Finishing
Taste and Design
It is of the utmost importance to a young workman that he have correct ideas in regard to taste, and be able to distinguish it from caprice or mere fancy. It is in the power of all to acquire a correct taste, for it is governed by laws that can be easily learned, and they are unchangeable. Taste may be said to be a perception and an appreciation of the principles of beauty and harmony as revealed by Nature through Art. Nothing contrary to nature, no violation of any law of proportion or of fitness, can be in good taste. The amateur and book-collector, in commencing the foundation of a library, will do well to pause before they adopt a species of binding that will in after years create a feeling of annoyance, and perhaps lead to pecuniary sacrifice.
A recent writer upon the New York Exhibition of the Industry of all Nations discourses thus:—“We call bookbinding an art; and when we consider all that is necessary to the perfect covering of a fine book, it must be admitted to be an art; less important, it is true, but similar in kind to architecture.
“The first requisition upon the skill of the binder is to put the book into a cover which will effectually protect it, and at the same time permit it to be used with ease. If he do not accomplish this, his most elaborate exhibition of ornamental skill is worth nothing; for he fails in the very end for which his services are required. It was in this regard, too, that most of our binders failed in past years. Who that remembers the hideous, harsh, speckled sheep covers which deformed our booksellers’ shelves not long ago, can forget the added torment which they inflicted upon their unhappy purchaser, by curling up palpably before his very eyes, as he passed his first evening over them, and by casting out loose leaves or whole signatures before he had finished his first perusal? In those days, too, there was morocco binding, with a California of gold upon the sides; and such morocco! it felt to the fingers like a flattened nutmeg-grater, seeming to protect the book by making it painful for any one to touch it. This was as useless as the humbler though not more vulgar sheep. It would hardly last through the holiday season on the centre-table which it was made to adorn.
“The binder’s next task is to give his work the substantial appearance without which the eye of the connoisseur will remain unsatisfied. The volume must not only be well protected, but seem so. It should be solid, compact, square-edged, and enclosed in firm boards of a stoutness proportionate to its size, and these should be covered with leather at once pliable and strong. Unless it present this appearance, it will be unsatisfactory in spite of the richest colours and the most elaborate ornament. Thus far the mere mechanical skill of the binder goes. In the choice of his style of binding, and in the decoration of his book, if he perform his task with taste and skill, he rises to the rank of an artist.
“The fitness of the binding to the character of the volume which it protects, though little regarded by many binders, and still less by those for whom they work, is of the first importance. Suppose Moore’s Lalla Rookh bound in rough sheep, with dark russia back and corners, like a merchant’s ledger, or Johnson’s folio Dictionary in straw-coloured morocco elaborately gilded, and lined with pale blue watered-silk, is there an eye, no matter how uneducated, which would not be shocked at the incongruity? Each book might be perfectly protected, open freely, and exhibit evidence of great mechanical and artistic skill on the part of the binder; but his atrocious taste would insure him a just and universal condemnation. And yet there are violations of fitness to be seen daily, on the majority of public and private shelves, little less outrageous than those we have supposed. Books of poetry, and illustrated works on art bound in sober speckled or tree-marbled calf, with little gold upon the backs and sides, and none upon the edges! Histories, statistical works, and books of reference, in rich morocco, splendidly gilded!—the idea that the styles ought to change places seeming never to enter the heads of the possessors of these absurdly-covered volumes. But a little reflection by any person of taste, and power to discern the eternal fitness of things, will make it apparent that there should be congruity and adaptation in the binding of books. Sober, practical volumes should be correspondingly covered; calf and russia leather, with marbled paper and edges, become them; while works of imagination, such as poetry and books of engravings, demand rich morocco, fanciful ornaments, and gilding. To bind histories, philosophical works, dictionaries, books of reference and the like, in plain calf or dark russia,—travels, novels, essays, and the lighter kind of prose writing, in tinted calf or pale russia with gilding,—poetry in full morocco richly gilded, and works on art in half morocco, with the top edge only cut and gilded,—seems a judicious partition of the principal styles of binding. The margins of an illustrated work on Art should never be cut away, except where it is absolutely necessary for the preservation of the book from dust, and the convenience of turning the leaves—that is, at the top. It is well here to enter a protest against the indiscriminate use of the antique style of binding, with dark-brown calf, bevelled boards, and red edges. This is very well in its place; but it should be confined to prose works of authors who wrote not later than one hundred and fifty years ago. What propriety is there in putting Scott, or Irving, or Dickens, or Longfellow, in such a dress?”
Hartley Coleridge’s opinion on the subject of taste in Bookbinding is thus given:—“The binding of a book should always suit its complexion. Pages venerably yellow should not be cased in military morocco, but in sober brown russia. Glossy hot-pressed paper looks best in vellum. We have sometimes seen a collection of whitey-brown black-letter ballads, &c. so gorgeously tricked out that they remind us of the pious liberality of the Catholics, who dress in silk and gold the images of saints, part of whose saintship consisted in wearing rags and hair-cloth. The costume of a volume should also be in keeping with its subject, and with the character of its author. How absurd to see the works of William Penn in flaming scarlet, and George Fox’s Journal in bishops’ purple! Theology should be solemnly gorgeous. History should be ornamented after the antique and Gothic fashion; works of science, as plain as is consistent with dignity; poetry, simplex munditis.”
