printed on the honest hand-made 
 papers of an unsophisticated age? or 
 shall it be a modern edition de luxe, one 
 of three hundred numbered copies, a 
 manufactured rarity ? The decision re- 
 flects the character of the collector.
 
 Bookbinding for Bibliophiles 
 
 And so it is with the selection of a 
 binding. 
 
 It is here proposed to speak of the 
 technical features of fine book binding. 
 The knowledge of the amateur is too 
 often confined to schools of tooling. Of 
 equal importance is some knowledge of 
 the various technical characteristics of 
 a well bound book. For, in technique 
 there is nearly as wide a choice as in 
 decoration, and for the best treatment 
 of the particular book there should be 
 not only a selection of materials but a 
 choice in the mode of handling them. 
 Indeed, no sound artistic judgment of 
 decoration can be made without some 
 knowledge of the technical problems 
 with which the craftsman copes. Did 
 he conquer them ? Is the workman- 
 ship sound, and worthy of embellish- 
 ment? These are the first questions; 
 and only after answering them may one 
 judge whether the decoration follows, 
 a natural and harmonious overtone. Of 
 this sort is the education of the con- 
 noisseur. An expert knowledge of fine 
 prints must be founded upon an under- 
 standing of the technical difficulties
 
 Of Mending and Repairing 
 
 with which the artist struggled. It is 
 much the same with bookbinding. 
 
 I will speak only of the finest book- 
 binding of the workmanship which 
 is lavished on a work of peculiar rarity, 
 or, it may be, not rare, but particularly 
 beloved ; of the books which one hon- 
 ors above their fellows the nobility 
 of the cabinet. Thus, if some of the 
 requirements appear to be exacting, it 
 will be remembered that they are not 
 an every-day affair, and that one may 
 place on his shelves many books in neat 
 half morocco with less forethought and 
 far less strain upon the purse. What 
 is said is not in disparagement of these. 
 
 It is generally the old book, the book 
 which is very rare and precious, one of 
 a known number which has dodged the 
 catastrophes of a century or so, that 
 comes up for binding. As a rule, if a 
 contemporary covering is still decently 
 sound upon its back, it is best to let it 
 stay there. One cannot better it. This 
 binding, frayed though it may be, is 
 more intimate with the nature of the 
 book than any you can substitute. Of 
 course, if it is a fine binding of the 
 
 5
 
 Bookbinding for Bibliophiles 
 
 period, or stamped with the arms or 
 chtffre of some bibliophile, noble, 
 learned, or beautiful, the question is 
 settled once for all. No matter how 
 dingy and ragged, let it stay ; at the 
 most, let the worst wounds be healed 
 by the habile hands of the repairer. A 
 wide gulf is fixed betwixt repairer and 
 restorer. The repairer replaces and 
 strengthens the crumbling shreds of 
 board and leather, builds up the ruin of 
 the head-band, goes little farther, in 
 fact, than to prevent a further dissolu- 
 tion. The restorer may, with specially 
 cut tools, regild the dulled design. 
 Hold him in suspicion. Your book is 
 better as it is, "black with tarnished 
 gold." 
 
 But if the old covering is without 
 importance; if, though old, it is some 
 centuries later than the imprint, and is 
 out of touch with the true spirit of the 
 book, (which is not infrequently the 
 case,) here is a book for re-binding. 
 Moreover, the old binding may be even 
 a menace, sown with mould and infect- 
 ing day by day the precious leaves 
 within. Then let it be stripped away
 
 Of Mending and Repairing 
 
 (by the binder, of course,) and we are 
 ready to plan a new one. 
 
 But here it may be evident that 
 there is preliminary work. It is a long 
 journey from the XVth or XVIth cen- 
 tury to the present day, a journey per- 
 ilous, especially to books. Yes, though 
 by some rare chance it had owned 
 a lover such as Francois Villon, he 
 thumbed it doubtless in some thieves' 
 kitchen with ringers oily of the fat 
 goose; or, were the larder less propi- 
 tious, dodged it one day and the 
 imprecations of his Gros Margot. Then 
 there were the long days on the quais 
 when fine rain soaked between the 
 pages, or the dust of the hot summer 
 noon sifted to its marrow. How many 
 times did it escape the bagman by a 
 hair's breadth ! 
 
 Adventures such as these are written 
 on its pages ; and now, before binding, 
 it is necessary that the book be washed 
 and mended. Here is an art in itself 
 a charming yet patient art, one of 
 minute labors, and of expense. But it 
 is necessary to the rare book if damp 
 and decay was really seated in its fibre.
 
 Bookbinding for Bibliophiles 
 
 The very substance which supports the 
 precious text is crumbling from beneath. 
 And as to washing : A book may be 
 so washed as to leave the paper daz- 
 zling white, whiter and fairer often 
 than when first imprinted. There are 
 two objections which the Bibliophile 
 may raise. First, that the natural mel- 
 low tint is lost, and for this, among 
 other charms, we prized it. Second, un- 
 less the work be done with scrupulous 
 honesty, our book remains a whited 
 sepulchre, fair to behold, but full of 
 acid fermentations. Most bleaching 
 solutions contain chlorine, either in the 
 form of chloride of lime or as hydro- 
 chloric acid, both of which agents, 
 together with oxalic and nitric acids, 
 are used in various ways in washing 
 books. Most stains which are only 
 of the surface fade in a heated solution 
 of powdered alum ; grease yields to 
 heat and blotting paper, applied with 
 patient repetition ; but damp, fox-marks 
 and ink-stains call for more heroic 
 treatment. Unless the workman has 
 a conscience, unless he neutralizes every 
 trace of chlorine with the proper acids, 
 
 8
 
 Of Mending and Repairing 
 
 unless, again, by scrupulous and repeated 
 washing he removes every trace of this 
 neutralizing acid, there remains a de- 
 structive element in the fibre of the 
 leaf. 
 
 And again : Every book that is 
 washed, whether bleached or not, 
 should be re-sized. In the paper-mill, 
 as each fibre of linen settles to its place, 
 it is intimately coated with a size of 
 gelatines and soap, which binds the 
 leaf together. In washing and bleach- 
 ing much of this is washed away ; the 
 paper is left fragile, subject to easy 
 tears, and unprotected from inroads by 
 damp and mildew. This lost sizing 
 should always be replaced. In fact, 
 very poor paper, such as was used in 
 many ephemeral tracts, now of great 
 rarity, may be given greater strength 
 by re-sizing than it originally possessed. 
 Often the sole vice of the spotted page 
 is that its original size has perished by 
 natural decay. The surface is soft and 
 fuzzy. It delights in tearing. A bath 
 in hot size is all that is needed but 
 the need is imperative. 
 
 I know many lovers of old books
 
 Bookbinding for Bibliophiles 
 
 who have an ineradicable prejudice 
 against any " washing," and prefer the 
 page as it is, spotted with decay. They 
 overlook the fact that there is a great 
 difference between chemical bleaching, 
 and a mere bath in pure water followed 
 by re-sizing. The former is as evil as 
 they think ; the latter is no evil, but a 
 proper and necessary care. If rightly 
 done, the decay (a progressive process) 
 is cut short, and the page is restored to 
 a life and health which it may enjoy 
 for years to come. 
 
 The Bibliophile is happy if his book 
 has all its corners, is free from the bur- 
 row of the bookworm, and exists leaf 
 by leaf in its integrity. If not, a still 
 more minute labor remains for the re- 
 pairer. There is a great difference 
 between a tear mended or corner re- 
 placed by a skillful craftsman and the 
 mere patching and pasting which any- 
 one can do. Before the work of the 
 master, one wonders how the thing was 
 done. Seen by reflected light, the lost 
 corner has grown again, self-renewed, 
 it seems, by some strange power such 
 as possess those happy lower animals 
 
 10
 
 Of Mending and Repairing 
 
 which, growing a new leg, come forth 
 remade for the struggle for existence. 
 Only by transmitting light is the cica- 
 trice apparent. There is a curious 
 welding of the torn edges, and the new 
 piece is marvelously grafted in the very 
 substance of the old. The den of the 
 bookworm is filled up, and his passage is 
 unmarked save only where the text has 
 nourished his vile body, and the text 
 itself can be fac-similed by a skillful 
 draughtsman. These wonders of sur- 
 gery are worked with papier pourri or 
 semi-liquid paper, from which the men- 
 der makes new paper as genuine as that 
 of the original vat. 
 
 This is the sort of mending which a 
 precious book demands. If there is 
 much of it to be done ; if, page by 
 page, some minute attention is required, 
 the artist is well deserving of the Bib- 
 liophile for his infinite pains this 
 minor kind of genius. 
 
 Here, as in many arts of patience, 
 the French excel, and even amateurs 
 follow the calling with delight. To 
 the Bibliophile I recommend the book 
 of M. Bonnardot, who, in the early 
 11
 
 Bookbinding for Bibliophiles 
 
 century, pursued fine prints and bou- 
 quins on the quais of Paris. With 
 charm, and at times fine passion, he 
 treats of the little art of repairing prints 
 and books. 
 
 This is : Essai sur r art de restaurer 
 les Estampes et les Litres . . . Par A. Bon- 
 nardot. Second edition, refondue et aug- 
 mentee... Paris.. .Castel ... 1858. " Vol- 
 ume de toute r arete" adds the cataloguer. 
 
 12
 
 II 
 
 OF PRESSING : WITH A NOTE ON 
 COLLATION
 
 II 
 
 OP PRESSING: WITH A NOTE ON 
 COLLATION 
 
 THE ancient bookbinder, before 
 sewing, beat his books with a 
 heavy hammer; and in Jost 
 Ammon's well-known book of trades 
 we see him at this preliminary, but 
 necessary task. To-day, however, pow- 
 erful hydraulic and steam presses have 
 superseded the old beating stone, and, 
 in fact, do better work. On beating 
 or pressing depends the final solidity of 
 the book. Paper as it comes from the 
 printing press is somewhat spongy, 
 filled with minute particles of air, and 
 the folded leaves do not lie intimately, 
 each against the other. Pressing expels 
 the air, and when properly done results 
 
 15
 
 Bookbinding for Bibliophiles 
 
 in an admirable solidity and a book 
 locked against damp and dust. 
 
 There are two precautions to be kept 
 in mind ; first, as to old books, and then 
 as to books which are too new. 
 
 The old hand presses of early days, 
 exquisite as was the work which they 
 turned out, had, nevertheless, faults of 
 which the modern binder must take 
 count. The impression was often too 
 heavy; the paper was embossed, so to 
 speak, and, not infrequently, weakened 
 by the depth of the impression. Some- 
 times, in fact, under an undiscriminat- 
 ing pressure by the binder, the letters 
 come away, neatly cut out, or, again, 
 the leaf parts along the margin of the 
 text. A cautious binder having a rare 
 book in hand will avoid this accident 
 by carefully considered pressure. 
 
 With books fresh from printing there 
 is another danger. The ink may not 
 have hardened, and in pressing the text 
 may "set off" and appear reversed upon 
 the neighboring page. The Biblio- 
 phile himself should forestall this catas- 
 trophe by putting off the day of 
 binding always a wise plan, if, in the 
 
 16
 
 Of Pressing, with a Note on Collation 
 
 meanwhile, the book receives the 
 proper care. This danger of "set-off" 
 is always present in books with plates. 
 As a rule fine plates should never share 
 the pressing of the text. Etchings, 
 engravings, and all illustrations by pro- 
 cesses where the ink is in relief, lose in 
 brilliancy, or "smudge" under too 
 heavy pressure. 
 
 If the Bibliophile is an " extra illus- 
 trator" he will have indicated the place 
 where each borrowed plume shall be 
 stuck in. And this brings one to a 
 matter which in every instance is pre- 
 liminary to delivery to the binder ; that 
 is to say, collation. 
 
 Every bibliophile collates his book 
 on getting it. Without this he is 
 no Bibliophile, a normal and unfev- 
 ered mortal merely deserving the 
 wretched books that he will buy, sans 
 fly leaves, advertisements, misprints, 
 everything. It is collation marks the 
 Bibliophile, and if he arises surrepti- 
 tiously at night to re-collate, then is he 
 greater than the mere Bibliophile, he 
 is bibliomane true man of passion and 
 delight. 
 
