Bookbinding and The Care of Books
Librarians by Douglas Cockerell with Drawings
by Noel Rooke and other Illustrations
New York
1902
Book binding Chapter XVI
Part 4
the cover, such as the centre or corners. A design
for a centre is shown at fig. 108, and below is
shown the way to construct it. A piece of paper is
folded, as shown by the dotted lines, and an eighth
of the pattern drawn with a soft pencil and folded
over on the line A, and transferred by being
rubbed at the back with a folder. This is lined in
with a pencil, and folded over on the line B and
rubbed off. This is lined in and folded over on A
and C, rubbed off as before, and the whole lined
in. The overs and unders of the lines are then
several trials before the lines will interlace pleasantly, and
the tools fit in. Another centre, in which a spray is repeated
three times, is shown at fig. 109, and any number of others
will occur to the student after a little practice. A change of
tools, or the slight alteration of a line, will give an entirely
new aspect to a pattern. At page 334 is shown an all-over
pattern growing from the bottom centre of the board. In
this design the leather was dark green, with a lighter green
panel combining in the centre. The berries were inlaid Tools
to in bright red. Although at first glance it seems an
intricate design, 1t is made up like the others of repetitions
of simple forms.
When the student has become proficient in the arrangement
of tools in combination with lines, a design consisting
entirely, or almost entirely, of lines may be tried. This is
more difficult, because the limitations are not so obvious;
but here again the principle of repetition, and even
distribution, should be followed. At fig. 110 is shown a
design almost entirely composed of lines, built up on the
same principle as the centre at fig. 108. The ends of the
bands form a very pleasant starting-place for patterns. At
this method to look right, a pattern must be consistent
about the same amount of convention. Gold tooling,
dealing, as it does, with flat forms in silhouette only,
necessitates very considerable formality in the design of
the tools and of their arrangement on the cover.
Modern finishers have become so skillful, that they are
some truly marvelous results are obtained by the use of inlays, and specially cut gouges. As a
rule, such patterns simply serve to show the skill of the finisher, and to make one wonder who
could have been foolish enough to select so limited and laborious a method as gold tooling for
carrying them out.
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