And it may not be irrelevant here to introduce the opinion of Dr. Dibdin, whose connection with some of the first libraries in England, and whose intimate knowledge of all the great book-collectors of the same, must tend to stamp him as a good authority on the subject:—
“The general appearance of one’s library is by no means a matter of mere foppery or indifference; it is a sort of cardinal point, to which the tasteful collector does well to attend. You have a right to consider books, as to their outsides, with the eye of a painter; because this does not militate against the proper use of the contents.
“Be sparing of red morocco or vellum. They have each so distinct, or what painters call spotty, an appearance, that they should be introduced but circumspectly. Morocco, I frankly own, is my favourite surtout; and the varieties of them—blue, (dark and light,) orange, green, and olive-colour—are especially deserving of your attention.
“The colour of the binding may often be in harmony with its contents. Books of poetry may be red, or light green, or blue, and have as much ornament as may be desired. And Fine Art books, above all others, ought to rejoice in beautiful coloured moroccos and gorgeous ornaments. In the British Museum, books of divinity are bound in blue, history in red, poetry in yellow, and biography in olive.
“Let russia claim your volumes of architecture or other antiquities, of topography, of lexicography, and of other works of reference. Let your romances and chronicles aspire to morocco or velvet; though, upon second thoughts, russia is well suited to history and chronicles. And for your fifteeners, or volumes printed in the fifteenth century, whether Greek, Latin, Italian, or English, let me entreat you invariably to use morocco: for theology, dark blue, black, or damson-colour; for history, red or dark green; while, in large paper quartos, do not fail to remember the peau de veau (calf) of the French, with gilt upon marbled edges. My abhorrence of hogskin urges me to call upon you to swear eternal enmity to that engenderer of mildew and mischief. Indeed, at any rate, it is a clumsy coat of mail. For your Italian and French, especially in long suites, bespeak what is called French calf binding, spotted, variegated, or marbled on the sides, well covered with ornament on the back, and, when the work is worthy of it, with gilt on the edges. Let your English octavos of history or belles-lettres breathe a quiet tone of chastely-gilded white calf with marbled edges; while the works of our better-most poets should be occasionally clothed in a morocco exterior.”
The further opinion of the doctor on the style of ornament, &c. in gilding, will be given in its proper place, and which, with that cited above, may be safely acted upon by the binder, blended with such additions as his own taste may dictate.
It is in this state that the defects of forwarding will become more apparent, and which no tact or ingenuity of the finisher can effectually remedy; for, unless the bands are square, the joints free, and the whole book geometrically just, the defect, whatever it may be, will appear throughout, and tend to destroy the beauty of every subsequent operation, from the constraint required to make the general appearance of the work effective.
Before proceeding to a description of the various manipulations required in gilding a book, it will be necessary to direct the attention of the young workman again to what has been advanced relative to care and attention in previous parts of this work, and follow up the remarks there made with others on the taste necessary to be displayed in this most important part of the art of bookbinding. When it is considered that the most celebrated artists have arrived at the eminence awarded to them not only through the elasticity, solidity, and squareness of their bindings, but also from the judicious choice of their ornaments for gilding, and the precision and beauty with which they have been executed, it cannot be too strongly impressed on the workman that this should ever occupy his first attention. Nothing is so disagreeable to the eye as injudicious or badly-executed ornaments; while with chaste and classical embellishments, tastefully applied, an appearance of richness is produced on the volumes that cannot fail to give satisfaction to the most fastidious critic. The sides of the volumes present the field most favourable for the display of ornamental taste, admitting, from their extent, the execution of the most complicated designs. This elaborate style of ornament has been carried to such perfection and splendour as, in many instances, to have occupied several days in the execution of one side alone; but it is only by the most vigorous application, greatest care, and correct taste, that proficiency therein can be attained. With these, success will soon crown the endeavours of the workman; and he will have the satisfaction of finding himself able to imitate any pattern, however difficult, as well as to execute many new designs and compartments, of which, till he applied himself, he had not previously an idea.
As regards the style of ornament, it must be left to taste; but, as before promised, it will now be proper to introduce the remarks of Dr. Dibdin on the general effect of gilding and blind tooling, leaving the detail to be suggested to the mind of the gilder.
“First, let your books be well and evenly lettered, and let a tolerable portion of ornament be seen upon the backs of them. I love what is called an over-charged back, At first the appearance may be flaunting and garish; but time, which mellows down book ornaments as well as human countenances, will quickly obviate this inconvenience; and about a twelvemonth, or six months added to the said twelvemonth, will work miracles upon the appearance of your book. Do not be meagre of your ornaments on the back, and never suffer blind tooling wholly to pervade a folio or quarto; for, by so doing, you convert what should look like a book into a piece of mahogany furniture.
