674 ^^^ POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



to the surface to "be decorated, and the pattern is reimpressed on 

 the paper, and so through on to the surface of the book. 



3. The paper is now removed, and the pattern on the book is 

 reimpressed with hot tools to make the impression crisp and dis- 

 tinct. 



4. At this stage a different process begins. The surface of the 

 cover, with the pattern impressed upon it as described, is taken 

 bit by bit and treated as follows : 



1. First it is moistened with water or vinegar. 



2. Then the pattern is penciled over with " glaire," which is a 

 liquid composed of the white of an Qg^ beaten up and drained off. 



3. Then, when the glaire is dry, the surface is lightly touched 

 with oil or grease to give a hold to the gold leaf next to be ap- 

 plied. 



4. Then the gold leaf, cut to the size and shape of the portion 

 of the cover to be operated on, is applied by a flat brush called 

 a " tip," and pressed down by a pad of cotton-wool to reveal the 

 pattern underneath. 



5. Then, and finally, the pattern with the gold upon it is gone 

 over again with the hot tools, and the gold is impressed into it. 

 The rest of the gold is rubbed away with an oiled rag, and the 

 pattern is now displayed permanently in gold and " finished." 



The description is easy how easy ! but the craft is difiicult. 

 Gold can not be persuaded to stick as a friend may be persuaded 

 to stay ; it must be made to stick i. e., all the conditions upon 

 which successful gold tooling depends must in all cases be observed, 

 and there is the rub ! What in each case and the circumstances 

 are never quite the same are the conditions ? How divine them ? 

 A little more or a little less makes so much difi'erence. How dry 

 may the leather be, or how damp must it be ? How much glaire ? 

 How hot must the tools be ? When is the moment to begin ? 

 Then how difiicult it is correctly to manipulate the tools, to keep 

 them even upon the leather ! How difficult, finally, to keep the 

 leather, throughout all the long and difficult operation, perfectly 

 clean and the gold brilliant ! What patience, what natural apti- 

 tude, what acquired skill, what fortitude! . "The city sparkles 

 like a grain of salt." " Shall I ever succeed ? " the apprentice may 

 well ask himself. " Shall I ever attain to such skill, to such con- 

 sciousness of power, that I shall not even know liow to fail ? " In 

 this difficulty, too, and in the effort and ambition to overcome it, 

 lies a further difficulty, the snare of the art, the temptation of the 

 finisher. He becomes engrossed in it the finisher in mere finish- 

 ing. He pursues it positively, and not in subordination to design. 

 And he achieves victory at last, only to find that what he should 

 have achieved, the thing beautiful, has escaped him. He can tool 

 but he can not design ; and he has so magnified execution that 



