Modern bookbinding practically considered by Matthews William 1822-1896 & Grolier Club

Author:Matthews, William, 1822-1896 & Grolier Club
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Bookbinding, Bookbinding
Publisher: N.Y., Grolier Club
Published: 1889-03-25T05:00:00+00:00

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Ik now come to the finishing of the volume. Finishing is the decoration of the cover.

I The decoration of books has for ages constituted one of the principal branches of ornamental art. Mr. Libri asserts that " Ancient figured monuments often show personages holding in their hands books of which the covers are ornamented in various styles. In the Christian monuments of the primitive church not only are Jesus Christ and the Evangelists generally represented with books in their hands, but also other saints are portrayed bearing books bound very similarly to those of the present day, the sides of which are generally ornamented in different ways." It is an art that has engaged the abilities of the most distinguished artists in all ages. It has also at times, when other forma of decora^ tion have failed, been the object that has kept alive and advanced art in its decorative forms, and much

of the goldsmith's best early work can be found on the covers of valuable books, De Quincey, in reference to its connection with the fine arts, places bookbinding, printing of books, coining and making of gold and silver plate, on an isthmus, connecting them on one side with the vast continent of merely mechanical arts and on the other side with the &r smaller continent of fine arts. And Mr, Wheatley says in regard to this remark of De Qnincey's that "this is true in a double sense: for in one point of view every good binder who tries to work out an idea is an artist, whether the result is plain or ornamental; and in another the finished side of some richly tooled book is as much a work of art as any picture or drawing.''

Were it required of me to treat the subject of book decoration in a purely art sense I should feel myself quite unequal to the task. I lay no claim to a knowledge of art in its higher sense, but I will endeavor to present the subject from a practical standpoint as I have forwarding, that you may be made acquainted with the practical principles

which constitute the art and be enabled to better appreciate its difficulties.

The three usual styles of decoration are blind tooling, gilt tooling, and illuminated, or inlaid, work. Blind tooling is the impression of the tools upon the leather without gold or color. It is produced by the tools, slightly warmed, being impressed upon the leather when damped, and by the same impression being often repeated to brighten its effect. It is the oldest style of decoration on leather, and at first was of the simplest description, though later many beautiful designs were used. Many specimens of this style of decoration are seen in old veUum, parchment, and hogsMn bindings. In the earliest the impressions have undoubtedly been made by a single stamp, and later these are found duplicated and multiplied. Mr. Libri says that it would not be difficult to prove that these stamps on leather for book

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