“In large libraries there should not be too much blind tooling or too great a want of gilt. No doubt the ornament should be as appropriate as possible to the book. One could not endure gingerbread-gilt Bibles and Prayer-Books, or Chronicles or Dictionaries, or other books of reference. Let these have a subdued decoration on their backs; bands only full-gilt, or a running edge-tool in the centres of them, with small ornaments between the bands.
“I would recommend the lettering of a volume to be as full as possible; yet sententiousness must sometimes be adopted. The lines should be straight, and the letters of one and the same form or character within the line; yet the name of the author may be executed a size larger than that of the date or place of its execution, and the lettering may be between the top and bottom bands, or it may occupy the spaces between three bands, or even more. Re-letter old books perpendicularly, as was the custom. In all fresh bindings, however, prefer horizontal to perpendicular lettering.”*
It remains to urge that particular attention be paid to the lettering of books being their right titles, as the contrary will present to the judicious an effect the most disagreeable, and may be the cause of producing dissatisfaction with the whole of the binding in the mind of the owner; and also to avoid the contrast which the different shade or colour of new lettering-pieces will give to some bindings.
As it is requisite that the workman should form an idea of the style and design to be executed on the volume before he prepares it for gilding, we will proceed to point out the peculiarities of some of the most prominent styles and of the tools required to produce them. We hope to convey a faithful idea of the latter with the aid of the tools and ornaments executed expressly for this work by Gaskill, Copper & Fry, bookbinders’ tool-cutters, Philadelphia, who have secured for themselves, by their taste and skill, an enviable reputation as artists. Plate I. contains an illustration of the species of ornament termed
THE ALDINE STYLE,
Which derives its name from a noted printer named Aldus Manutius, a Roman by birth, who was born in the year 1446 or 1447. His Christian name, Aldus, was a contraction of Theobaldus; and to this surname he sometimes added the appellation of Pius, or Bassianus, or Romanus. The first of these appellatives was assumed by Aldus from his having been the tutor of Albertus Pius, a prince of the noble house of Carpi; and the second was derived from the birthplace of the printer—namely, Bassian, a small town in the Duchy of Lermonetta.
Aldus is supposed to have taken up his residence at Venice, as the favourite city wherein to mature his plans, about the year 1488; and about 1494-95 he there put forth the first production of his press. He introduced Roman types of a neater cut than had previously been in use, and invented that beautiful letter which is now known as Italic, though, in the first instance, it was termed Venetian, from Manutius being a resident of Venice when he brought it to perfection; but, not long after, it was dedicated to the State of Italy, to prevent any dispute that might arise from other nations claiming a priority, as was the case concerning the first inventor of printing.
Prior to the time of Aldus, the only points used in punctuation were the comma, colon, and full-point or period; but he invented the semicolon, gave a better shape to the comma, and connected the punctuation by assigning to the various points more proper places. About the period of his marriage, (in 1500,) he invented a mode of imposing a work in such a manner that two languages might be interleaved and bound together, or separately, at the option of the purchaser; and, about the same date, he printed the first leaf, in folio, of a proposed edition of the Bible in the Hebrew, Greek, and Latin languages; so that he has the honour of having first suggested the plan of a Polyglott Bible. However, the plan failed of being then carried into effect. Printing different languages in opposite columns was not accomplished till 1530.
The mind of Aldus was entirely engaged in the care of his printing-house; for, as soon as he had ordered his other necessary affairs, he shut himself up in his study, where he employed himself in revising his Greek and Latin MSS., reading the letters which he received from the learned out of all parts of the world, and writing answers to them. To prevent interruption by impertinent visits, he caused the following inscription to be placed over his door:—“Whoever you are, Aldus earnestly entreats you to despatch your business as soon as possible, and then depart: unless you come hither, like another Hercules, to lend him some friendly assistance; for here will be work sufficient to employ you and as many as enter this place.”
The mark or device which Aldus—who died in 1515—made use of to distinguish works issued from his press was an anchor, round which a dolphin seemed to twist. It must be familiar to every amateur,—Mr. Pickering, the London publisher, having adopted the Aldine anchor as his device. To attempt any description of the Aldine class of tools would be superfluous after so fair a specimen in the illustration. It will be perceived they are entirely free from shading, and, consequently, much more effective for that description of work for which they are generally used,—viz., blind tooling. Both tools and patterns are much lighter and more ornamental than the old Monastic school, of which the Aldine in some degree partook.
Upon the same plate there is exhibited the arrangement of a back-panel and tools in the
MONTAGUE STYLE,
Which derives its name from Montague, (of the firm of Montague and Johnson,) a bookbinder of considerable eminence, who flourished about the year 1780. The chief features of this style are corners and centre, filled up with stops, &c. similar to illustration. The tools are of an open, leafy description, flowing from a stem free from any thing of the scroll or curl. The panel given has been copied from a book supposed to have been done by Montague himself. The bar, or barleycorn, on the head and tail and on the bands, likewise on the insides and edges. Books in volumes, pieced red and green on adjoining panels, frequently a lozenge of red on the second piece, and filled up with corners and stops similar to the other panels; sometimes both pieces green; sides generally plain, or a flowery flowing roll, for which a two-line is now usually substituted; sewed on raised bands; colour, brown calf, sometimes highly sprinkled.
