Bookbinding and The Care of Books
Librarians by Douglas Cockerell with Drawings
by Noel Rooke and other Illustrations
New York
1902
Book binding Chapter XIX
Part 5
- tanned leather. I have used, with some success,
chrome-tanned calfskin. Chrome leather is difficult
to pare, and to work, as it does not become soft
when wet, like vegetable tanned leather. It will
stand any reasonable degree of heat, and so might
perhaps be useful for top-shelf bindings and for
shelf edging. It is extremely strong mechanically,
but without further tests I cannot positively
recommend it except for trial.
The report shows that bookbinders and librarians
are not, as a general rule, qualified to select leather
bookbinder might reasonably be expected to know enough of the processes employed to be able
to select his leather. But now so complicated is the manufacture, and so many are the factors to
be considered, that an expert should be employed.
(C The committee has satisfied themselves. that it is possible to test any leather in such a way as
to guarantee its suitability for bookbinding. They have not come to any decision as to the
desirability of establishing any formal or official standard, though they consider that this is a
point which well deserves future consideration."
It is to be hoped that some system of examining and hall-marking leather by some recognized
body, may be instituted. If librarians will specify that the leather to be employed must be
certified to be manufactured according to the recommendations of the Society of Arts
Committee, there is no reason why leathers Lei should not be obtained as durable as any ever
produced. This would necessitate the examining and testing of batches of leather by experts. At
present this can be done more or less privately at various places, such as the Yorkshire College,
Leeds, or the Herolds' Institute, Bermondsey. In the near future it is to be hoped that some
recognized public body, such as one of the great City Companies interested in leather, may be
induced to establish a standard, and to test such leathers as are submitted to them, hall-marking
those that come up to the standard. This would enable bookbinders and librarians, in ordering
leather, to be sure that it had not been injured in its manufacture. The testing, if done by
batches, should not add greatly to the cost of the leather.
On the question of the qualities of an ideal bookbinding leather the committee report :
" It is the opinion of the committee, that the ideal bookbinding leather must have, and retain,
great flexibility. . . . (It) must have a firm grain surface, not easily damaged by friction, and
should not be artificially grained. . . . The committee is of opinion that a pure sumach tannage
will answer all these conditions, and that leather can, and will, be now produced that will prove
to be as durable as any made in the past."
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