An Essay in the History of Gold-Tooled
Bindings by Herbert P. Horne
London 1894
25
usually engraved upon wheels of various sizes, which are known as fillets, if they bear more than
one line: other wheels engraved with some figured ornament, which is repeated at each
revolution, are called rolls.
Figired tools, which are commonly mounted' in wooden handles, like a carpenter's chisel, should
not be larger or more complex than those reproduced in Fig. 3, on p. 217, if they are intended to
be used for elaborate work. A tool engraved with a curve, or a
A method of decoration, dating from the first half of the sixteenth century, and apparently of
Arabic origin, consists in lining this panel with leather, commonly of the same kind as that which
covers the boards, but of a different colour: this, in many examples, is afterwards tooled with a
richness equal to, or even greater, than that of the exterior of the volume. In Plate I. is figured a
doublure, or interior decoration of this kind, which occurs in a copy of Petrarch, Venice, 1532, in
the collection of Mr. Fairfax Murray, and which is perhaps, the earliest European example extant
of this sort of enrichment. It is tooled in silver upon brown leather, while the outside of the book is
decorated with a design, similar to that of the doublure, in gold, but with the letters B. S.,
substituted for the figured tools in the centre of either compartment: this binding appears to have
been executed shortly after the publication of the book.
FINISHING .- The book has now passed through the whole of those operations, which are
included in the term 'forwarding': and the ornamentation, or finishing, of the volume, alone
remains to be done; either by the process of tooling, stamping, painting, or inlaying; or by some
combination of these methods. The processes of tooling and stamping, with which we are now
chiefly concerned, do not differ from one another in kind, but in degree. Both tools, and stamps,
are commonly cut in brass, and bear their figure or pattern in relief, whereby an impression is
produced of a similar nature to that of a wood block, and of an inverse nature to that of an
engraved or etched copper-plate; they differ only from one another in being worked either by the
hand, or by a press. A tooled binding is a binding finished by hand: a stamped binding is a
binding finished in a press. A tool, in order to produce a solid and sharp impression, must be of
such a size, that the finisher is able to work it with ease; of such a nature, that he may at once
see every part of its contour, in order to make a true impression. If the tool- be too large, force
necessary to work it will prevent him from equally impressing every part of it on the leather; and
his work will consequently not be solid: if the contour of the tool be too intricate, he will be apt, in
gilding, to double its impression; and so his work will not be sharp. But the more skilful the
finisher, the larger and more intricate a tool will he be able to work.