There is also upon Plate I. an illustration of
THE HARLEIAN STYLE,
A style not behind Montague in beauty of ornament, and superior in elegance and variety of arrangement. Before entering into a description of the style, we will give what information we have gained respecting its founder, trusting that it will not be unacceptable. We find that “Robert Harley, Esq., of Frampton-Bryan, in the county of Hereford, (the gentleman from whom the style derives its name,) was in 1700 chosen Speaker of the House of Commons, and in May, 1711, he was created Earl of Oxford and Mortimer, and five days afterwards was promoted to the important station of Lord High-Treasurer of Great Britain.”
In the Preface to the Harleian MSS., now in the British Museum, speaking of Mr. Harley, it states that “his innate love of books was such as to determine him in early life to undertake the formation of a new library, regardless of the disadvantages with which he must contend, as great exertions had previously been made in collecting MSS. for the Bodleian, Cottonian, and other valuable though smaller collections, so that the prospect of forming a new library with any considerable number of MSS. was indeed very unpromising. But, urged on by a love of learning, and a strong desire to search into the transactions of former ages, determined Mr. Harley to purchase whatever curious MSS. he could meet with, more especially such as might in any wise tend to explain and illustrate the history, laws, customs, and antiquities, of his native country. The principal point which the founder of the Harleian Library had in view was the establishment of a MS. English Historical Library, and the rescuing from oblivion and destruction of such valuable records of our national antiquities as had escaped the diligence of former collectors.
“At the decease of his son, (Edward Lord Harley, in 1741,) who had been a powerful auxiliary in enriching the collection, the MS. library consisted of nearly 8000 volumes. At the death of Mr. Harley, his library was bequeathed to the University of Oxford. To such men we owe a debt of gratitude for the improvement of the art and for introducing a style of finishing that still remains the admiration of the connoisseur.
“The books in the Harleian Collection are principally bound in red morocco, well sewed on raised bands, tight backs, (as were all the books of that period,) Dutch marble end-papers, and gilt edges.”
Harleian tools are more wiry and much closer than the Montague, interspersed with fine-line curls, fine pinhead curve-lines, rosettes, acorns, solid stops, single rings, and cross-buns.
The border upon the same plate illustrates the Harleian pane-side. In the Harleian style there are three distinctly different arrangements for sides and backs, (independent of the flights of fancy in which finishers indulge.) There are on the sides,—first, the two or three-line fillet, stopped; second, the Harleian tooled or spikey border,—a style of finishing peculiarly neat and rich, and well adapted for nearly every description of books.
On original Harleys the tooling went right on from corner to corner, as if worked by a very broad roll; but modern finishers prefer a made-up corner,—that is, a tool or tools projecting at right angles with the corner, up to which the border-tools are worked, thus rendering the whole more harmonious and perfect. The spikey border is worked up to a two or three-line fillet, with the cat-tooth roll worked on the outer line towards the edge of the board. (We may here mention that the cat-tooth, although purely French, may be also considered Harleian, as it is on all the originals we have seen, and accords well with the style.) Third, the pane or panelled side, similar to the illustration. Sometimes a double pane was formed by throwing in a two-line fillet and working a roll on the inside.
On the backs there is the upright centre, the diamond centre and corner, as in the illustration, and the semi-circle with open centre.
The diamond centre was not much used on books of light reading, such as novels, but rather on works of a graver nature, such as divinity, philosophy, and history. It seems to have been the favourite style of the earl’s binders; and we must acknowledge that a book never looks so like a book as when finished with a good diamond centre and corner. In forming the diamond centre, the spikes ought to project beyond the stops, as it is then more graceful and pleasing to the eye than when the stop and spikes are flush one with the other.
THE FONTHILL STYLE.
The following account of Fonthill Abbey will, no doubt, be acceptable, in connection with our description of the “style” which has derived its name therefrom.
“Fonthill Abbey, in Wiltshire, justly ranks as one of the grandest structures in the United Kingdom, combining all the elegance of modern architecture with the sublime grandeur of the conventual style. It was built about the end of the last century, at an expense of £400,000, by Mr. William Beckford, son of the public-spirited Lord Mayor of London of that name, whose statue now stands in Guildhall, with a copy of the memorable speech and remonstrance which he addressed to George III. in 1770. Succeeding to almost unbounded wealth, (nearly £100,000 a year,) endowed with an extraordinary mind, literary talents of the highest order, and an exquisite taste for the arts, the young owner of Fonthill Abbey determined to erect an edifice uncommon in design, and to adorn it with splendour; and, with an energy and enthusiasm of which duller minds can form but a poor conception, he soon had his determination carried into effect.