 3 17
 
 Bookbinding for Bibliophiles 
 
 But there is method in this madness ; 
 for after collation one should indicate 
 in his letter to the binder the mis- 
 placed signature, and the fact that A, 
 which is blank, is on no account to be 
 used to line the back ; and one may 
 add, too, that he loves the advertise- 
 ments, and that the original wrappers 
 are to be bound in as they stand, or at 
 the back, as one's taste runs. If the 
 book is in cloth, one will not (while the 
 present standard lasts) have it bound at 
 all, but will save it unappareled to be 
 cast out by executors or next of kin ; 
 serving still, it is true, the general 
 cause of bibliomania by enhancing the 
 value of our neighbor's copy, which 
 then will be the only one extant. Yet 
 if, in spite of fashion, one has it bound, 
 he should warn the binder that the ori- 
 ginal covers are to be bound in. 
 
 These are, or should be, the rich 
 fruits of collation. The cautious 
 binder, on his part, will collate the 
 book himself. He, at least, cannot 
 afford to be charged with missing pages 
 which never came into his hands. 
 
 18
 
 HI 
 OF END PAPERS
 
 Ill 
 
 OF END PAPERS 
 
 END papers have as much to do 
 with the general appearance of a 
 book as any other feature, except 
 the covering, decoration, and treatment 
 of the edges. By end papers the binder 
 understands that collection of leaves, 
 some white, some colored, which are 
 placed at the beginning and end of the 
 book, and are not part of the printed 
 work itself. It is a matter in which 
 the Bibliophile himself may take a part. 
 In one view it is purely a matter of 
 taste ; from another there are technical 
 considerations. 
 
 As to the white leaves which flank 
 the body of the book ; have enough of 
 them. Three are none too many. They 
 are the only proper place for biblio- 
 graphical remarks, or stamps, or signa- 
 tures. Then again, a book which 
 21
 
 Bookbinding for Bibliophiles 
 
 opens immediately upon the title 
 always has a mean appearance. There 
 is no paper too good for these white 
 leaves, but there is a matter always to 
 be borne in mind. They must be of 
 the same character as the paper of the 
 book. It is distressing to see highly 
 calandered modern paper cheek to 
 cheek with the fine, mellow, water- 
 lined paper of other centuries. They 
 quarrel hopelessly ; yet here is an error 
 of which inconsiderate binders are often 
 guilty. The same is true of the juxta- 
 position of a pure white paper with 
 one which age has mellowed. The 
 worthy binder of rare books has by him 
 a large assortment of ancient paper, so 
 that he may match as nearly as possible 
 the pages of the book. 
 
 The colored end paper, however, is 
 wholly a decorative element. It greets 
 one on opening the cover, with which, 
 therefore, it should always have rela- 
 tion. I say end paper; by this I mean 
 also ends of silk or satin, of parchment, 
 as also papers printed or marbled ; all 
 materials, in fact, which are fitted for 
 the purpose. Marbled paper is the 
 22
 
 Of End Papers 
 
 convention. For nine out of ten books, 
 it serves as portal and as exit. In the 
 earlier days of the craft it had artistic 
 excellence, and moreover, a practical 
 raison d'etre. It was made by the binder 
 in his own shop at a time when other 
 decorated papers were few and hard to 
 find. It is supposed to be Dutch in 
 origin, dating from the XVIIth cen- 
 tury ; but Mr. Home points out that 
 the Syha Syharum of Francis Bacon, 
 London, 1627, relates that "The 
 Turks have a pretty art of chamolet- 
 ting of paper which is not with us in 
 use." Previous to this, papers were in 
 use stamped with grotesque diapers in 
 color. 
 
 It would seem that to-day the reason 
 for this excessive use of marbled paper 
 has passed away. The vitality and 
 naive charm of the early marbled 
 papers has evaporated in the modern 
 improvement of the art. Our marbles 
 are much more elaborate, combining a 
 palette-full of colors, veined with gold 
 often, truly "superior" in finish. It is 
 a matter of taste ; but it appears to be 
 a rule, that among marbled papers those 
 
 23
 
 Bookbinding for Bibliophiles 
 
 sober and of small design are most 
 pleasing in effect. A large design is 
 always a solecism in a petit book : and 
 it seems to me that the charming little 
 "combs" are more attractive, more 
 luxurious indeed, than the gaudy effects 
 of the trade. M. Octave Uzanne in 
 his Reliure Moderne, Paris, 1887, is 
 vehement in urging the use of new 
 materials. He commends the use of 
 Japanese decorated papers, landscapes, 
 birds, or flower subjects ; of any novel- 
 ty, indeed, so long as it is new. " ye 
 preche done le mepris du convenu." The 
 revolt has its provocation ; yet, to every 
 art, there remains a true convention, to 
 be over-stepped at the peril of absurd- 
 ity. Fitness is the test the. fitness of 
 the material to the use. Within this 
 convention there is all latitude. 
 
 Early bindings, such as those of Gro- 
 lier, had usually ends of vellum or pure 
 white paper. In some hands nothing 
 is more beautiful witness some of 
 the recent books of the Dove's Bind- 
 ery. Mr. Cockerell uses frequently a 
 self-colored paper of soft military grey. 
 The effect is charming when set against 
 
 24
 
 Of End Papers 
 
 his Niger leather. The field is wider 
 than is at first apparent. There are 
 many beautiful and fine papers which 
 await the discerning Bibliophile. Still 
 more, here is an untrodden field for the 
 decorative artist. Patterns for wall pa- 
 pers, carpets, oilcloths, and fabrics are 
 poured out ad infinitum ; yet it has oc- 
 curred to few designers that in end 
 papers there is a field for fine endeavor. 
 Mr. Rossetti and others have, now and 
 then, designed end papers for particu- 
 lar books ; but so far as I know little 
 designing for the trade has been at- 
 tempted. The future, it may be, will 
 lie in stamped papers, with diaper or 
 running designs, wherein the merit 
 shall be as much in form as color. 
 
 To speak of " ends " of watered 
 silk or satin : These have a precedent 
 of a century or so. But more particu- 
 larly are they associated in our minds 
 with the charming books of the 
 XVII Ith century illustrated by Cochin, 
 Gravelot or Eisen. One of these books, 
 bound by Derome, with a fly and doub- 
 lure of silk or satin, is an artistic 
 whole, contemporary in all respects ; 
 
 4 25
 
 Bookbinding for Bibliophiles 
 
 text, illustration, binding reflect equally 
 an eighteenth century sentiment, light, 
 charming and rococo. And though 
 there are examples of such doublures 
 of very early date, it will seem to most 
 minds an artistic impossibility to place 
 one in an Aldine classic, or in a Caxton. 
 
 There are practical considerations, 
 too. A book with silk flies ever re- 
 quires the most tender care, immaculate 
 fingers, a glazed cabinet, and to do well 
 by it, a slip case to exclude all dust. 
 There are few things more forlorn than 
 a frayed and dingy satin fly. Still, they 
 are always permissible, if one desires 
 the particular effect. All things, inani- 
 mate as well as living, have their sex. 
 The book is masculine ; " le fivre," 
 says the Frenchman, and I doubt not 
 that the same feeling lurks in the senti- 
 ment of the English bibliophile. 
 Books satin lined are in some degree 
 effeminate a proper treatment for 
 some books, when one comes to think 
 of it. 
 
 The doublure of leather is ancient 
 and imposing consecrated to the chef 
 d'oeu'vre of the craftsman. It shares 
 
 26
 
 Of End Papers 
 
 equally with the outer board in decora- 
 tion, and at times takes the lion's share. 
 It is always expensive, and few are 
 the Bibliophiles who boast of many 
 examples. In decoration it should dif- 
 fer from, but be in strict harmony with, 
 the outer tooling. In color equally 
 should it differ from the outside, but 
 match as nearly as may be the adjoin- 
 ing fly. Historically it is in harmony 
 with the oldest books ; for one must 
 dispel the illusion that past centuries 
 were sombre, and that the luxury of the 
 book-lover is a new thing. Perpetually 
 we discover our extravagances in the 
 past. 
 
 27
 
 IV 
 OF LEATHER JOINTS AND OF SEWING
 
 IV 
 OF LEATHER JOINTS AND OF SEWING 
 
 CLOSELY related to the choice of 
 end papers is the matter of 
 leather joints. Is the book to 
 have a doublure ? If so, a leather joint 
 is essential. Not only does the joint 
 change the aspect of the inner cover by 
 making it a panel; but it is utilitarian 
 as well. It strengthens the binding in 
 its weakest point. Of all the dilapi- 
 dated bindings which the past be- 
 queaths to us, the majority are broken 
 in the joint. Either the outer leather 
 itself has parted and the boards hang 
 loose on the cords which bind them to 
 the back, or else the interior joint has 
 parted from the body of the book. A 
 leather joint safeguards both of these 
 mishaps. 
 
 The folio or heavy quarto is far 
 
 31
 
 Bookbinding for Bibliophiles 
 
 stronger with a leather joint. The 
 weight of such a book always threatens 
 to tear it from its cover; and thus 
 some reinforcement of the inner joint 
 becomes physically necessary. With 
 small books, however, the case is dif- 
 ferent, and the smaller the book, the 
 less effective is the leather joint. This 
 because to flex easily under the light 
 board, the leather must be pared so thin 
 that in actual strength it is inferior to 
 paper. In sizes below i6mo, the 
 leather joint is almost wholly decora- 
 tive ; its physical raison d'etre has ceased 
 to exist. 
 
 In all cases the best construction 
 requires that both the leather joint and 
 end papers be sewn with the book. If 
 this is not done (and this is frequently 
 the case even in bindings of fine exte- 
 rior) the end paper and joint will some 
 day part company with the printed 
 text, and the sham be hideously re- 
 vealed. 
 
 As to sewing: If there be one 
 element vital above others, it is the 
 sewing. Strip the craft of the last non- 
 essential, and sewing yet remains. A 
 
 32
 
 Of Leather "Joints and of Sewing 
 
 book sewed is a book bound after a 
 fashion. And though this vital struc- 
 ture is always hidden from the view, the 
 true book-lover will be satisfied with 
 none but the best sewing he must 
 feel that the foundation of the work is 
 the best that can be had. 
 
 Silk is the only true material. It 
 has the greatest strength in the least 
 bulk. It is pliable and soft, and will 
 bind together papers of the tenderest 
 texture. Above all, it defies damp, 
 mould and the ravening worm. 
 
 But the selection of the best mate- 
 rial by no means states the problem. 
 There are two standard modes of sew- 
 ing "flexible" sewing, and sewing 
 upon cords buried in saw-cuts in the 
 back. Upon the choice of these de- 
 pends the whole character of the bind- 
 ing and, I might almost say, its artistic 
 integrity. 
 
 Flexible sewing is the most ancient 
 and the best of methods the only 
 method, in fact, in which the familiar 
 bands which decorate and give charac- 
 ter to our books are more than a pre- 
 tense. Without going into detail, the 
 
 5 33
 
 Bookbinding for Bibliophiles 
 
 process is as follows: in this method 
 the back of the book is never sawed, 
 but the sections, one after the other, are 
 placed against upright cords, and the 
 sewer carrying the thread along the in- 
 terior of the section passes it through 
 the back, around the cord, and then to 
 the interior again, repeating the opera- 
 tion as each cord is reached. Thus, 
 each section is firmly bound to as many 
 cords as we see on the back when the 
 book is covered; thus, also, in this 
 practice the bands the true ribs and 
 framework of the book, have a phy- 
 sical raison d'etre. The bands are " real 
 bands," as the craftsman says, and the 
 Bibliophile of a true taste will delight 
 in this visible and beautiful construc- 
 tion, and (in little) his eye will find the 
 same pleasure as in following the lines 
 of support in a perfectly constructed 
 building. 
 
 All the old books were sewed thus; 
 though at times strips of parchment or 
 leather were used instead of cords, and 
 thereby resulted in a flat back. This 
 was the Dutch method. Flexible sew- 
 ing is the ideal method, whether the 
 
 34
 
 Of Leather 'Joints and of Sewing 
 
 bands be raised or flat. No other con- 
 struction is so strong, so permanent and 
 consistent. 
 
 It was for the eighteenth century to 
 discover the method of sawing books, 
 and a way to cheap and easy sewing. 
 Ninety-nine books out of one hundred 
 are thus sewn at the present day. 
 
