We certainly should not advise the amateur to attempt to make his own varnish, but, in order to render our book complete, we append an approved recipe, that of the celebrated Tingry; it is perhaps the best known for its brilliancy and drying qualities. Put into a vessel 6oz of mastic (in drops), 3oz. of sandarach (finely powdered), 4oz. of coarsely broken glass (separated from the dust by a sieve), and 32oz. of spirits of wine, of about 40deg.; place the vessel upon straw in another filled with cold water, put it on the fire, and let it boil, stirring the substances together with a stick to keep the resin from uniting. When the whole appears well mixed, put in 3oz. of turpentine, and boil for another half hour, when the whole must be taken off, and stirred till the varnish, and the water in which it is placed, cools. Next day, filter it through fine cotton, by which means it will acquire the greatest degree of limpidity, and well cork it up in a bottle. Another recipe is given by M. F. Maiset, of Chatillon-sur-Seine, and may be prepared similarly to the preceding. The ingredients are three pints of spirits of wine, of 36deg. to 40deg.; 8oz. of sandarach, 2oz. of mastic in drops, 8oz. of shellac, and 2oz. of Vienna turpentine. There is also a varnish called Caoutchouc Polish, which is very good.

The varnish is first put on the back of the book, with a camel hair brush, as lightly and in as small quantity as possible. When nearly dry, it is polished with a ball, formed of fine white cotton filled with wool, on which has been rubbed a small quantity of olive oil, to make it glide freely. The back must be rubbed at first lightly, and as fast as the varnish dries, and becomes warm, more sharply. The sides are then varnished, one after the other.

Before entering further into detail on the various styles of finishing, we may here cite the advice of the celebrated Dr. T. F. Dibden, a great authority upon the subject:
"First, let your books be well and evenly lettered, and let a tolerable portion of ornament be seen on the backs of them. I love what is called... an overcharged back. At first, the appearance may be flaunting and garish; but time, which mellows down book ornaments, as well as human countenances, will quickly obviate this inconvenience, and about a twelvemonth, or six months added to the said twelvemonth, will work miracles upon the appearance of your book. Do not be meagre of your ornaments on the back, and never suffer blind tooling wholly to pervade a folio or quarto, for by so doing you convert what should look like a book into a piece of mahogany furniture.

"In large libraries, there should not be too much blind tooling, or too great a want of gilt. No doubt the ornament should be as appropriate as possible to the book. No one could endure gingerbread-gilt Bibles and Prayer Books, or chronicles, or dictionaries, or other books of reference. Let these have a subdued decoration on their backs; bands only full gilt, or a running edge-tool in the centre of them, with small ornaments between the bands.

"I would recommend the lettering of a volume to be as full as possible, yet sententiousness must sometimes be adopted. The lines should be straight, and the letters of one and the same form, within the line; yet the name of the author may be executed a size larger than that of the date or place of its execution, and the lettering may be between the top and bottom, query "second "J bands, or it may occupy the space between three bands, or even more. Re-letter old books perpendicularly, as was the custom. In fresh bindings, however, prefer horizontal to perpendicular lettering."

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