“The gorgeous edifice reared for Mr. B. contained many magnificent suites of apartments. We need only notice two, denominated St. Michael’s, and King Edward the Third’s Gallery. They are of the most stately and interesting description that can be conceived or imagined: the former filled with the choicest books and many articles of vertu; the latter also employed as a library, but enriched with a much greater number of choice and curious productions, and terminating in an oratory, unique for its elegant proportions and characteristic consistency. It is at once rich and luxurious as the temple of which it forms an appendage,—sombre and soothing as the religious feelings with which its designation associates it.
‘Meditation here may think down hours and moments;
Here the heart may give a useful lesson to the head,
And learning wiser grow without its books.’
It is but the drawing of a curtain, and not only all the glitter of the adjoining splendour, but all the pomps and vanities of the world seem to the meditative mind to be shut out forever. Perhaps its pensive cast is more deeply experienced from the immediate contrast: dazzled with objects of show, fatigued with the examination of rare and costly commodities, and bewildered with the multitude of precious devices which everywhere surround him, the soul of the visitant retires with tenfold delight to the narrow walls of the oratory.”
Our brief description of the Fonthill style cannot fail to strike the reader as being remarkably appropriate to the sombre character of that part of the abbey which contained the library,—the one being in strict keeping with the other.
Half-bound olive-brown morocco; sewed on raised bands; gilt tops; marble-paper sides and insides; with no finishing whatever, except the lettering and date at bottom.
À LA JANSENISTE.
This chaste and beautiful style is said to be derived from a religious order, and is highly esteemed by amateurs. Books bound à la janseniste are full-bound Turkey or Levant morocco, with a broad turn in on the inside of the board, gilt edges with a fine one-line fillet each side of the bands and head and tail, and neatly mitred on the side, all in blind, there being no gilding on the outside but the lettering; on the inside a broad-tooled border of very fine tooling in gold, a fine two-line in gold on the edges of the boards, and the cap of the headbands tipped with the same.
THE CAMBRIDGE STYLE
Is practised, we may say exclusively, on theological works. At what period it gained its name is uncertain; doubtless, it was the style in which some of the university libraries were chiefly bound; and, in all probability, the idea of the Harley paned side was first copied from it. Books bound in this style are sewed on raised bands, brown calf, pane-sprinkled sides, Dutch marble end-papers, and red edges. Back pieced with red russia, and a two-line fillet head and tail, and on each side of the bands, blind. Sides, two-line fillet close to the edge and on each side of the pane, with a narrow flower-roll worked on each side of the pane, close to the lines. The fillets in the pane to be connected together at the corners with the two-line fillet, and a tool worked from the corner of the pane towards the edge of the book, all blind. Bar-roll on the edges, in gold.
MODERNIZED MONASTIC.
This style is now in great vogue, under the appellation of the antique. The materials employed are divinity calf and brown or Carmelite morocco, with very thick boards, edges either red, brown, or matted gilt; very high raised bands. The style of ornament is illustrated by Plate II., intended for a side-stamp to be done by the press. It can also be done by hand, with rolls, fillets, and hand-stamps, omitting the broad and narrow fillet, and substituting either a one or two-line, working the circles with gouges. The tools are all worked blind. This style of binding, when appropriate to the book, produces a very pleasing effect.
ARABESQUE.
“The term is more commonly applied to the species of ornament used in adorning the walls, pavements, and roofs of Moorish and Arabian buildings, consisting of an intricate heterogeneous admixture of fruits, flowers, scrolls, and other objects, to the exclusion of animals, the representation of which is forbidden by the Mohammedan religion. This kind of ornament is now frequently used in the adorning of books, plate, &c. Foliage very similar to that used by the Arabians, intermixed with griffins, &c., were frequently employed on the walls and friezes of temples, and on many of the ancient Greek vases; on the walls of the baths of Titus, at Pompeii, and many other places.”—Craig’s Universal Dictionary.
As regards book-finishing, we have looked into more than one authority, and are really unable to define what the “arabesque” style is or ought to be. The well-understood term “roan embossed” is, in our opinion, the nearest approach to it at the present day.
Plate III. is an adaptation of an old German design for embossing. The figure is raised, the plate being worked with a counter, in a powerful press.
This style can only be executed upon publishers’ work where there is a quantity of the same book to be done in this style. By it a good effect is produced upon an inferior material and at a trifling cost. The covers are embossed before they are applied to the volumes, and in order to preserve the sharpness of the design they must be covered with glue and not pressed afterwards.
ANTIQUE OAK AND OTHER BINDINGS.
Great varieties of style in the covers of bindings have been introduced within the last few years; but these must be left to the imitative powers of the skilful workman, as no written description would give the requisite information and guidance. Should he be desirous of executing these, he will do well to study some good specimen. Among others may be mentioned the Antique Oak Bindings, adopted by Mr. Murray, for his “Illuminated Prayer-Book,” and Messrs. Longman and Co., for “Gray’s Elegy.” Also the Iron Binding,—viz.: covers in imitation of cast-iron,—in which Messrs. Longman and Co. have had bound the “Parables of our Lord.” Bibles and Prayers are now frequently bound to imitate the antique, having heavy boards with clasps and corners, and finished in the monastic style.