 The process briefly is as follows: 
 The sections placed together are sawed 
 across the back, the cut being deep 
 enough to hold the cords on which the 
 book is to be sewed. The thread, in- 
 stead of encircling the cords always 
 of necessity thinner and weaker than 
 raised bands passes under them. 
 Thus, when the sewing is finished, there 
 is no projection on the back. Then 
 again, books sewed in this manner do 
 not have the leather pasted directly to 
 the sections ; but instead, a double fold 
 of paper is pasted on the back, which, 
 when the book opens, springs apart and 
 we have the familiar "hollow" or 
 "spring" back. This treatment has its 
 uses and at times a peculiar fitness; 
 yet its merits are over-balanced by its 
 defects. 
 
 35
 
 Bookbinding for Bibliophiles 
 
 The advantages are these: cheap- 
 ness, rapidity in sewing; and, what is 
 more patent to the reader, the book 
 opens more easily but, alas! does this 
 by reason of intrinsic frailty. The de- 
 fects are these : the book itself is deeply 
 scored by sawing; the bands on which 
 the book is sewn are fewer, weaker; 
 the leather covering, which in the 
 other method is a great source of 
 strength, becomes here a nearly useless 
 adjunct, a decoration chiefly, fair with- 
 out but "hollow" within to become 
 eventually a mere flap of leather, hang- 
 ing by fragments here and there. The 
 visible bands, if the book has any, are 
 sham, aping the classical construc- 
 tion. 
 
 In choosing between these two 
 methods the true bibliophile will not 
 hesitate, except perhaps in peculiar in- 
 stances subsequently to be noted. 
 
 Have your book sewn " flexible," in 
 the craftsman's phrase, or, as Roger 
 Payne has it in his quaint letter to Lord 
 Spencer : " Bound in the very best man- 
 ner, sewed with Silk, every Sheet round 
 every Band, not false Bands. 
 
 36
 
 Of Leather 'Joints and of Sewing 
 
 Sewing is hidden ; how shall the Bib- 
 liophile distinguish between the meth- 
 ods when holding the finished product 
 in his hand ? In general there are two 
 features which betray the sawed book. 
 First, if one pries down at the center 
 of a signature, the track of the saw and 
 the inlaid cords are visible. Second, 
 if on opening the book the back springs 
 from the outer leather (if it be a " hol- 
 low " or "spring" back) then the book 
 is probably sawed; unless, indeed, the 
 book be sewed after the Dutch 
 method, flexible on strips of parch- 
 ment ; or in trade parlance " flexible 
 not to show" a modification of the 
 Dutch method where cords are substi- 
 tuted for parchment but are hammered 
 into the back. The first test is alone 
 decisive (though at times a dangerous 
 experiment) for some binders by heavy 
 lining give such rigidity to the back 
 that the hollow never appears ; and the 
 book can be opened so as to see the 
 cords only at the expense of a broken 
 back. 
 
 There is still another feature which 
 may be examined the bands them- 
 
 37
 
 Bookbinding for Bibliophiles 
 
 selves. Are they false bands? The 
 more neatly the leather covers them 
 the more likely they are false. The 
 real band is a round cord; the imita- 
 tion is a strip of parchment, square in 
 its angles and more easily covered with 
 the leather. Again: are the bands at 
 the exact point where the cords are 
 laced into the boards? a fact some- 
 times to be made out by a slight pro- 
 tuberance on the outer leather, or by 
 an irregularity in the inner joint. If 
 so, the bands are real. There is no 
 sure test when the work comes from a 
 craftsman of the greatest skill. If all 
 signs fail there is still instinct, that un- 
 conscious reasoning from experience 
 which seldom errs. 
 
 38
 
 OF ROUNDING, OF BACKING, AND OF 
 BOARDING 
 
 ROUNDING and backing stand 
 together and include the various 
 steps by which the back is shaped 
 and the grooves made in which the 
 covers lie. 
 
 The book is sewed; and the crafts- 
 man, knocking the back upon a flat sur- 
 face, brings all the sections in align- 
 ment. Thus the back is flat and in 
 this condition the book is lowered into 
 the press. If examined, it will be seen 
 that each section is slightly separated 
 from its neighbor, the back forming a 
 series of parallel gutters. These the 
 workman fills with hot, thin glue. 
 When the excess is removed in subse- 
 quent manipulations, each section will 
 be bound firmly to the other. At this 
 point however the glue is not allowed 
 
 6 41
 
 Bookbinding for Bibliophiles 
 
 to harden ; but as soon as it is fairly 
 set and still tacky to the touch, the 
 book is taken from the press, and with 
 a hammer, the workman gives that de- 
 gree of convexity which the particular 
 book demands. Here we have a choice. 
 Does the Bibliophile prefer a flat back 
 or a back well rounded ? Between the 
 the two extremes all degrees of curva- 
 ture are possible. Yet there are struc- 
 tural matters to be considered. The 
 back is in some degree a hinge upon 
 which each leaf swings as we turn the 
 pages. There is danger that a perfectly 
 flat back will become concave with use. 
 Thus, for security a slight rounding is 
 always better, but it should not be ex- 
 cessive. In this as in all things there 
 is a golden mean. And then, too, the 
 degree of curvature upon the back will 
 be duplicated in the concave of the 
 fore-edge and the more of this, the 
 easier will the leaves turn under the 
 ringer which releases them. The nat- 
 ural curve that the back takes under 
 pressure is in general the best. This 
 will be determined by the amount of 
 thread used in sewing. A thick book 
 
 42
 
 Of Rounding, Backing, and Boarding 
 
 of many sections will take a greater 
 curvature than a thin book holding 
 little thread. 
 
 The book, now rounded and with 
 the glue still malleable, is placed in 
 the press between " backing boards " 
 strips of wood with a feather-edge. 
 They are placed from the back a dis- 
 tance nearly equal to the thickness of 
 the boards. The press is tightened ; 
 the craftsman hammers the sections 
 right and left, welding them over the 
 backing boards, forming thus the groove 
 or rabbit in which the cover is to lie. 
 The glue is now allowed to harden. 
 
 In the meantime, the boards have 
 been prepared. There are many quali- 
 ties of board, and, Bibliophile, none 
 but the best is good enough for your 
 best books. Tend you your treasure 
 never so carefully, the time may come 
 when it slips from careless fingers (nev- 
 er from your fingers!) and, after the 
 nature of books, will strike upon its 
 corner. If the boards are poor, the 
 scar remains and one is fortunate if the 
 leather itself is not split. How many 
 thousand bent and ragged corners have 
 
 43
 
 Bookbinding for Bibliophiles 
 
 you passed while book hunting ! If 
 the binder has used anything but the 
 'very best of boards, the time may come 
 when the book whose safety and beauty 
 are now your care will wound you, Bib- 
 liophile, with its own poor wounded 
 corner. Nothing is beyond destruc- 
 tion ; but I may say that a book clad in 
 the very best of boards may pass through 
 many a fall with very little damage. I 
 regret to say that the very best of 
 boards are not a product of our native 
 land. 
 
 Rounded corners are safer, though 
 ugly ; but the very slightest bit taken 
 from the extreme point of the corner 
 is, perhaps, an added beauty. One feels 
 the increased strength, and there is 
 some slight touch of the antique 
 about it. 
 
 It is apparent that the proper thick- 
 ness of the board must be determined 
 by the size and thickness of the book 
 to a degree, also, by its character. 
 A venerable and learned tome, whose 
 black letter was at one time pressed by 
 wooden covers, can, naturally and by 
 education, stand proportionally thicker 
 
 44
 
 Of Rounding, Backing, and Boarding 
 
 boards than a dainty and frivolous 
 eighteenth century "livre a vignettes" 
 The Bibliophile and the binder can 
 unite in good taste at this point. 
 
 The board should always be covered 
 on both sides with paper. This gives 
 strength, makes it less liable to warp, 
 as well as prevents the tar and other 
 ingredients from staining the fine leath- 
 er which is to cover it. 
 
 The size to which the boards are cut 
 is determined by whether the book is 
 to be uncut or have its edges gilded 
 a solemn question, treated in the fol- 
 lowing chapter. It is determined, too, 
 by the amount of projection ("square") 
 to be left beyond the edge. The 
 " square " protects the edge ; it lifts it 
 above the shelf and stands out bravely 
 to receive the blow. It should be suf- 
 ficient for this, but no more. Its size 
 should be measured by its purpose ; and 
 it is evident that an excessive " square," 
 unsupported by the body of the book, 
 is itself liable to be disfigured. In gen- 
 eral the tendency is to make the square 
 too large. The old binders were more 
 moderate in this respect. 
 
 45
 
 Bookbinding for Bibliophiles 
 
 The squares of a trimmed book 
 should all be equal top, fore-edge and 
 tail though perhaps the latter should 
 be a trifle greater, to allow for a cer- 
 tain amount of sag in the book itself. 
 The squares on uncut edges must neces- 
 sarily be great to cover irregularities. 
 
 The binder next concerns himself 
 with the bands on which the book is 
 sewed. He ravels the loose ends, im- 
 pregnates them with paste, and laces 
 them at least twice through holes 
 pierced in the boards. Where they 
 pass from the back to the first hole, 
 they are countersunk. They are drawn 
 tight and the waste cut off; then, with 
 each board put between plates of tin, 
 the whole book is subjected to the 
 heaviest pressure it has yet received. 
 Some binders, to save time and trouble, 
 cut away some of the cords; and thus, 
 though the book is sewed upon five 
 cords, only three may be laced into the 
 boards. This should not be done, ex- 
 cept, perhaps, in very small books; and 
 even in these cases there will be great- 
 er artistic honesty if the book is sewn 
 upon fewer bands. 
 
 46
 
 Of bounding, Backing, and Boarding 
 
 Before the heavy pressing, however, 
 the glued back is covered with flour 
 paste which softens and amalgamates 
 with the excess of glue. The excess 
 is scraped away, and the back rubbed 
 smooth and even. Thus, in the per- 
 fectly bound book there remains but a 
 surprisingly small amount of adhesive 
 matter ; for, strange to say, in much glue 
 there is weakness and not strength. 
 
 If the binding is to be " flexible " 
 the ideal method, the leather 
 in the final covering will be pasted di- 
 rectly to the back, on the paper of the 
 sections in fact, and worked down 
 between the projecting bands. 
 
 But, even if bound "flexible," the 
 nations stand divided on the degree of 
 flexibility to be allowed. The modern 
 Frenchman's " flexible " back is as 
 hard as adamant unless it breaks; 
 while the Englishman's "flexible" 
 back is more flexible, and at times is 
 actually observed to flex. Which of 
 the two is the better ? The question is 
 important. The deciding facts are 
 these : books are printed upon paper 
 because paper is a flexible material, 
 
 47
 
 Bookbinding for Bibliophiles 
 
 bending without breaking, and lying 
 smoothly as we turn the pages. If the 
 paper of your book has this prime 
 quality, /. e., if you can bend it, a solid 
 back has great advantages. The leaf 
 turns on itself, is its own hinge in 
 truth ; and the back, lined with a coat- 
 ing of strong paper, or better still, of 
 thin leather, stands a solid foundation 
 for tooling which will never flake 
 away. One sees that "flexible" is a 
 mere craftsman's word, and only indi- 
 cates the method of the work. 
 
 Suppose, however, that you have one 
 of our modern "thick paper copies" 
 a book printed on inchoate cardboard, 
 on a paper which misses the whole 
 purpose of paper, on a detestable and 
 unholy material, made by the devil 
 for the purpose of ensnaring souls. Or 
 to go a step further suppose that 
 your book is printed on china slabs. 
 
 What then? How will you bind 
 it? for the book must open. In this 
 case the back must be flexible to the 
 last degree; and you will have the 
 satisfaction of looking forward to the 
 day when the tooling will chip in 
 
 48
 
 Of Rounding, Backing, and Boarding 
 
 pieces from the back, and it may be, 
 the back itself will break. Or, you 
 have the alternative of the hollow or 
 spring back, which will break more 
 readily, with catastrophe to the joints 
 thrown in. 
 
 Of course the Bibliophile will never 
 buy a book on coated paper, if he 
 can help it. He wants his clay tablets 
 of an earlier date. Every bookbinder 
 wishes likewise that he would refuse 
 books on "thick" paper. The paper- 
 maker may retort: "This is merely 
 craft egotism which sees nothing but 
 the binding in a book. Books are not 
 made for binding solely ; but, first, to 
 support the paper trade ; second, to be 
 read; third, and lastly, to be bound 
 when my ' thick ' paper comes away 
 like a pack of cards in the reader's 
 hands." 
 
