BOOKBINDING, SPECIAL AMERICAN. 



between forty and fifty. Those that are used for 

 what is called " tooling " are innumerable. A 

 book is said to be " finished " when the various 

 final tool impressions upon the inside or double, 

 and the outside of the book's cover are complete. 

 If the tool-markings are made without using 

 gold-leaf, or some substitute, the book is said to 

 be " blind-tooled." All books that are gold-tooled 

 must first be blind-tooled, after which the impress 

 of the heated tool must at least be duplicated 

 exactly in the depression made by the blind-tool- 

 ing, and if the smallest deviation takes place be- 

 cause of an unsteady hand or otherwise, the varia- 

 tion remains upon the book and can not be suc- 

 cessfully taken out. Sometimes more than 2,000 

 separate impressions are made upon a compara- 

 tively simple book-cover in the decorative process. 

 If the decoration be very elaborate, the number 

 of tool impressions of course multiplies. 



The more one studies the art of bookbinding 

 the more complex does it appear, and when some 

 little theoretical familiarity with it is reached, a 

 finely bound book is no longer taken up with in- 

 difference and unconcern. The very " feel " of the 

 morocco now the favorite binding for fine books 

 which is the native tanned skin of a mountain 

 goat, is full of pleasure to the enthusiast. The 

 skin derives the name of morocco from the 

 African country in which the goats are found in 

 considerable numbers. Levant morocco comes 

 from the Mediterranean ports of the Levant. Red 

 morocco is generally considered by binders to be 

 less liable to fade than any other color. There are 

 many other binding materials, among which may 

 be named alligator skin, roan or sheepskin, calf- 

 skin, pigskin, Russia, -sealskin, and a very recent 

 product called " niger calf." A freak binding that 

 has been sometimes used is human skin. The 

 book-lover who has reached the proper stage of 

 development will derive a certain pleasure from 

 the mere handling of his full-morocco books that 

 is quite incomprehensible to others. His knowl- 

 edge of the processes through which they have 

 passed will be another source of pleasure to him, 

 and a book that has been specially bound will 

 have lurking charms for him that are securely 

 hidden from all but brother bibliophiles. 



Some very pleasing work in bookbinding has 

 been done by such concerns as the Merrymount 

 Press, Boston; Thomas B. Mosher, Portland, Me.; 

 the Craftsmen's Guild, Boston ; the Brothers of the 

 Book, Gouverneur, N. Y.; the Laurentian Press, 

 New York; and Thomas Maitland Cleland, in 

 what are known as limited-edition issues. Many 

 bookbinders, both here and in England, now take 

 a certain number of pupils. The course varies 

 from about seven months in some American bind- 

 eries to twelve months in the general English 

 shop. In France the course is much longer. Many 

 women are turning their attention to bookbind- 

 ing as an occupation, and some very fine results 

 have been obtained by them. The charges for 

 tuition in bookbinding vary greatly, but range 

 from $350 to '$2,000 a year. Bookbinding is now 

 taught in many of the technical schools in the 

 larger American cities. Some amateur binders ap- 

 pear to think that the preliminary processes of 

 bookbinding are not so important as are the 

 finishing ones. As a result, they produce books 

 that are fair to exterior observation, but lack 

 the lasting qualities. Their sewing is often 

 poorly done in consequence, and without good 

 sewing it is impossible to have really good bind- 

 ing. In the perfect book, good forwarding and 

 good finishing go hand in hand. The result must 

 be that the book, while giving eye pleasure, has 

 also the quality of stability. In the hands of a 



good binder it is so made that the book may be 

 easily and fully opened and used without damage 

 to the binding. The inside and outside aro in 

 harmony, and the thing of beauty is a joy forever. 



VIENNESE INLAY BINDING BY SCHLEUNING & ADAMS, DE- 

 SIGNED BY RALPH RANDOLPH ADAMS. 

 Yellow morocco ground. Heraldic colorings proper. 



Watered silks and satins, as well as vellum, or 

 various fancy end papers, are used for fly-leaves in 

 special bindings. Painting, as a decoration for 

 bookbinding, is seldom used at present. The same 

 *is true in regard to the embroidering of book- 

 bindings, once so high in favor among old Eng- 

 lish binders. Some of the earlier binders used cer- 

 tain tools so persistently that they became char- 

 acteristic, and now carry the originating binder's 

 name. Thus we have a Le Gascon * border and 

 Venetian and Grolier ornaments. Roger Payne 

 was accustomed to cut his own tools. The simi- 

 larity of design forms used by Derome and Pade- 

 loup has been explained on the theory that the 

 former purchased the tools ot the latter at the 

 sale of his effects after his death. A Janseniste 

 binding shows a perfectly plain exterior, but lav- 

 ishes a wealth of decoration in tooling and inlay 

 upon the book's double, and to show the glories 

 of the binder's achievement the book must first 

 be opened. The number of eminent binders in 

 New York city is greater than in any other city, 

 but scattered all over the land are those who are 

 working to good purpose in this field. The Club 

 Bindery (New York) is doing some most excellent 

 binding, but its bindings are unfortunately sel- 

 dom seen outside of the shop of execution or at 

 the Grolier Club, whence it sprang. Most of the 

 workmen at the Club Bindery are importations, 

 and the work done there is largely to the order 

 of members of the Grolier Club, although some 

 outside commissions are undertaken. 



The bookbinding that has thus far come from 

 the Roycroft Shop has not filled the full measure 

 of ideality, but some of it shows signs of great 

 promise. It has originated some very pleasing 

 design forms, but has not yet accomplished its full 