GROLIER STYLE.
This beautiful style of ornament is so well illustrated by Plate IV. that it scarcely needs any remark. We will merely observe that this style is well calculated for hand-work, being entirely superficial in character. The pattern presented can be worked with a one-line fillet and gouges, with a few leaves of a conventional character. The design should be first traced upon paper of the proper size, the paper lightly tipped at the corners with paste upon the side, then worked with the fillet and gouges through the paper upon the leather. The paper is then removed, and the blind impression appears upon the side. All vestiges of the paper are carefully washed off, and the pattern pencilled in,—that is, each portion of the figure is carefully traced with a fine camel’s-hair pencil saturated with glaire. When dry it is lightly passed over with a piece of cotton in which sweet oil has been dropped, and the gold leaf laid on. The pattern is then reworked upon the gold.
The design upon Plate V. is a modern elaboration of the Grolier, and is intended for a side-plate, to be executed by the stamping-press. It is well calculated for blind or blank stamping, the solid line producing by its intersections a fine effect. By omitting the inner and working the out lines, this elaboration of lines and circles can be worked by hand.
The Louis Quatorze is illustrated, by a pattern for a back, upon Plate VI. This can be worked either by hand-stamps or by the press. The centre pattern is a very pretty illustration of the prevailing style of backs for case-work. This must be stamped before the cover is applied to the book.
The third pattern for flat backs is adapted for hand-tools, and when executed upon light-coloured English calf produces a beautiful appearance. From its light, graceful character, it is well suited to modern poetry and light literature in general. This style gives scope to an almost endless variety of patterns, regulated only by the taste of the finisher.
Plate VII. is a design drawn by Holbein for a side-ornament in metal. This beautiful pattern can be adapted either to hand or press work. Its graceful and harmonious proportions should be well studied by the young workman.
Upon Plate VIII. will be found specimens of rolls and hand-stamps used in finishing. The numbers affixed refer to the order of arrangement in the Book of Patterns published by Gaskill, Copper & Fry, containing over two thousand specimens with their prices attached. They have also an immense number of patterns, executed since the publication of their book for binders in various parts of the country.
Having given the prominent distinct styles,—of which there are, however, many combinations, both of style, ornament, and tooling, originating more nondescripts than we have space to treat upon,—we proceed to the gilding, trusting that what has been pointed out to the attention of the young workman will induce him to neglect no opportunities of becoming acquainted with the works of artists of celebrity, not for the purpose of servile imitation, but to examine their adaptations of ornamental art as a study, to enable him to trace superficial decoration back to its originators. Having acquired this knowledge, he may by his treatment of ornament take rank as an artist.
The examples given will be sufficient for the intellectual workman to conceive many patterns which his taste will suggest, forming an infinite variety of beautiful designs. In all combinations, a rigorous observance of the symmetrical proportions of the tools must be his first care, so that the union of any number of designs present a form agreeable and chaste. It would be superfluous to add more; but from the importance of the subject, on closing the directions for the ornamental department of binding, it may be repeated that there is no greater evidence of the ignorance or carelessness of the workman than an ornament of any kind unevenly or unequally worked. Let the young binder especially bear this in mind: it is a defect which nothing can effectually remedy; instead of an embellishment it is a detriment to the binding, and his reputation as a clever workman is consequently placed in jeopardy.
Preparatory to gilding, the back must be compassed off and carefully marked with a folding-stick and a straight-edge or piece of vellum, wherever it is intended to run a straight line. This serves as a guide when the gold is laid on. For work of the best class, the fillets must be first put in blind, and the tooling done in the same manner. For sides where the design is elaborate, or a degree of perfection in the tooling is desirable, the entire pattern must be first worked in blind, and, after being washed with a dilution of oxalic acid or a thin paste-wash, it must be carefully pencilled in with the glaire-pencil; but this comes more appropriately under the head of
PREPARATIONS FOR GILDING.
To operate successfully, it will be necessary that the workman provide himself with good size, glaire, and oil. The first is prepared by boiling fine vellum slips till a good size is produced, of a consistency that will lie equally on the volume without blotches or ropes, and must be used warm. The glaire is formed of the whites of eggs, beaten well with a frother till it is perfectly clear, and the froth taken off. This liquid will improve by keeping, and should never be used new if it can possibly be avoided. For morocco bindings, the glaire is sometimes diluted with water. The oil adopted by various binders is different. Some use palm-oil for calf, sweet oil for morocco or russia; others prefer hog’s lard, or fine mould-candle, for light-coloured calf; but sweet oil is well adapted for almost every kind of leather. Vellum-size is the best preparation for coloured calf. On books thus prepared, the glaire must be applied two or three times, taking care that each coat is quite dry before the next is added, and that it lies perfectly even on the whole surface, free from globules or any substance whatever. Great care is required in preparing coloured calf; for, if there be too much body in the preparation, it will crack on the surface and present a bad appearance. Morocco and roan will not require more than one coat, and, where practicable, only on such parts of the morocco as are to be gilt. The state of the weather must ever determine the number of volumes to be proceeded with at one time, as in the winter double the number may be glaired to what the dryness of a summer’s day will admit of, so as to work with safety and produce effect. A good paste-wash before glairing is always advisable, as it prevents the glaire from sinking into the leather.