 But the answer is that there is not one 
 desirable quality which thick paper has 
 over a delicate laid paper, except that 
 it makes a short book look a trifle 
 longer. It is not stronger; it is not 
 less subject to stain and damp ; it is not 
 nearly such a joy to handle, and knows 
 
 7 49
 
 Bookbinding for Bibliophiles 
 
 nothing of that caressing habit of fif- 
 teenth century paper gliding under the 
 finger-tips like silk and ivory. 
 
 Let us not be deceived; our book- 
 despising neighbor who some day, 
 when we are out, slips in and surrepti- 
 tiously turns down a corner of our 
 "thick paper" copy is the most admir- 
 able of iconoclasts a worthy breaker 
 of unworthy idols. 
 
 50
 
 VI 
 OF EDGES AND EDGE GILDING
 
 VI 
 OF EDGES AND EDGE GILDING 
 
 "Belin. . . . Now pray, sir, inform us what is meant 
 by that strange term, Uncut copies? 
 
 "Lysand. Of all the symptoms of bibliomania, this is 
 probably the most extraordinary. It may be defined, a pas- 
 sion to possess books of which the edges have not been 
 sheared by the binder's tools. And here I find myself 
 walking upon doubtful ground. . . . " 
 
 Dibdin ; Bibliomania. 
 
 THE book should be left as long 
 as possible in the giant embrace 
 of the standing press. Here it 
 dries and hardens " sets," so to speak, 
 and from a semi-fluid takes solid, final 
 form. 
 
 The next step in binding is the 
 treatment of the edges. The choice 
 is wide. The Bibliophile may leave 
 the edges untouched, in the virgin yet 
 crass state in which the printer left 
 them. Or, the edges may be cut and 
 full gilt ; or, gilt on the top only, 
 " other edges uncut"; or, while uncut, 
 
 53
 
 Bookbinding for Bibliophiles 
 
 they may be gilded " on the rough." 
 Or, the trimmed edge may be treated 
 with a single color; or, lastly, they 
 may be marbled. 
 
 We may exclude, however, the last 
 treatment, as it is unlikely that to-day 
 any bibliophile will have marbled 
 edges, save only when the marble is 
 covered with a burnished shield of 
 gold. 
 
 All bibliomaniacs, and a host of 
 bibliophiles as well, will rise up to say 
 that, to the true book-lover, there are 
 but two possibilities edges innocent 
 of any treatment, or, at the most, a 
 top edge slightly trimmed and gilded. 
 
 What then is the philosophy of un- 
 cut edges ? Are they a thing of beau- 
 ty ? No. Do they preserve the book ? 
 No ; they are the receptacle of dust 
 and a high road to all enemies of books. 
 Let us take the collector's own reasons, 
 which surely are the best. To begin 
 with, the untrimmed book is as the 
 author first beheld it. All the illusive 
 joys of his literary paternity were asso- 
 ciated with an object such as this. A 
 valid reason, surely, but note that the 
 
 54
 
 Of Edges and Edge Gilding 
 
 same reason can be advanced against 
 any reminding whatsoever. The original 
 book, as the poet handled it, was in 
 somber stamped cloth or fragile boards. 
 Preserve it thus, and no man can blame 
 you. Second, says the man of uncut 
 edges, My book will bring a higher 
 price. True in most instances if 
 it be left in its primal cover. To the 
 bibliophile who advances these reasons 
 there is no reply. But note that for 
 the same reasons he will not have his 
 book rebound at all ; and thus it ceases 
 to be a question of bookbinding. We 
 exclude also the Bibliomane who cher- 
 ishes his copy unbound in the original 
 folded sheets. He can advance noth- 
 ing for his aberration, except that it is 
 in the best state for binding. Therefore 
 he retains it coverless. Not thus did 
 the poet dream to see his book, nor in 
 this form did he love it. Why not 
 collect the type from which the book 
 was printed, or the pulp from which 
 the craftsman made the paper ? Both 
 are very " early states." 
 
 But leaving this folly, let us turn to 
 the man who intends to have his book 
 
 55
 
 Bookbinding for Bibliophiles 
 
 rebound, sparing neither thought nor 
 money to achieve the best result. 
 Among these, too, you will find him 
 who, in a book clad in the finest levant, 
 crushed, polished and tooled by the 
 best artist, will yet retain the edges in 
 the pristine state. Such an one advan- 
 ces various pleas. First, he finds beau- 
 ty in the deckle edge. He cherishes 
 even those folds which have escaped 
 the paper cutter. Let not the profane 
 tell him that he cannot read the book. 
 We grant that none but a Philistine 
 could make this trivial retort. And 
 equally foolish is it to dwell upon the 
 difficulty of turning uncut leaves. No 
 patience is too minute for the true col- 
 lector. In such pains lies the volup- 
 tuousness of his cult. He turns the 
 leaves, cut or uncut, one by one, as 
 something precious. He is like the 
 miser, handling in secret his treasure 
 piece by piece. 'Tis for these delights 
 that he is a bibliophile. 
 
 No, the one who thus rebinds a 
 book can not justify it on the plea 
 of beauty. At this point I take 
 issue. Keep the book uncut in its 
 
 56
 
 Of Edges and Edge Gilding 
 
 original cover and we may all go with 
 you, smiling, hand in hand. But if 
 you rebind it, through choice or 
 through necessity, have it rebound in 
 the fullest sense. Have a perfect and 
 coherent product. With half-bindings 
 one may leave the " other edges un- 
 cut ; " but there is an artistic solecism 
 in full leather, richly tooled, in con- 
 junction with crude edges, hideously 
 white. Whatever artistic fitness they 
 may have had in sober cloth, is lost the 
 moment that one binds in leather. 
 
 "But," one answers, "to cut the 
 edges leaves my book the smaller. 
 Elzevirs, as one knows, are valued by 
 millimeters and are treasured like dia- 
 monds for the fraction of a carat." 
 True. But to the plea of beauty, and 
 the plea of value, there are two replies. 
 Beauty of margin lies in proportion, 
 not in size. Fair margins are always 
 fair when contrasted with a hideously 
 cropped "bouquin" where the text 
 struggles for breathing space. Yet 
 were octavo pages struck on sheets in 
 folio, would they be more beautiful ? 
 William Morris, preoccupied chiefly 
 
 8 57
 
 Bookbinding for Bibliophiles 
 
 with the cult of beauty, found in mod- 
 erate margins the truest loveliness. 
 There is no sanctity in waste paper. 
 
 If one hark backward a little, one 
 will find, I think, the true key to the 
 rage for uncut copies. In the past, 
 binders sinned cruelly against the books 
 they bound. Even the great Le 
 Gascon is charged with a keener eye 
 to a well filled shaving tub than to ele- 
 gance of margin. Head lines and signa- 
 tures were nothing to these ancient 
 craftsmen. The book collectors of the 
 past sought fair margins because it was 
 difficult to find a book with any mar- 
 gin ; and we of to-day have trans- 
 muted a natural and just desire for 
 beautiful unmaimed books into a stub- 
 born prejudice. We seek excessive 
 margins, rather than those of the just 
 proportion which is beautiful. All ex- 
 tremes are evil, and this excess but a 
 trifle less so than the evil that it sought 
 to cure. 
 
 Still the collector asks : " Then what 
 am I to do ? My precious copy was, as 
 you say, profaned by the Philistine. Shall 
 it be cropped again, adding to the evil ? " 
 
 58
 
 Of Edges and Edge Gilding 
 
 Certainly not, nor is it necessary. 
 The book, though already cut, may be 
 full gilt "on the rough," and the 
 amount of margin to be sacrificed will 
 be microscopic. The modern binder 
 manages this in several ways. For ex- 
 ample, before sewing the loose signa- 
 tures are knocked to a level and then 
 gilt on each successive edge. Thus 
 only the slightest scraping is necessary. 
 Instead of cutting down the large sec- 
 tions to the dimensions of the small 
 ones, the latter are raised, temporarily, 
 to the level of the former. Then, 
 after gilding, the book is sewed, and 
 the tops of the sections only are 
 brought into alignment. The other 
 edges fall where they will. Nothing 
 has been lost in size, yet the edges are 
 full gilt, are, in fact, in the only possi- 
 ble artistic harmony with the decorated 
 cover. The effect is often, to my 
 mind, finer than a solidly gilt edge. 
 The mosaics at Ravenna, in which the 
 tessera? are not polished to a level, re- 
 flect the light from a thousand gilded 
 facets incomparably deeper and more 
 brilliant than a polished surface. The 
 
 59
 
 Bookbinding for Bibliophiles 
 
 same beauty may be found in the un- 
 equal surface of rough gilt edges. 
 
 With new books, yet untrimmed, 
 the small amount of margin necessary 
 to solid gilding may well be spared, if 
 a solid edge is wanted. The modern 
 binder, smarting under the taunts of 
 generations of book-lovers, is wiser 
 than his ancestor. He respects mar- 
 gins, even in cutting them, and as one 
 turns the pages he will find many un- 
 touched with gold, "witness" leaves 
 or " femoins," showing both the discre- 
 tion of the craftsman and the original 
 amplitude of the smaller pages. It is 
 even possible to gild on deckle edges. 
 
 Thus it seems, if a book is to be re- 
 bound at all there is no sound reason 
 for anything but full gilt edges. 
 
 It is not my intention to enter into 
 the technical details of edge gilding; 
 they are abstruse and minute. Success 
 is difficult to any but the skilled crafts- 
 man, and there are probably more 
 ways of failing than in any other step 
 in bookbinding. 
 
 There are many charming variations 
 in solid gilt edges. One may have a 
 
 60
 
 Of Edges and Edge Gilding 
 
 mat surface, unpolished, often harmo- 
 nious with a very ancient tome. One 
 may have the edges gauffered or tooled 
 another practice which is very an- 
 cient. Elaborate as it may seem, it is 
 historically in touch with the oldest 
 books. Then there is gilding over 
 marble a favorite embellishment of 
 the French. Then again landscapes 
 may be painted on the edges which are 
 then gilded. The picture shows only 
 when the book is opened. This is an 
 English practice ; yet a landscape on a 
 book edge seems out of place, and 
 must rank among the curiosities of the 
 craft. There is no reason, however, 
 why painted arabesque designs should 
 not be used. 
 
 Such are the refinements of edge 
 treatment. But edge gilding y to my 
 eyes, is not a refinement, but neces- 
 sary to the full bound book. Still, all 
 styles to all tastes. The present fashion 
 proclaims the sanctity of virgin edges. 
 It lies with the future to decide, when 
 some day, in that great judgment hall 
 of books the auction room the 
 sheep shall be divided from the goats. 
 
 61
 
 VII 
 OF HEADBANDS
 
 VII 
 OF HEADBANDS 
 
 THE headband serves a double pur- 
 pose strengthens the book at a 
 weak point, and raises the back to 
 the same height as the projecting 
 boards. And, moreover, though serv- 
 ing these wholly utilitarian ends, it in- 
 variably effloresces in a bit of decora- 
 tion crowns the work with brilliant 
 woven silk. 
 
 The true headband is made by hand, 
 and, in the making, is sewn into the 
 back. It is thus integral with the 
 book ; and the strips of vellum or cat- 
 gut on which the strands are wound are, 
 in fact, additional bands, and serve the 
 same ends as the others, binding the 
 sections together at a point where they 
 are held by no other sewing. The ear- 
 liest headbands were, in fact, merely 
 
 9 65
 
 Bookbinding for Bibliophiles 
 
 the terminal bands on which the book 
 was sewn. They were stretched on the 
 sewing press with the other bands, and, 
 like them, afterwards laced into the 
 boards. Ancient headbands done in 
 this fashion stand out from the back 
 with the other ribs. The same effect 
 in modern work may be seen in some 
 of the beautiful pig-skin bindings by 
 Mr. Cobden-Sanderson. In these, 
 however, the projection is merely a 
 decorative feature, in touch with the 
 archaic typography of the Kelmscott 
 books. The ends of the headbands are 
 not laced into the boards ; and indeed 
 the strength thus gained would be off- 
 set by a corresponding weakness, for 
 in covering the book the leather where 
 it is turned in must be cut to admit the 
 band. This cut at a point where the 
 leather is always flexed in opening the 
 book would, in a moderate sized vol- 
 ume, be a point of weakness. But in 
 large and heavy folios having a thick 
 turn-in of leather, a headband sewn 
 with the book and laced into the 
 boards would be an ideal treatment both 
 to the technical and the artistic eye. 
 
