. . . A Book By Its Cover

the embellishment of a book is a dying art designed to give a volume permanence and beauty on the shelf as well as in the hand fine leather binding and meticulous gold tooling of the engine spine was the painstaking work of master craftsman first I moistened the leather the reason for this was to open the pores of the leather and allow the paste to be absorbed and as the paste dried slightly it became more workable and would adhere and stay in the position that I would place it when I would pull it down over the bands or set the joint and another thing in moistening it it must be thoroughly moistened so that as it dries out it will dry out evenly and not leave any spots no matter and it will shrink and we allow for that also perhaps in the shaping of the head of the leather will extend it keeping in mind that it might shrink and shrink back and pull back we don't want it to shrink too much and pull the grain the nice grain that is in the leather so we in working the leather we don't stretch it too much on the top and the bottom of the book particularly when we call this the head and the tail of the book we pair the leather very thin on the extremities top and bottom and when the leather is folded back against itself it will not show a ridge where this is done it works around the board it must be thin around the board where it's turned around so that it fits up tightly and a perfect joint is set in the board and it's allowed to dry in that shape and then the cover will open properly it's the hinge of the cover to the book that's quite important it's a mechanical function and another thing if the book is back to high then the edge of the backing will abrade more readily if it is the same height as the board itself when the leather has been applied and you will reduce the wear it's just as simple as that and the more you work with it the more that you realize that the formation that you have worked on that will remain it's necessary to continually use the band nipper to shape the band so that in the tooling process it will be straight and the leather will be formed so that goal-line can be rolled across the back of the band and as the book dries its might it becomes easier to form the leather and have it stay in that position and finally after working with it to the desired position what one knows that it will remain that way so that it'll can be tooled properly the cover boards have been matched on the top and the bottom the object of this is that when the string is used you pull the leather into this notch there is a little surplus leather there and it allows you to use the full strength of the leather rather than having to pair it so thin that it won't serve the and last well and that after all that's the reason you're doing this is to make the joint wear well by first pulling the string into this these notch boards it allows you to shape the head this shaping that we do with the head is a strengthening and finished edge for the top and of course if the book is tooled that must be nice and square so that any lines that you put on the top will be parallel at the top of the lining so the string is a real important part in the shaping of the head and the tail of the book it is relatively simple to shape the leather but knowing when the leather is at the right dryness or moist this might say why it's surprising I haven't done this binding now for probably twenty twenty-five years so it's it's been a it's been a number of years and it's something you really don't forget it's just like playing the piano I guess or something like that just the natural feel for it a book can't be tooled old tools in any way until the leather is absolutely dry otherwise the the heat will just burn a hole in the law there it has to stay overnight at least before it can be touched in any way I am often asked when I pick up this gold with this piece of cotton why I rub my hair first I get a little of that greasy kid stuff off my hair and that allows me to pick up the gold on the cotton and I then apply it to the back of the book I have more on the book than I have on the cotton and it then goes from the cotton to the books tolls that have been accumulated by myself and my father my grandfather over a period of 100 years they're handmade in brass and steel and could just not be duplicated these days they have to be heated to the temperature that you might heat any iron to iron a shirt well if the tool isn't heated to the property surely gold will not adhere to some weather properly and if you heat it too much you burn the leather egg albumen sizing together with the heat and pressure permanently fix it in the weather and we have examples of this gold to lean in our position that was done by our firm 85 years ago still in excellent shape and when I started to learn this business is a young man 40 years ago I was busily engaged daily doing nothing but this hand tooling on fine sets of books bookish people have large homes large libraries and they used our services to a great extent those people heavy the past honor moved into apartments they don't have room for books their children don't appreciate the fine handmade things and there is not the call for them that there was years ago the great publishers 40 years ago published great editions of Twain Hawthorne Stephenson in large numbers of volumes to a set those not done at all anymore a person has to like handwork the skill of some kind of a craftsman to do that work and he has to like that it's like an artist painting a picture or jeweler making a nice piece of jewelry and that sort of thing I mean you can have a very useful book bound in the cloth cover that'll last just as long as anything I do but they won't be as handsome I can see where to place the tool because I haven't made a mark on the leather the gold is very very thin and you can see through a knife if we're binding a book on Napoleon we have Napoleon's crests if we're binding a book on the Civil War we have a Confederate flag and we have things that might designate that period of time in gold stamping tools that we would use and if we need something special we will have a special tool made it's a slow process the goal is usually wiped off the back of the book one panel at a time usually the book binder is anxious to see if his effort has done well the heat and pressure determines the final impression and he's anxious to see how it has turned out and when he finishes his first panel that is a temptation to rub off the gold and see what he has accomplished instead of waiting until he has finished the whole book so I rub off the first panel and either I'm amazed or dismayed