An Essay in the History of Gold-Tooled
Bindings by Herbert P. Horne
London 1894
17
of thin tough paper is laid upon the gilding, and the burnisher worked over it. After the head,
and tail, edges have been gilded in this manner, the fore edge is similarly treated; the back
having first been brought to a flat surface, and consequently the fore edge, as in the
preparation for the cutting. The beauty of a gilded edge consists far more in the colour of the
gold, than in that metallic solidity, which modern binders give to their work. The gold employed
by the early Italians, hi the decoration of their books, is of that silvery kind, which shows to
admiration on the frames of their pictures, and other gilded work.
Gilt edges are found accompanying the earliest gold-tooled bindings; but these early examples
are generally' gauffered,' or tooled, by a method, which does not greatly differ from that of the
blind tooling employed in the decoration of the boards, and which I shall describe in its place.
The edges of the books bound for Grolier, are commonly plain gilt, a trait which accords with the
severity of their design, and which may be thought to distinguish them, from the earlier Venetian
bindings, the edges of which are generally gauffered with the rope-pattern: while the Lyonnese
bindings, executed at the close of the sixteenth century, often have their edges gauffered with
elaborate patte~ns, outlined in studded points. Of this kind of decoration, some admirable
examples may be seen in the South Kensington Museum. Already, in the second half of the
sixteenth century, we find colour used upon gilt edges, in addition to the gauffering. The
Germans especially excelled in this kind of florid ornamentation; and with that want of power to
appreciate the charm of simplicity and unity, which characterizes their art, they further
attempted to portray both figures, and scenes, by this method j as on a copy of an Auslegung
des Evangetit' Mat/had, Leipzig, 1575, in the same collection [230-'66.], on the edges of which a
Last Judgment is gauffered, and painted, upon a gilt background. In the succeeding century, the
same method of decoration is found employed, but with far greater reticence, upon some of the
bindings ascribed to Le Gascon: but of these and other examples, more in their place.
When a binding is not intended to be elaborately tooled, a colored edge may be used with
effect. Some powdered colour ground up with paste and a little oil, or glaire and oil, is applied to
the edges with a brush, the book having been slightly fanned out, right and left. The Italians
commonly employed a yellow resembling Roman ochre, indigo, and other blues, which
occasionally approach to greens, with very decorative results, especially with their vellum
bindings. The edges of the Petrarch, Venice, 1532, the doublure of which is figured in Plate I.,
are colored blue, on which an enrichment, of the kind known as the rope-pattern, is gauffered in
gold.