 66
 
 Of Headbands 
 
 As to the materials for headbanding : 
 The ground work should be a strip of 
 vellum, if a vertical headband is wanted, 
 or, for the fat round headband of our 
 forefathers, a piece of cat-gut of the 
 proper size. Of the two, the round 
 headband is, I think, the stronger; but 
 the vertical is more delicate and of fin- 
 er grace. Then, too, there are double 
 and triple decked headbands woven on 
 as many strips. 
 
 For fine books there is no excuse for 
 weaving the bands with anything but 
 silk save, sometimes, for added gor- 
 geousness, a gold thread may be added 
 to the others. Two or more colors 
 may be mingled on the headbander's 
 loom (her fingers) or she may work 
 in a single hue, if such be the artistic 
 call of the moment. If the edges are 
 gilded there seems to be no brilliancy 
 of headband which does not fit the sob- 
 erest of covers. With plain morocco 
 innocent of tooling, a bright headband 
 is a catch point pleasing the eye, giv- 
 ing richness to the whole. On uncut 
 edges virgin white, or on edges of a 
 solid color, a headband of a single color 
 
 67
 
 Bookbinding for Bibliophiles 
 
 would seem to be the better choice. 
 
 It is apparent, of course, that in all 
 cases the colors of the band, be it one 
 or many, must harmonize with the 
 color of the leather. Of a different 
 color it should always be, but always 
 of a color in harmony. 
 
 As was said, a hand woven headband 
 strengthens the book how greatly 
 will depend upon the number of times 
 the weaver has passed her needle 
 through the back. This may be once 
 in every sixth or seventh turn ; or, more 
 honestly, it may be every second or 
 third turn the oftener the better. 
 
 All bibliophiles, lingering at the old 
 book stalls, have noticed that even in 
 the most dilapidated books the head- 
 band continues to hang by a thread or 
 two long after the surrounding leather 
 has passed the way of all flesh, dust 
 unto dust. The remnant may be 
 shaky and infirm, needing but a slight 
 pull to dislodge it wholly. Yet 
 it has outlasted the leather it was 
 destined to support. In such cases 
 one usually finds that the band 
 
 m 
 
 was held to the book only by a stitch 
 
 68
 
 Of Headbands 
 
 or two in the whole width of the back. 
 It never was firm ; and it was largely 
 because of this that the covering 
 perished. Its purpose was support; 
 in this it failed. Every time the 
 book was pulled from the shelf the ill- 
 sewed headband cast the strain upon the 
 leather thus it perished. 
 
 In truth a firm, well made headband 
 is a great strength to a book. Though 
 small, gay, and of frivolous attire, it 
 should, so to speak, have a heart of 
 steel. Next to the joints there is no 
 part of a book which meets a greater 
 strain. 
 
 What then is to be said of the 
 machine-made headbands, manufactured 
 by the yard and merely pasted to the 
 back for decoration? Nothing, except 
 that they are not for the best books of 
 the bibliophile ; are, indeed, properly 
 for no book in full leather and expected 
 to have a healthy lease of life. In 
 trade binding they are a commercial 
 necessity; and, it is true, serve the pur- 
 pose for which they are invented; but 
 there is no excuse for putting them on 
 any "extra" book. Hand work in 
 
 69
 
 Book/finding for Bibliophiles 
 
 headbanding is neither difficult nor long 
 to learn, and not many minutes are 
 wasted in weaving it into the book. 
 
 It is small to the eye a mere detail 
 but it is through excellence in details 
 such as this that the book, coquet at all 
 times, is doubly so decked to fasci- 
 nate, entrap, and slay the doting Biblio- 
 phile. 
 
 70
 
 VIII 
 OF THE CHOICE OF LEATHERS
 
 VIII 
 OF THE CHOICE OF LEATHERS 
 
 THE selection of leather for cov- 
 ering is most important. On it 
 depends not only the beauty of 
 the book, but, more vital, on it depends 
 the durability of the work. The cov- 
 ering is far more than decoration or 
 outward show; it is a structural ele- 
 ment. Nothing except the sewing is 
 so important. The boards when mere- 
 ly laced to the bands are neither firm 
 nor permanently fixed. It remains 
 for the leather to hold them to their 
 proper place, and, an adjunct to the 
 sewing, to bind section to section firm- 
 ly, yet flexibly. 
 
 From earliest times leather has been 
 felt to be the natural covering for 
 books. Of all materials it unites the 
 two desiderata, strength and flexibility. 
 
 10 73
 
 Bookbinding for Bibliophiles 
 
 That sort of leather which above others 
 has these qualities is, above others, the 
 best for binding. 
 
 Yet in all ages books have been 
 bound in silks, velvets, or other cloths 
 these often charming with embroid- 
 ery in gold and colors. But such cov- 
 ers are perishable, as the collector 
 knows, and it is difficult to find early 
 specimens in reasonable condition. 
 Cloths are with difficulty held by glue 
 or paste; they are feeble ligaments, soil 
 quickly, and the decoration in relief is 
 easily destroyed. 
 
 Skins of almost all beasts have been 
 used in covering, but morocco or goat 
 skin, calf, pig skin, and vellum have 
 found the greatest favor. Beyond all 
 question morocco is the king of binding 
 leathers. It has the greatest strength, 
 durability, and beauty. Books in " con- 
 temporary morocco" are the prizes of 
 the collector. These are generally 
 found to be "choice" copies choice 
 they were in their own day, when sin- 
 gled out for the expensive honor of 
 morocco. 
 
 The goat himself has few virtues; all 
 
 74
 
 Of the Choice of Leathers 
 
 ages have condemned him. In Attic 
 groves he was ever a terror to the ten- 
 der nymph, a follower of wine-bibbers, 
 and of general ill repute. Yearly he 
 wandered in the desert, bearing the sins 
 of a whole people on his horny pate. 
 At some future day we know he is to be 
 divided from the sheep. Always is he 
 typical of evil. But this merit, if no 
 other, he has above other beasts; his 
 hide is tough. Properly tanned in su- 
 mach he is transmuted to a thing of 
 beauty, suffers a "sea-change" into 
 something fair, and is honored above 
 the very clay of Caesar. 
 
 And then to thy once shaggy breast, 
 Now purified, shah thou enfold 
 Frail Manon and fair Juliet. 
 
 So sings some forgotten bibliomaniac. 
 We despised him living, but we prize 
 him dead. Such injustice is common 
 to us. 
 
 To speak of him when thus trans- 
 formed: There are moroccos of many 
 kinds. Chief and most valued by the 
 modern mind is what is known as 
 levant so called because in early 
 times the skins finest in quality and 
 
 75
 
 Bookbinding for Bibliophiles 
 
 tannage were brought from Turkey and 
 the Levant. These had not the gros- 
 grain which we now expect to find in 
 our levant. Such graining is of course 
 wholly artificial, a surface finish ob- 
 tained by the pressure of incised plates. 
 Nor does it by any means prove super- 
 ior treatment, for, if anything, it lessens 
 the durability of the skin by hardening 
 its fibre. The old levant moroccos 
 were mostly of smooth finish. Their 
 charm and notability lay, not in grain- 
 ing, but in the fine dye and finish. 
 Often in fact these old moroccos are 
 difficult to distinguish from superior 
 calf. 
 
 To-day we see little smooth moroc- 
 co on our finer books. Everything is 
 crushed levant, and, beautiful as this is, 
 the style grows monotonous. There is 
 a charm in smooth morocco when deli- 
 cately handled a charm peculiar and 
 antique. It is the most fitting and nat- 
 ural surface for a minutely tooled de- 
 sign. One hopes that the taste of the 
 Bibliophile may swing this way, were it 
 only for variety. Moreover, I think 
 that all connoisseurs must feel that the 
 
 76
 
 Of the Choice of Leathers 
 
 older the book, the more sympathetic 
 is a smooth morocco. It is venerable in 
 its fashion, associated with the past and 
 the masterpieces of the craft. There is 
 too much of the later nineteenth cen- 
 tury about our crushed levant to sympa- 
 thize with the dignified beauty of early 
 printing. It is this feeling doubtless 
 that has led many binders and biblio- 
 philes to clothe early books in pig skin 
 or in vellum a discriminating taste. 
 But none the less is a smooth morocco 
 in equal touch with such books. There 
 is ample precedent. 
 
 Calf was at one time a noble and en- 
 during leather preserving in great 
 beauty many of our most prized books. 
 Our modern calf so fair as it issues 
 from the binder's hands is worthless 
 in the majority of cases. There is 
 probably no collector who does not as- 
 sociate hopelessly cracked joints with 
 modern polished calf. One looks for- 
 ward to the catastrophe as inevitable. 
 Yet, cheek by jowl, stands a calf bind- 
 ing of the seventeenth or eighteenth 
 century, reasonably sound, sure to out- 
 last our latest binding. The same 
 
 77
 
 Bookbinding for Bibliophiles 
 
 defects exist in the so-called Persian 
 morocco, vying with calf on the easy 
 road to ruin. 
 
 Where lies the difficulty ? Why 
 should the old book have still a longer 
 term of years ahead than the new one ? 
 Though the reason is simple, its ele- 
 ments are obscure. The problem has 
 been largely solved by the admirable 
 report of the committee appointed by 
 the English Society of Arts to inquire 
 into the causes of the decay in modern 
 leather. No collector or librarian can 
 afford to be without this report, or the 
 vital part of it as stated by Mr. Doug- 
 las Cockerell in his recent book, 
 Bookbinding and the Care of Books. I 
 refer the reader to these. It is enough 
 to say here that the facts prove that of 
 all leathers, ours of to-day is probably 
 the worst that man has ever tanned. 
 Some are better than others, but none 
 as good as they could easily be made. 
 And note that physical strength is no 
 true test of merit. A new leather 
 which tears with difficulty may yet 
 crumble rapidly to dust, while another, 
 apparently weaker, may long outlast it. 
 
 78
 
 Of the Choice of Leathers 
 
 Nor is it use that kills the leather on 
 the contrary, use, like exercise to man, is 
 beneficial. The vice lies deeper. The 
 true devil lurks in the tannery, acidu- 
 ously incarnating himself in fair forms 
 of levant and calf, to issue and unman 
 the bibliophile as in old days by the 
 same juggle he wrung the soul of 
 Anthony. We, like the faithful saint, 
 fall only because we do not know the 
 trick. 
 
 With the new light shed on the 
 causes of decay we may look forward 
 to a day when our markets and 
 binderies shall be stocked with sound 
 and wholesome leathers. The goat 
 builds up his cuticle as of old and after 
 the old manner, and we likewise, re- 
 turning to old tastes and fashions, will 
 learn to tan him as aforetime. * 
 
 One must not, however, think too 
 hardly of the tanner. The results in 
 the past, as in the future, rest largely 
 on the shoulders of the Bibliophile. 
 
 "Several English firms are already manufacturing leathers 
 which are guaranteed to be made according to the specifi- 
 cations of the Society of Arts, among others Messrs. J. 
 Merideth-Jones & Sons, of Wrexham. 
 
 79
 
 Bookbinding for Bibliophiles 
 
 There has been a fault in taste. We 
 have demanded a leather of the highest 
 surface finish, perfectly uniform in 
 tone and brilliant in coloring. As we 
 will take no other, the manufacturer 
 has been driven to supply it. A purely 
 natural leather is not uniform in tone 
 and texture. It is often full of varying 
 tones, mottled and shaded, the more 
 so the more it shows its natural 
 texture. This is exampled most clear- 
 ly in the so-called Niger morocco, 
 tanned by the natives on the Niger 
 River by primitive methods. Books 
 bound in this leather show a graining 
 as rich and varied as old mahogany 
 effects charming and to be desired. 
 Still, a uniform color is not incom- 
 patible with wholesome tannage. In 
 general, leather should look like leath- 
 er, should be allowed its own and nat- 
 ural beauty. If we accept the canon, 
 the problem of sound leather is largely 
 solved. Perhaps, also, our taste shall 
 be purged of certain crudities. 
 
