An Essay in the History of Gold-Tooled
Bindings by Herbert P. Horne
London 1894
26
trade-binders, some of whom, also, use a type-holder, in lettering the title: but such devices for
economizing labor should not enter into the art of fine binding. The back of a book should be
finished and lettered by means of separate tools, in the same manner as the boards.
The other implements and materials, necessary to finish a book, are: polishing-irons, sponges,
glare, vinegar, gold-leaf, a gold-cushion, cotton-wool, a gold rag for removing the surplus gold,
India-rubber for cleaning off what is left by the gold-rag, and a finishing stove. The old binders
used, for this purpose, a brazier of live charcoal, having a perforated iron plate placed upon the
top j now various gas and oil stoves have been invented, by which the heat can be better
regulated. In finishing the boards, the book is laid upon a bench or table j but in tooling the
back, it is held rigid in a finishing-press, which is similar in principle to a lying-press j but of a
lighter sort, having the outer angles of the cheeks beveled, to allow of greater freedom in
working the tools.
The binder having designed the pattern, with which he intends to ornament his book,
proceeds to work out the same on a sheet of thin, tough paper, precisely as he would have it
appear upon the finished leather, in regard both to its size, and to every other particular. This he
does, by blackening the actual gouges, fillets, and other tools, which he wishes to employ in the
execution of the work, in the smoke of a candle-flame, and by making impressions of them, in
their proper places, on the paper. When the pattern is completed, it is accurately placed upon
the board, which it is to decorate, being secured at the corners by a little paste, and the pattern
tooled, through the paper, on the leather. A skilful finisher will not need this elaborate
preparation, but will content himself by setting out the chief points of his design upon the
leather, with the aid of a pair of compasses. The paper is now removed, and the leather washed
or damped with vinegar, which should be rubbed equally into the leather, by means of a brush.
The blind impressions made by the tools, through the paper, are next to be twice penciled in
with glaire and when they are dry, rubbed very slightly with a piece of oiled totton-wool.
A leaf of gold having been spread upon the gold-cushion, and cut into pieces of the size and
shape of the various tools; these pieces of the leaf are next taken up, one by one, with a pad of
cotton-wool slightly greased, and gently, but firmly, laid upon the impressions, which the tools
have left on the leather. While the impressions are being covered with gold-leaf, the tools are to
be heated on the finishing stove, to that degree of heat, at which a drop of water, applied to
anyone of them, does not hiss, but dries instantly.