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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
132
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