 80
 
 IX 
 OF COVERING
 
 IX 
 OF COVERING 
 
 THOUGH the problem of covering 
 may seem one for the craftsman, 
 there are points good and bad 
 which should be understood by the 
 collector who is studying the problems 
 of the art. 
 
 When the skin is selected the work- 
 man pares it in the proper places. 
 Leather as it comes to the bindery is 
 too thick for any but the largest books 
 fit for none without some paring. 
 Without paring the delicate cap to the 
 headband could not be formed, the cor- 
 ners could not be turned-in neat and 
 square the work would be lumpy and 
 uncouth. The smaller the book, the 
 thinner the leather must be pared. But 
 there is danger in paring. Leather is 
 not homogeneous in structure, as may 
 
 83
 
 Bookbinding for Bibliophiles 
 
 be seen in any enlarged sectional draw- 
 ing of human or other skin. The cen- 
 ter and foundation layers are the strong- 
 est, a web of interwoven fibres; but as 
 we approach the surface the structure 
 is less closely knit, the fibres more ver- 
 tical. It follows, irrespective of ques- 
 tions of thickness, that the less paring 
 the better. It follows again that the 
 cautious binder will select a small and 
 naturally thin skin for covering small 
 books. 
 
 Here is the difficulty: The places 
 where of necessity the most paring 
 must be done are the places subject to 
 the greatest strain. Thus: For the 
 folding of the neatest corner the leath- 
 er must here be very thin ; yet all bib- 
 liophiles know the fragility of corners. 
 For a neat and graceful cap to the 
 headband the leather must be thin ; 
 yet as one knows the cap is deeply 
 tinctured with mortality. For the cov- 
 ers to open freely, for them to turn on 
 "silken hinges," the leather must be thin 
 at this point ; yet there is no catastrophe 
 more common than a broken joint. 
 
 The problem is stated. The beauties 
 
 84
 
 Of Covering 
 
 most loved of the Bibliophile, the 
 square corner, neat cap to the head- 
 band, and the free joint, are to be had 
 in their last perfection only at our peril. 
 Of some books as of some women it 
 may be said that they have the fatal 
 gift of beauty. 
 
 The Bibliophile sees that the 
 binder is not to be charged with the 
 iniquity. It is an inherent vice, a sort 
 of original sin in bookbinding, inex- 
 plicable, like all evil to the eyes of our 
 desire. 
 
 One should not be over zealous for 
 "silken hinges." It is best to prize 
 a temperate, wholesome beauty in 
 our books. We must remember that 
 in covering, the craftsman is ever 
 betwixt the devil and the deep sea; 
 that he can, if we urge him, easily 
 enchant us by a free use of the paring 
 knife. If he refuse, we should hold 
 him as an honest man who has never 
 thought in his heart, Apres moi, le de- 
 luge. 
 
 Still, books must open graciously 
 and be fair to see. The consummate 
 craftsman finds the golden mean. He 
 
 85
 
 Bookbinding for Bibliophiles 
 
 has at hand many little matters of tech- 
 nical finesse which enable him to work 
 with sound material. 
 
 I will not discuss the manipulations 
 of the coverer. In these articles it is 
 not sought to initiate the reader into 
 the art and mystery of bookbinding ; 
 but rather to offer a few suggestions to 
 the book-lover as a judge of binding 
 to do a little to minister to the 
 polite pleasures of the connoisseur. 
 Methods are described only that their 
 merits may become more clear. 
 
 There are a few points still to be 
 considered. Putting aside tooling, we 
 have still the crushing, the polishing, 
 the varnishing and pressing of the book. 
 
 Our present manner is to "crush" 
 our moroccos and levants. The results 
 are beautiful, necessary in fact to a 
 small book covered with grosgrain 
 leather. It is, likewise, a prerequisite 
 to a high polish. To a certain extent, 
 though not seriously, it weakens and 
 makes the leather brittle. But there 
 are artistic considerations. Many of 
 our grained leathers are beautiful as 
 they stand; they have artifice enough 
 
 86
 
 Of Covering 
 
 without the added artifice of crushing 
 undoing what was first thought 
 worthy to be done. On large books, 
 and especially on old books, an un- 
 crushed grain is sympathetic. Blind 
 tooling looks especially well on un- 
 crushed leather. 
 
 Varnish is a preservative when con- 
 siderately used. It should, however, be 
 like the hidden coat of mail, which, 
 unobtrusive, deflects the dagger thrust. 
 It should not be pompous and aggres- 
 sive; though it is well to bear in mind 
 that time will dull and mellow the 
 highest polish. Leather left neat has a 
 charming effect when the book is new ; 
 but it is not fortified against finger 
 marks, damp and scratches, as when 
 lightly varnished. 
 
 The craftsman deems his labor ended 
 when, at last, the book is resting in its 
 final pressure, growing shapely, firm 
 and flexible a work which he can 
 turn over with an honest pride, but 
 with a pleasure measured largely by 
 the appreciation of its owner. 
 
 Who more to be envied, artisan or 
 connoisseur? there are psychic and 
 
 87
 
 Bookbinding for Bibliophiles 
 
 social problems in the heedless question, 
 and, like Pilate, one cannot "wait for 
 an answer." There is a moment of 
 pathos, however, in the birth of all the 
 works of man, and no less in the birth 
 of these little objets-d* art, these books 
 fresh from the binder, launched on the 
 perilous journey. All things are mor- 
 tal, passing; and this like the others. 
 Beautiful, its days are numbered ; but 
 for the hour it is none the less alive, 
 contributing in its small way to our 
 pleasure. In this may the pleasures of 
 the Bibliophile be set above other pleas- 
 ures: They are innocent; they are in- 
 tensified by knowledge. 
 
 88
 
 PART SECOND 
 
 FINISHING : THE TECHNIQUE OF 
 TOOLING IN GOLD
 
 I 
 
 GOLD TOOLING: THE TECHNIQUE
 
 GOLD TOOLING : THE TECHNIQUE 
 
 THE trade secrets of the ancient 
 masters have not come down to 
 us, nor would these to-day serve 
 more than to satisfy our curiosity. The 
 merits of the old tooling are those of 
 the design, and the modern craftsman 
 has at command receipts and processes 
 which, from the standpoint of tech- 
 nical results, surpass those of the past. 
 The theory of tooling in gold is 
 very simple; the practice is rich in 
 difficulties. Each leather calls for 
 some slight modification of the formu- 
 la. From the craftsman's point of 
 view all leathers are divided into two 
 classes: porous (represented by calf) 
 and non-porous (typified by morocco). 
 The former requires some preliminary 
 treatment to fill the pores and make a 
 firm ground for the tooling. This is 
 
 93
 
 Bookbinding for Bibliophiles 
 
 usually accomplished with a size made 
 from vellum clippings, or a wash of 
 starch paste diluted with vinegar. Mo- 
 rocco, having a more solid surface, may 
 in most cases be worked as it stands. 
 
 The first step is making the design. 
 It is done on paper with the tools 
 themselves. Bit by bit the pattern is 
 built up, each leaf, each flower, calling 
 for a separate impression ; each curve 
 may mean the joining of several tools 
 (gouges), each dot is separately im- 
 pressed. Thus it is seen that the de- 
 sign on the cover of a book may rep- 
 resent many thousand motions by the 
 craftsman. 
 
 The paper bearing the design is then 
 fastened to the leather; the tools are 
 heated, and again the workmen goes 
 over the pattern, stamping it through 
 the paper into the leather. When the 
 paper is removed the design is seen 
 tooled in "blind" upon the leather. 
 The surface is then dampened, and the 
 finisher, with a camel hair pencil fills 
 the impressions with a size called glair. 
 This is a solution of albumen in various 
 combinations to suit the nature of the 
 
 94
 
 Gold Tooling: The Technique 
 
 leather. The design is often glaired a 
 second time. When the size is dry, 
 the leather is lightly oiled, and one or 
 more layers of gold leaf is laid on. 
 When the leaf is pressed down with a 
 ball of cotton the pattern is seen 
 through the gold. Again the tools are 
 heated to a temperature which varies 
 with the leather and the size of the 
 tool. Again the finisher goes over the 
 design, each tool falling in its former 
 trace. The heated tool coagulates the 
 albumen, which, in its turn, fastens the 
 gold where the tool has struck. The 
 surplus gold leaf, held but lightly by 
 the oil, is rubbed off with a bit of 
 flannel. The book is tooled. Such is 
 the philosophy of tooling; very simple 
 in theory, a matter of patience and ac- 
 curacy of hand and eye; but so per- 
 petually is it complicated with obscure 
 difficulties, that the ideal craftsmen in 
 this kind are few and famous. 
 
 With these technicalities the con- 
 noisseur is not concerned. The ques- 
 tion here is: What are the ear marks 
 of fine tooling ? At present I put aside 
 matters of design. 
 
 95
 
 Bookbinding for Bibliophiles 
 
 The gold: it should be clear, solid, 
 and unbroken, in appearance a little 
 burnished plate let into the leather, 
 with contours clearly marked. If it be 
 mottled, appear to be burnt in, the 
 craftsman used his tool too hot. If it 
 be broken or imperfect, there was not 
 heat enough. If his skill of eye or 
 hand failed him, the impression is 
 " doubled " ; he did not strike exactly 
 in the blind impression. The gold 
 should appear to be inlaid; that is to 
 say, it should be sunk below the sur- 
 face of the leather. Thus it is pro- 
 tected, is permanent and sound. Many 
 a fine piece of early craftsmanship has 
 perished, or sadly worn, because the 
 tooling lay upon the surface. But a 
 vice lies in the other extreme; the 
 leather may be too deeply scored or 
 even burned through to the boards. 
 
 All these are faults easy to be marked. 
 But the connoisseur must judge further. 
 He must discern hand tooling from the 
 tread of the stamping press, must dis- 
 tinguish the glittering track of the 
 "roll" from the laborious composition 
 built up of minute tools in patient 
 
 96
 
 Gold Tooling: The Technique 
 
 repetition. This brings one to consider 
 the tools themselves. 
 
 First is the isolated hand tool, the 
 unit, which takes artistic value through 
 its relation with its fellow tool. These 
 are the petits fers ; the single leaf, the 
 dot, the flower, or petal of a flower, each 
 of which must fall again and again in 
 its proper place to result in a design. 
 
 Second, there is the composite tool; 
 the complete spray of leaves, or leaves and 
 flower, or arabesque, struck as a whole 
 by hand, or, if large, by the stamping 
 press. These tools resemble in charac- 
 ter the fleurons with which the eight- 
 eenth century printer graced his pages. 
 Many of them are charming in them- 
 selves; but in tooling they are a ready 
 made art, so to speak. The design is 
 not that of the finisher, but that of the 
 engraver. When once their nature is 
 understood they can always be distin- 
 guished. 
 
 And, third, of the same nature is the 
 roll. The roll is a wheel on whose 
 edge is engraved a complete running 
 design. This is rolled from point to 
 point by the finisher ; and there results 
 
 13 97
 
 Bookbinding for Bibliophiles 
 
 a pattern made up of minute elements, 
 but struck as a whole, not piece by 
 piece. Of such, usually, are the "in- 
 side borders" of the cataloguer; and 
 of such, sometimes, are his "outside 
 borders" as well. With a little study 
 they can always be detected. Look at 
 the corners where the pattern meets. 
 It seldom mitres, but overlaps, or is 
 clumsily filled in by a corner ornament. 
 Fourth, there is the large composite 
 block, struck by the arming press, 
 named because the block so struck was 
 usually the coat armour of the owner 
 of the book. This must ever be a legi- 
 timate embellishment. Books so deco- 
 rated include many of the choicest 
 specimens of the collector. Arms 
 royal, arms of prelates and warriors, 
 arms of fair bibliophiles, learned or un- 
 learned, virtuous or too fair, were 
 struck thus by the arming press. Such 
 a composition is, in general, too large 
 of face to be impressed by the arm 
 alone. Still, in more recent practice, 
 coats-of-arms are built up, piece by piece, 
 where the design is not too intricate and 
 there are no mantles or supporters. 
 
