The glaire, when ready, is applied all over the cover of the book with a small sponge. When the first coat is thoroughly dry give it another. The back or side of the book on which the gold is to be affixed must be slightly greased after the application of the last coat of glaire. Finishers differ somewhat as to the material to be employed. Olive oil is used by perhaps, most workmen; lard, or composite, or some kind of palm oil candle is also used. But the quantity required is so small that any tolerably pure fatty or oily substance will do.

Sometimes, in order to add to the glossy appearance of calf backs, and also in some degree to serve as a preservative coating, some kind of fine spirit varnish is applied to the leather. The varnish should be of the best quality, both as regards the spirit used as a solvent, and the copal, mastic, or other gum dissolved in it. I suppose, as a sufficiently typical example, that the finisher is about to deal with a batch of from twelve to twenty half calf books. The first operation is to paste wash the leather. A small quantity of thick paste is applied to the back of the book, and rubbed up and down the back with a folding stick. This forces the paste into and fills up the small pores of the leather, and thus forms a foundation for the succeeding operations.. The paste is then washed off the back with a sponge and clean water, the sides of the back and the corners being also wiped over with the pasty water in the sponge. When dry, the leather is sponged over with warm size, and, when the size is dry, the glaire is applied with a bit of sponge (kept specially for that purpose), or with a camel-hair pencil.

The best procedure for ordinary half calf work (or for whole calf where there is to be no finishing on the sides) is, for the first application, to go over all the leather with the glaire. When this coating is dry, a second coat. is applied, this time to the back only. A third coating can be given, either to the entire back, as in the previous application, or merely across the lettering piece. When the backs of the books are sufficiently dry, a piece of cotton-wool to which the least touch of oil or lard has been applied is passed rapidly over all the surface that is to be gilded. The strips of leaf are lifted to the place that is to be gilded either with the tip or with a bit of cotton wool, the slight oiling the cover has received causing the leaf instantly to adhere where it is placed.

The books are now ready for the next stage. It should be remarked here, however, that until the amateur has acquired some experience, he will do well to mark lightly on the back or cover, as the case may be, with a folder, the positions the ornaments and lettering are to occupy. The advisability of working from a sketch plan will also be evident. The good appearance of even excellent ornamentation on a book cover, as elsewhere, will be marred and probably spoilt if the arrangement is not symmetrical.

Pressure with hot tools causes the gold leaf to adhere to the leather, and reproduces at the same time the pattern engraved on the tool. The heat of the tool is tested with a drop of water, which, if the tool is hot enough, should evaporate quickly without hissing; if the water hisses, the tool is too hot.

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