In preparing glaire from the egg for immediate use, a few drops of oxalic acid added thereunto will be found to be of essential service.
The volumes being thus prepared, the operation of
GILDING THE BACK
Is commenced by oiling slightly, with a small piece of cotton, the whole length of the back. If the book is merely intended to be filleted for the economy of the gold, small strips are cut on the gold-cushion, attached to the heated fillet by rolling it slightly over, and affixed to the volume by passing it firmly on the lines previously marked. But if the back is to be fully ornamented, it will be necessary to cover it entirely with gold-leaf.
The hand-stamps should be disposed on the table before him, so as to be selected with the greatest facility, and in readiness for every purpose for which they may be required.
To lay on the gold, the workman takes a book of the metal, opens the outside leaf, and passes the knife underneath the gold; with this he raises it, carries it steadily on to the cushion, and spreads it perfectly even, by a light breath on the middle of the leaf, taking care also that not the least current of air has access to the room he may be operating in. Afterwards the gold must be cut with the gold-knife to the breadth and length of the places to be covered, by laying the edge upon it and moving the knife slightly backwards and forwards. Then rub upon the back the oil, and apply the gold upon the places to be ornamented with a cotton or tip, rubbed on the forehead or hair to give it a slight humidity and cause the gold to adhere. But if the whole of the back is to be gilt, it will be more economical to entirely cover it by cutting the gold in slips the breadth of the book and applying the back on it; afterwards press it close with the cotton, with which any breaks in the gold must also be covered, by placing small slips where required. The humidity of the hair or forehead will be sufficient to make the gold adhere to the cotton or other instrument with which it may be conveyed to the book. The fillet or roll must then be heated to a degree proper for the substance on which it is to be worked. Calf will require them hotter than morocco and roan, and these warmer than russia and vellum. To ascertain their proper heat, they are applied on a damp sponge, or rubbed with the finger wetted, and by the degree of boiling that the water makes, their fitness is known; but a little exercise and habit will render this easy of judging. To further insure this, the roll or pallet is passed over the cap of the headband; if too hot, the gold will be dull; if too cool, the impression will be bad, from the gold not adhering in every part.
After the gold is laid on, the volume is laid upon the side, with the back elevated, and the workman proceeds to mitre the fillets that run lengthwise of the back, commencing at the line that has been traced across the back, by pressing lightly with the point of the mitred roll and running it carefully till near the line that marks the end of the panel; then lift the fillet and turn it with the finger until the other or reverse mitre, or nick in the fillet, is reached; then place the fillet in the lines already gilt, adjusting it with the left hand until the extreme point of the mitre will just reach the line traced across. After both edges of the back have been done along the joint in this way, the volume is then placed evenly in the finishing-press, and the panels completed by mitreing the fillets that run across the back. The entire operation requires the utmost care, in order to have the lines parallel and the mitres perfectly even and true. No ornament that may be afterwards worked upon the back, beautiful as it may be, can atone for negligence or want of skill in the mitreing and running of the fillets. As a matter of economy, sometimes the back is run up; that is, instead of stopping where the lines or bands intersect, the roll is run up the back from one end to the other, without stopping; and, after wiping the gold off along the joint outside the fillet, it is run across the back on each side of the bands, and head and tail in the same manner. After the back is mitred, the finisher will proceed with the ornamental tools, and work them carefully off. In placing them, great attention should be paid to their occupying precisely the same place in each panel; and, in order to present an agreeable effect, the tools should correspond in detail, and there should be a geometrical fitness governing the selection and arrangement of the tools.
The judicious choice of ornaments for the back is of the utmost importance. For instance, such as represent animals, insects, or flowers, which are only proper for works of natural history, entomology, and botany, should never appear on the backs of works on general literature, as it would be an evidence of bad taste or carelessness.
Every tool should be beautiful in itself, because no accumulation of misshapen tools can make one beautiful ornament. There is no objection to scrolls, leaves, flowers, stops, or any of the usual kind of ornaments; only let them all be in themselves beautiful. It is appropriate to introduce a harp on a book of songs, a stag’s head on a book on hunting, a recognised ecclesiastical pattern upon a book of divinity or a prayer-book; a Greek or Roman design upon a classical work, or a Gothic design upon a book on Gothic architecture.
Should it be desired to present on the back simply an ornamental lettering-piece at the head, diverging to a point towards the middle of the book, and the rest of the volume left plain, it will be necessary to impress the tools previous to glairing, and then apply the glaire with a camel’s-hair pencil in the indentations the tools have formed. When dry, cover with gold and reimpress the tool in the marks previously made, and letter the title. This proceeding is adopted in every pattern where part of the back is intended to be left dull by being free from glaire.