 98
 
 Gold Tooling: The Technique 
 
 Works of the finest sort must always 
 be done with tools of the first class, 
 the petits fers. A little study will 
 enable the Bibliophile to know them. 
 Search for the composite tool and roll. 
 If these be absent, one may be sure 
 that the design was wrought bit by bit, 
 was a work of patience, skill and long 
 labor ; unless, indeed, the whole design 
 was machine - struck from a solid plate 
 bearing the complete design. But as 
 to this the connoisseur can never be de- 
 ceived. The machine is not made 
 which in vivacity, variety, brilliancy 
 and beauty of touch can approach the 
 hand of man. Hand tooling has a 
 sparkle of its own, and life in it 
 which cannot be mistaken. The tools, 
 falling each in its turn, fall always at a 
 slightly varying angle. They are not, 
 and cannot always be held in true per- 
 pendicular to the surface of the leather. 
 Thus the work has a thousand minute 
 fascets, each with its own angle of re- 
 flection; and as the book moves in 
 one's hand, it has ever a new aspect. It 
 retains the emotions of the nerves 
 that wrought it. It sparkles. 
 
 99
 
 II 
 
 GOLD TOOLING: THE RENAISSANCE 
 IN ITALY
 
 II 
 
 GOLD TOOLING: THE RENAISSANCE 
 IN ITALY 
 
 WHAT man loves he beautifies, 
 the instinct is inevitable, as 
 native to the savage as to the 
 connoisseur. There is little surprising, 
 therefore, in the decoration of books. 
 It would have been strange, on the 
 contrary, if man, glorifying all the 
 products of his hand and brain, should 
 have left the corporeal substance which 
 clothes his thoughts without grace or 
 beauty. Some there have been, indeed, 
 men of taste, who have thought it 
 necessary to justify their instinct. Such 
 was Pieresc, who, being asked why he 
 should be at such great charge in book- 
 binding, answered that "inasmuch as 
 the best Books, when they fell into un- 
 learned men's hands ill accoutred, were 
 pitifully used; he therefore endeavored 
 
 103
 
 Bookbinding for Bibliophiles 
 
 that they might be prized at least for 
 the beauty of their binding, and so es- 
 cape the danger of the Tobacconist and 
 Grocer." The excuse was not needed ; 
 an excuse at the best. Pieresc was fol- 
 lowing a gracious instinct common to 
 all men. Exterior decoration dates 
 even with the earliest written records. 
 The papyrus scrolls which Horace wrote 
 reposed in cases rich with ivory and 
 plates of gold. So it was and so it con- 
 tinued, until St. Jerome laments that 
 books should be clothed in jewels 
 while the poor go naked. 
 
 But to leave the age of manuscript 
 when gold, carved ivories and gems 
 were none too fine a dress for precious 
 missals, and begin with bookbind- 
 ing in the modern sense, at the per- 
 iod when leather, the fit material for 
 clothing books, was first joined to the 
 fittest mode of decoration, gold tool- 
 ing. Leather and gold tooling: the 
 first calls for the latter. The fine in- 
 telligence of the Renaissance made the 
 application, founding a true convention 
 in book decoration which remains to 
 this day. 
 
 104
 
 Gold Tooling: The Renaissance 
 
 The first gold tooling was done in 
 Venice. Previously, in the fourteenth 
 and early fifteenth centuries, both in 
 Italy and England, leather had been 
 found to be the true material for cover- 
 ing; and in both of these countries 
 "blind" tooling had been used, tooling 
 without gold, executed with wooden or 
 iron instruments. There are examples 
 of such use not later than the tenth 
 century. By the middle of the six- 
 teenth century gold tooling was intro- 
 duced, and, in a period of twenty-five 
 years, about the time of Aldus Manu- 
 tius, became common throughout 
 Italy and known throughout Europe. 
 As early as 1542 we read in a bill of 
 Thomas Berthelet, binder to Henry 
 VIII. of a Psalter englisshe and latyne, 
 bounde back to back in white leather gorgi- 
 ously gilted on the leather ; and this the 
 binder calls after the facion of Venice. 
 In Venice, in truth, the art had its 
 birth ; but if we hark back further we 
 shall find, perhaps, the source of the in- 
 novation in the style of those who 
 practiced it. The tools of these early 
 workmen were Arabic in character ; 
 
 14 105
 
 Bookbinding for Bibliophiles 
 
 and doubtless the art came from the 
 Levant, with which the Venetians kept 
 up continuous traffic. 
 
 One will see in this Italian tooling 
 inevitable and recurring styles, Sara- 
 cenic and Arabic beyond question. 
 Look over any collection of these early 
 bindings, or study them in illustrated 
 treatises: you will see ever recur- 
 ring the same design of running circles 
 interlaced, the same rope pattern so 
 characteristic of Saracenic art, and 
 which is similar, strangely similar, to 
 the interlaced patterns on early Celtic 
 monuments. 
 
 The excellence of this Italian work 
 does not have, it would seem, the full 
 attention it deserves. To be sure we 
 hear everywhere of Grolier, and, as all 
 know, his early books were the handi- 
 work of Italian artists. But the Italian 
 work to which I refer is that which 
 preceded, or was contemporaneous with 
 this great collector. Grolier, a French- 
 man, was the channel through which 
 Italian art poured into France. Of him 
 later; but it may here be said that his 
 own individuality is stamped beyond 
 
 106
 
 Gold Tooling: The Renaissance 
 
 mistake on all the work done for this 
 prince of connoisseurs. Yet note that 
 at the same time there flourished a 
 style more native and Italianate. A 
 characteristic example will be seen in 
 the Commentaries of Caesar, printed by 
 Giunta and now in the British Muse- 
 um. This style is far from Grolier- 
 esque, and is characteristic of a class 
 widespread in Italy at that day. It has 
 beauty, dignity, and a charm untiring, 
 which are not found so unalloyed in 
 the more gorgeous and flowing tri- 
 umphs of the great French craftsmen. 
 The Italian of the Renaissance accom- 
 plished beauty with few and rigid ele- 
 ments. He worked simply, his tools 
 are obvious, so to speak, and he ob- 
 tained this dignified and surpassing 
 grace not in the tools themselves, but in 
 the placing of them. The theme is 
 simple a panel merely but with a 
 fine eye for true proportion and the just 
 measure between decoration and unem- 
 bellished surface, more sensitive to mass 
 than detail, he achieved triumphs of 
 proportion which have never been sur- 
 passed. This was the native Italian 
 
 107
 
 Bookbinding for Bibliophiles 
 
 genius, proportion architectonic is 
 the word some critics use and where 
 this quality, call it what you will, is 
 found, will be found also the finest sen- 
 timent for form wedded to the finest 
 sense of fitness. 
 
 There are two limitations under 
 which every artist works, his tools 
 and the material; and in gold tooling 
 far more than in other graphic arts is the 
 tool a limitation. The tool is the fibre 
 of the design, and, though a seeming 
 paradox, the more elemental the tool, 
 the greater the artistic freedom. The 
 study of style becomes inseparable from 
 a study of the tool, the piccoli ferri. 
 The first tools, Saracenic in character, 
 foliage conventionalized beyond recog- 
 nition, were made with solid faces. 
 The result was heavy ; broad surfaces 
 of gold without the contrasts of light 
 and shade which lighter tools make 
 possible ; though, in truth, the early 
 Italian craftsmen obtained this gracious 
 relief by fine contrast of gold and tool- 
 ing blind. It was an advance, how- 
 ever, when tools were "azured, " the 
 face made of horizontal lines as azure 
 
 108
 
 Gold Tooling: The Renaissance 
 
 is marked in heraldry. Then followed 
 tools in outline merely ; and with these 
 three, with tools solid, azured on in out- 
 line, the later Italian artists accom- 
 plished these marvellous books of 
 Maioli and Grolier. 
 
 Thus far the advance was wholly on 
 Italian soil; but with the return of 
 Grolier to his native soil the seed was 
 sown in France, which thenceforward, 
 to our own day perhaps, became the 
 land par excellence of binding. "La 
 relieure est un art tout Franc ais" says 
 M. Thoinan. True, perhaps, but let 
 us not forget that in the art of binding 
 as in other arts, the first vivifying im- 
 pulse and firs^ cry of the renascent soul 
 of man arose in Italy. Remembering 
 this and studying these earlier Italian 
 bindings it may be that we will come 
 to realize that in the art of binding, as 
 in many arts, the first fruits were the 
 best. 
 
 109
 
 Ill 
 
 GOLD TOOLING IN FRANCE
 
 Ill 
 
 GOLD TOOLING IN FRANCE 
 
 IT WOULD seem as if the Muses 
 had also applied them- 
 selves to the decoration of the 
 outsides of the books, so much of art 
 and esprit appears in their ornamenta- 
 tion. They are all tooled with a deli- 
 cacy unknown to the gilders of to- 
 day." So wrote Vigneul de Marville, 
 speaking of Grolier's books in 1725. 
 But the words would have applied with 
 still greater force in the sixteenth cen- 
 tury, when Grolier brought his superb 
 collection from Italy into France. 
 These books were a revelation to the 
 Treasurer-General's compatriots ; and 
 the French binders of that day, gath- 
 ering thereby new inspiration, began 
 that surpassing national school which 
 
 15 113
 
 Bookbinding for Bibliophiles 
 
 was to make bookbinding a truly 
 Gallic art. 
 
 Without doubt the integrity and 
 tradition of the art in France owe 
 largely to the guild of St. Jean Latran, 
 dating from the middle ages. The 
 guild included all the fabricators of 
 books printers, binders, stationers 
 though it is interesting to note that 
 upon the introduction of gold tooling 
 a quarrel arose between the guild and 
 certain workmen, who had not the 
 freedom of the guild, but who practiced 
 tooling, though their proper metier was 
 gilding boots and shoes. It is prob- 
 able that the earliest French gilders 
 united the trades of boot and book em- 
 bellishment. This has been doubted 
 by some authorities; but I may call at- 
 tention to the trademark of Guyot 
 Marchant, printer and bookbinder, who 
 flourished in the fifteenth century, in 
 which is depicted the leather worker 
 cobbling with a strap across his knee 
 after the fashion of all good cobblers. 
 
 But as to French binding there are 
 questions more important. Who were 
 the craftsmen who tooled these early 
 
 114
 
 Gold Tooling in France 
 
 books? To the artist truly should be- 
 long the fame; yet, unfortunately, the 
 names of those who conceived these 
 flowing arabesques are generally un- 
 known; and the books are named from 
 the collectors who placed them on their 
 shelves. 
 
 But one name stands out with cer- 
 tainty: that of Geofroy Tory, an artist 
 versatile. It is known that he designed 
 letters for Grolier, his contemporary. 
 But it is doubtful if any of his bind- 
 ings were done for this collector. His 
 style is Italianate, clearly to be seen in 
 a volume of Petrarch bound by him, 
 now in the British Museum. Here is 
 the panel theme, enclosed in an outer 
 border of interlacing Saracenic circles. 
 The source of both is evident; and we 
 mark here the infiltration of the Italian 
 Renaissance into Southern France, 
 where Tory lived and wrought. On 
 his work is seen the pot casse, the 
 broken vase, his trade mark and sign 
 manual. His work can be identified. 
 
 Not so, however, the work of many 
 craftsmen still more skillful, who, under 
 the influence of Grolier, wrought those 
 
 115
 
 Bookbinding for Bibliophiles 
 
 books of Henry II. and Catharine his 
 Queen, wrought also for the fair Diane, 
 whom Henry styled faithlessly his 
 "seu/e prinsese" The names of these 
 masters are unknown, or, at the best, 
 rest in conjecture. In their styles will 
 be found impulses truly Grolieresque; 
 styles I say advisedly, for here in 
 France, as in Italy, coexisted tooling of 
 different genres, and with that which 
 was Italian much that was wholly 
 French. Such was the semis, or 
 powder, wherein the covers were strewn 
 with petits fers regularly repeated. 
 This manner is feeble, but national and 
 ancient, dating from the middle ages. 
 It occurs on many royal bindings, and 
 was a favorite with Nicholas Eve, one 
 of the first of that family of binders. 
 For one must always bear in mind that, 
 among French craftsmen, the trade de- 
 scended from father to son; and well- 
 known names such as Eve, Padeloup, 
 Derome, often stand for several genera- 
 tions. Styles, as well as name and skill, 
 become hereditary, and it is often im- 
 possible to assign to the particular ar- 
 tist a particular example of the art. 
 
 116
 
 Gold Tooling in France 
 
 And let us remember that individual 
 craftsmen worked in several styles. 
 Thus the Eves used not only the semis, 
 but also another manner peculiarly 
 French, in which the field is divided 
 into numerous compartments, each 
 linked to the other by bands of twisted 
 fillets. These compartments are vari- 
 ously filled, some with spiral arabesques, 
 some with isolated petits fers, and still 
 others with little laurel branches, 
 bindings "A la fanfare" as later they 
 were dubbed by Nodier. 
 
 If one might be so bold as to char- 
 acterize one style out of many, as 
 most typical of Gallic art, it would be 
 this, the binding a la fanfare with 
 its twisting, curvilinear strap-work. It 
 is, so to speak, the rectangular strap- 
 work of Grolier, passed through and 
 transmuted by French genius into 
 something new and different. Here the 
 nobility of Italian form becomes in 
 French hands over-refined, somewhat 
 prettified into the national ideal. 
 
 We see this strap-work later on, re- 
 vived, forming the fundamental struc- 
 ture for the style of the greatest of 
 
 117
 
 Bookbinding for Bibliophiles 
 
 French artists, Le Gascon, the mys- 
 terious, the almost mythical master 
 craftsman. His existence even is de- 
 nied; but on conclusive evidence he 
 lived and tooled covers generally ac- 
 knowledged to be triumphs of the art. 
 It will be remembered that the Ital- 
 ians gradually lightened the faces of 
 their tools, using first the solid face, 
 then tools azured, then tools merely 
 outlined. In Le Gascon this evolution 
 reached a final stage in France, and his 
 petits fers were but a string of minute 
 dots, tools au pointille. With these 
 he filled the compartments which 
 the Eves designed before him. The 
 effect was incomparably brilliant ; daz- 
 zling, lace-like spirals were set against 
 each other in fine profusion. Mr. 
 Home points out that the spirals of 
 Le Gascon lack in structural relation 
 do not, indeed, spring one from the 
 other with the finest sentiment of form. 
 But beyond doubt Le Gascon stands 
 artist par excellence in the history of 
 binding, and he is so ranked by Mr. 
 Cobden-Sanderson, than whom there is 
 probably no judge more competent. 
 
 118
 
 Gold Tooling in France 
 
 In Le Gascon we have the climax 
 of French tooling ; thenceforward be- 
 gins the history of an art in its decline. 
 
 Le Gascon was working in 1622, 
 while in 1684 Luc Antoine Boyet was 
 living at Paris in Rue des Sept Voies. 
 To him is credited the style called 
 Jansenist, still in high favor with the 
 amateur. The Jansenist binding has 
 no gilding or other ornament on the 
 exterior, save only a blind fillet edging 
 the covers. Named from the Jansen- 
 ists of Port Royal, the style embodies 
 their ascetic and severe ideal. But even 
 here the gilding denied to the outside 
 was lavished on the doublure, or inner 
 lining of the cover. This lining, made 
 of leather, was elaborately tooled with 
 a deep dentelle, or lace-like, indented 
 border. At this point the craft has 
 reached a higher technical accomplish- 
 ment. Here, as in other arts, a de- 
 cline in genius is offset by a gain in 
 craftsmanship. Padeloup was binding 
 at this period and is famous for mosaics 
 of gorgeous inlaid leathers, feeble in 
 invention but gorgeous none the less. 
 Here was another technical advantage, 
 
 119
 
 Bookbinding for Bibliophiles 
 
 for the polychromatic effects of Grolier 
 and the early Renaissance were mostly 
 done with pigments, not in true inlay. 
 
 The dentelles which Boyet lavished on 
 the doublure were transferred by the 
 Deromes and Padeloups to the outer 
 cover. The style, imitating the lace 
 work of the period, is rococo and de- 
 based, a true reflection of the day, an 
 art weak in structure, seeking the gor- 
 geous chiefly, a child of the age, vain- 
 glorious, soon to be extinguished in 
 the blast of revolution. 
 
 How inevitably art reflects the spirit 
 of its day and incarnates the contempo- 
 rary ideal ! So it is even with this minor 
 art of binding. At every stage it takes 
 its keynote from the passing fashion. 
 
 To study the progress of the art in 
 France is, in a little but not uninterest- 
 ing way, to study the history of France, 
 to observe its follies, the pomp of King 
 and courtier, and to have part in the 
 luxury of Queen and favorite. We 
 catch in these gilded arabesques the 
 glint and true lineaments of many old 
 ideals. It is profitable, this study, as 
 well as entertaining. 
 120
 
 Gold Tooling in France 
 
 One knows the style of Michael 
 Angelo or Titian with reasonable pre- 
 cision. It is no harder, with a little 
 study, to know the styles of masters in 
 this minor art ; whence comes added 
 pleasures as one wanders through the 
 museums of Europe, or handles, per- 
 chance, for a brief moment, the rare 
 treasures of one's friend, the famous 
 bibliophile. 
 
 16 121
 
 IV 
 THE GOLD TOOLING OF TO-DAY
 
 IV 
 THE GOLD TOOLING OF TO-DAY 
 
 MR. HORNE, in his admirable 
 essay on book-binding, tells of 
 a celebrated Parisian binder 
 who used to show an original Grolier 
 beside a copy made by himself, in 
 which he had corrected all the curves 
 of the original and executed the joints 
 and mitres with absolute precision. As 
 an example of technical skill the copy 
 was a remarkable production; as a 
 work of art, it was dull and lifeless, 
 wanting " that vitality which comes of 
 the error of the hand in spontaneous 
 expression." Why should not the de- 
 sign of the old master, copied by a mod- 
 ern workman with far greater technical 
 skill, be better than the original ? 
 Here lies one of the mysteries of 
 art, and also one of its essential truths : 
 
 125
 
 Bookbinding for Bibliophiles 
 
 Fine art must ever be the spontaneous 
 expression of brain and hand, following 
 freely an original impulse which has 
 mastered them. 
 
 All recent critics of the craft of 
 binding agree that the modern work- 
 man, while excelling in all particulars 
 of technique, misses too often that ac- 
 complished beauty which alone can 
 justify his skill : and gold tooling is 
 counted among arts decadent. This 
 was true not many years ago. Is it 
 true to-day ? I think not. This art, as 
 many others, is to-day renascent. And 
 here it is endeavored to point out, or 
 at least to suggest, the probable path 
 of the new life before us. 
 
 This will best be done by analyzing 
 artistic failures in contemporary work ; 
 and for this purpose there is nothing 
 more instructive than to turn the pages 
 of La Relieure Moderne, Artistique et 
 Fantaisiste, by M. Octave Uzanne. 
 Here are seen, finely illustrated, over 
 seventy examples of what M. Uzanne 
 deems the triumphs of contemporary 
 French craftsmen. One fact stands 
 prominent: almost without exception 
 
 126
 
 The Gold Tooling of To-day 
 
 the examples which are not a shock to 
 the beholder are those which are in 
 confessed imitation of historic patterns. 
 When the modern Gallic craftsman 
 breaks with tradition, and embarks on 
 the sea of his own fantasy, the result 
 too often is distressing. One sees little 
 birds billing about a nest, one sees small 
 dancing figures, parasols or fans of 
 gorgeous inlaid leather, one sees butter- 
 flies and sprays of flowers, naturalistic, 
 tooled "so that it shall appear as if 
 they had been thrown down carelessly." 
 In these naturalistic efforts the crafts- 
 man is, in the words of Mr. Cobden- 
 Sanderson, "developing his own disso- 
 lution and the dissolution of his craft." 
 Here does not one develop a canon 
 of the art in question ? This : Imita- 
 tion of nature is not design ; and de- 
 sign, not representation, is the true 
 means of decoration. To illustrate this 
 fact : Suppose one had a Turner enlisted 
 in the craft, and he with some thou- 
 sand petits fers should draw in gold on 
 a book cover an exact replica of his 
 most famous landscape. Would one 
 have here a work of art ? By no means, 
 
 127
 
 Bookbinding for Bibliophiles 
 
 rather something unfit, something im- 
 possibly unfit, a hopeless and futile 
 struggle, where the false tool sought to 
 grave upon the false material a false 
 ideal. And this would be so even if 
 one conceived a technical success. But 
 how impossible is technical success will 
 be seen in the attempted " drawing " of 
 the most skillful artisans of France, also 
 without question the most skillful in 
 the world. 
 
 But let it not be thought because in 
 the examples cited success is found only 
 in imitation of the past, that therefore 
 in such imitation lies the highroad to 
 success. To reproduce Grolier or Le 
 Gascon is to-day nearly as sterile a per- 
 formance as to stamp with a rigid tool 
 a naturalistic spray of flowers. I say 
 nearly as bad, because such imitation, 
 however little it shows spontaneous con- 
 ception, does at least seek the proper 
 embellishment on the proper material 
 with the proper tool. 
 
 But enough of modern failure : the 
 moral is pointed. 
 
 Mr. Cobden-Sanderson, at one time 
 a barrister and now one of the most 
 
 128
 
 Bookbinding for Bibliophiles 
 
 original of English binders, represents 
 the new life I mean. He stands an 
 important figure, not merely because he 
 has wrought bindings already valued 
 at their weight in gold, but even more 
 because he has written of his craft lumi- 
 nous and enthusiastic words which are 
 the inspiration and the creed of a num- 
 ber of isolated and collected English 
 binders. Indeed it seems now as if 
 book-binding were no longer un art 
 tout Pranqais, but rather Anglo-Saxon. 
 
 Mr. Sanderson's main article of faith 
 is that true art is contemporaneous. 
 Great as are the old schools of Grolier, 
 Eve, Le Gascon, they are closed for- 
 ever. "The future is not with them 
 or their development or repetition." 
 The reason is simple, expressed in a 
 syllogism : True art is self-expression ; 
 in book decoration such expression is 
 through design; and (pithy saying!) 
 "The designer in designing must de- 
 sign." 
 
 Here one is at the root of modern 
 failure. The average craftsman does 
 not design, he copies ; he remains arti- 
 san and does not aspire to be artist. 
 
 17 129
 
 The Gold Tooling of To-day 
 
 What then is necessary to the future 
 of the craft ? This : first the impulse 
 and then the power to design ; to de- 
 sign, having ever a keen sensibility for 
 the nature of the material and to the 
 possibilities which lie within the tool. 
 To genius these are instinctive. They 
 were instinctive in the artists who 
 wrought for Grolier, they were instinc- 
 tive in the Eves and in Le Gascon, and 
 thereby resulted native and surpassing 
 styles, full of proportion, grace and bal- 
 ance. 
 
 Is one to conclude therefore that for 
 the finest tooling one must have genius 
 ready made? Yes and no. For the 
 unique examples, genius; but for com- 
 petent and excellent gold-tooling, 
 wrought in a style that shall at once 
 have beauty and reserve, there is needed 
 chiefly study and instruction in the 
 craftsman study of what has been, 
 and instruction in what should and shall 
 be. 
 
 Already in England are springing up 
 schools where the art is taught to work- 
 men and apprentices. Such, for in- 
 stance, is the Central School of Arts and 
 
 130
 
 The Gold Tooling of To-day 
 
 Crafts in London, where Mr. Douglas 
 Cockerell, an accomplished artist, 
 teaches the English apprentice the ideal 
 and method of his craft. Why not? 
 The painter, the sculptor, the architect, 
 do not spring full-born and competent 
 masters without study or instruction. 
 Mr. Cockerell was bred in the school 
 of William Morris, and did much work 
 for him in repairing and re-binding the 
 chief treasures of his library. It was 
 thus, or more probably through some 
 native instinct, that he found that style 
 at once racial and original which char- 
 acterizes the books from his bindery. 
 There is no artist working to-day 
 whose work is so Anglo-Saxon in spirit, 
 so rich and so reserved so truly beau- 
 tiful with the beauty which is proper 
 to the book. 
 
 Indeed, the sterile period of the craft 
 is past in England; and the leaven has 
 spread to this country. Here and there 
 binderies are springing up where beau- 
 tiful and gracious work is done. And, 
 at the same time, the public itself is 
 awakening to the existence of a charm- 
 ing and historic craft in its midst; to 
 
 131
 
 Bookbinding for Bibliophiles 
 
 the fact that it is as barbarous to dress 
 one's best loved books in shoddy, as to 
 cumber one's walls with crude or puer- 
 ile pictures. 
 
 THE END 
 
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