The title must next engage attention, and the letters placed thereon, either singly or together, with brass type properly fixed in the hand-chase. If with single letters, the tail of the volume must be lowered about an inch, and the workman draw a thread of silk across the gold to direct the heads of the letters. Taking each singly, he places them on the back with the right hand, steadying the letter with the forefinger of the left. If the title is set in the chase, place the volume evenly in the press, and apply the title, guided by the thumb, firmly across. The title in either case must be justified, to produce the best effect, taking care to avoid, if possible, having two lines of the same length; and, where the title can be measured, as in the type it may, the exact centre should be ascertained before applying it heated on the gold. The back may now be considered finished. The gold which has not been impressed by the gilding tools must be well rubbed off with the gold-rag and minutely cleared off with a piece of fine flannel or India-rubber, so as to display the delicate lines of the ornaments as perfectly and clearly as possible. Attention should be paid to this particular; for, let a book be finished in the most tasteful manner possible, unless well cleared off the effect is entirely lost. If in calf, it must now be polished, and the squares and edges of the boards proceeded with.
GILDING THE SQUARES, ETC.
For gilding the edges of the boards, the gold may be taken as for the bands,—on the roll,—and the volume held firmly with the left hand; but, if large, put into the press between boards, so as not to injure the back. Where the ornament of the inside-square is simple, the like proceeding of applying the gold will be proper, resting the board open on an elevation equal to the thickness of the book. But if the square has been left large, with a leather joint, so as to admit of being more elaborately filled up, the gold must be laid on the whole space with the tip and pressed close with the cotton. The gilding is then proceeded with in the same manner as detailed in the directions for the side-ornaments.
GILDING THE SIDES.
The sides, from affording more ample space, are the part of the volume whereon the workman can and is expected to show his taste and skill in gilding. The proceedings are the same as before pointed out where a simple roll is the only ornament round; but where the pattern is extensive and the details minute, it is necessary to have the whole worked blind upon the volume before glairing, and then apply the gold. If one side is done at a time, the book is taken by the leaves with the left hand, the board intended to be covered resting on the thumb, and the gold laid on as for the squares, either over the whole side or on such parts as the pattern indicates. If the volume be small, the gold may be laid on both sides and the leaves of the volume placed in the finishing-press, allowing the boards to rest on its surface. This affords greater facility for placing uniformly and systematically the fillets, rolls, and tools necessary to complete the design on each side. Where the pattern has not been marked, and one side only proceeded with, the roll is run in a straight line, which should be made, previous to covering with gold, on the board by the joint of the back, the volume turned for the head and tail, and laid open upon the board for the fore-edge, to give it the firmness necessary.
Directions for executing the most elaborate designs have been previously given, whereby it will be perceived that it requires but taste, and a just observation of similarity of design and the geometrical proportions of the ornaments, to execute them to any extent. One variation from this rule will destroy the effect of the whole pattern: it will therefore be to the benefit of such as are not conversant fully with the art, to assist themselves with designs drawn on cartridge-paper, which may be marked through on the leather and the pattern executed in gold or blind as required. In all, the gilding will be the same, either to glaire over the whole cover after the design is stamped, or, if the plain part is to be left dull, by glairing the impressions only with a camel’s-hair pencil.
GILDING ON SILK AND VELVET.
The proceedings necessary to be adopted for gilding on silk and velvet are, from the delicate nature of these substances, different from those laid down for gilding on leather. The glaire used on the latter would tend to stain, and therefore it is necessary to employ other means for fixing the gold. This is by drying the whites of eggs and reducing them to a powder, which is put into a small bottle and tightly tied over with a piece of fine muslin, by which means it is equally distributed on the space intended to be gilt. Gum-sandarac is now, however, more generally used for this purpose, although some use gum-copal. The powder being applied, the gold is cut in slips and taken on a roll of a circumference equal to the length of the space intended for it to be applied on. The design is then firmly impressed, and the superfluous gold brushed off with a soft brush or clean piece of cotton, and the other side alike executed. In lettering, or fixing single tools on the back, the same proceedings must be adopted, by taking the gold thereon and applying it to the back or side of the volume. Where the design is large, or elaborate work is required, it will be better executed in the following manner:—The design must be drawn on paper, and worked through on silk, after which the impression must be carefully glaired with a camel’s-hair pencil; when dry, rub the parts intended for the gold with the finger passed through the hair or with a clean rag slightly oiled, and, after laying on the gold as directed for other styles, reimpress the tools, and whip off the superfluous gold with a clean flannel.
As there is no moisture in silk, the workman must not lay on at one time so much as he does on calf and other substances.
Notes
* We sometimes fear that Dr. Dibden’s commendation of an overcharged back has produced a bad effect. It should be borne in mind that, when the doctor wrote, calf was the prevailing material employed in binding, and that of a light colour.