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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.

? LA JANSENISTE.

This chaste and beautiful style is said to be derived from a religious order, and is highly esteemed by amateurs. Books bound ? 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

MODERNIZED MONASTIC.

ARABESQUE.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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

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.

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.

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.

ILLUMINATED BINDING.

To execute the more elaborate designs, practice and a taste for the arts will here alone serve the workman; without these requisites it would be futile to make the attempt. But, as the proceedings require to be executed with the utmost care, we shall enter fully into such as are new, and, from their importance, at the risk of being considered prolix, again touch on those that may have been before treated of.

The description of one side will serve the purpose of making the proceedings fully understood. Whether the material be of morocco or white vellum, it must be washed, if required, perfectly clean, and left to dry. The first operation will be--if it be for stamp-work--to place the side on the bed of the stamping-press and boldly impress the design thereon. The most elegant, and capable of the greatest display of colour, are subjects of botany and natural history. The next step will be to glaire with a camel's-hair pencil such parts of the impression as it is intended shall be afterwards covered with gold. This done, the delicate operation of colouring may be proceeded with. In London and Paris this is executed by professed artists in no way conversant with book-binding. The colours to be used must be such as do not at all, or very slightly, fade on exposure to the air or sun, such as carmine, ultramarine, indigo, burnt sienna, gamboge, and sap-green. These must be prepared, with fine gum, in the same manner as for painting, and be lightly and delicately laid on such parts of the design as it is intended the colour should occupy, taking care that the ground-colour or leather is entirely hid. Let every thing be true to nature, each bird, plant, and flower its proper colour, and a general harmony prevail throughout. When finished, let the whole perfectly dry, and then, in the manner directed, lay gold on such parts as it is intended, in the reimpression of the plate, should be further embellished. Heat the plate, place the side again under it, and give it a firm and sharp impression. Rub off the superfluous gold, and the whole of the delicate lines of the ornament will be found beautifully gilt, the colours firmly fixed by the heat of the plate, and the rough edges of the colour completely effaced by the reimpression of the original design.

In executing the less expensive and more simple designs, the plate is impressed in gold on the side, and the parts left ungilt on the leather; afterwards coloured according to the taste of the workman.

For the best class of work, after the design is impressed, either by hand or the press, pieces are cut out of variously-coloured morocco, pared thin, and neatly pasted on the side, the design, when worked, entirely concealing the edges of the morocco. This is termed inlaid work.

BLIND TOOLING.

This is an ornamental operation, applied either before or after the book has been gilt and polished, and, if judiciously intermingled with the gold, will not fail to present a good effect. It is a style that has been much used of late years, and is executed in the same way and with the same tools as for gilding, but without any gold applied on the places thus ornamented. The rolls, pallets, and smaller tools, are applied by the hand, and the large plates with the press, with the same precautions as indicated in the previous section. If the pattern consists of straight lines, and the workman possesses a good eye, the best manner of executing it is by making use of a pallet, placing it firmly on the book, and sliding it to the opposite point. It remains, therefore, to consider such matters as more immediately apply to this style of decoration.

The tools for blind tooling should not be so warm as for gilding, and particularly for morocco. If it is wished to be left dull,--that is, free from glaire,--the particles attaching themselves over the edge of the gold ornaments must be removed with the end of the finger, wrapped over with a piece of fine cloth, and wetted. This will soon wash it clean, and when dry the blind ornaments may be proceeded with.

Graining may be properly considered as a blind ornament. This is where, by the means of wooden or metal plates, the sides of a book are marked with lines crossed over each other, so as to form innumerable small squares in imitation of russia, or in imitation of the grain of morocco, scales of fish, and other substances. The operation is performed by placing the volume between the two plates even by the groove of the back, in the standing-press, and pressing it tightly down, and so even that the plate will be impressed equally over the whole surface. Nothing will look worse than a bold impression in one place and a slight one in another; and therefore it becomes of importance to see that it is evenly pressed, as a second application of some kind of plates will never be found affixed to the same places.

MODERNIZED MONASTIC OR ANTIQUE.

This style, whether done by the hand or the press, is one that requires care and patience on the part of the workman, so as to bring up the tools black, without burning or otherwise injuring the leather. We have spent much time in experiments, so as to arrive at the most certain and perfect mode of producing the desired result. The style emanated from Mr. Hayday's bindery; and a volume executed in this style for a connoisseur in this city, with tooling of a brilliant black, fell into our hands some years since, and we at once set about attempting to produce the same effects. Our efforts were confined to hand-tooling for some time; and, although inferior in effect, they were generally well received; but we were far from being satisfied. We tried every substance that could be thought of, made the leather and tools hot and dry, or wet and cold, as reason seemed to point to one or the other as the proper method. We will now communicate the results of our labours:--In the first place, the material is of the greatest importance; and the finest effects cannot be produced except upon English calf or morocco. American calf is entirely out of the question for the purpose, as the morocco is too hard on the surface, and there is not sufficient colour in the body for the tools to draw and affix it by heat to the surface; but some kinds are better adapted for the purpose than others. To test this, apply the tip of the tongue to the leather, and if the dampness lies on the surface, without sinking in, reject it; but if the dampness strikes instantly into the leather,--the quicker the better,--the workman may proceed with some hopes of success. After the volume is covered and ready for finishing, wash it evenly over with clean water; and, as soon as the water ceases to lie upon the surface, apply the tool moderately heated; this will bring up the dark colour. Afterwards go over it again with the tool, so as to make the impressions clear and bright. There are, however, some colours, as well as particular manufactures, that will not come up black; and we were long satisfied that some colouring-matter was employed. We wrote to a friend in London, who sent us the material and the method of its use. The material was common printers' ink. His communication we now make public. "In the first place, the leather should be quite damp, and the tools used should be as hot as possible without the printers' ink. Then again impressed with the printers' ink upon the tools. We put the larger tools in again without ink. When the ink is used upon the tools, the leather should be rather damp, and the tools not very hot. When the pattern is worked in the manner described, it should be left until dry, and then brushed with a brush, not very stiff, which will give a brilliant gloss to the tooling." When using printers' ink, be careful not to get too much on the tools.

Let the young workman but follow the directions given, and, with a little patience and reflection, he will be able to do work of the character under consideration, fully equal to the efforts of the best workman, provided that the tools be worked true and even.

POLISHING.

The details of this operation, which is performed immediately after the gold ornaments have been worked, have been reserved in order that the whole of the ornamental department might be kept together. Morocco, roan, silk, and velvet, and the blind ornaments on any substance, must never be submitted to the action of the polisher. A smart rubbing with a piece of rough calf will be sufficient for the two former, and the velvet or silk will merely require cleaning with any smooth substance or with India-rubber.

There are two polishers,--one for the back and bands, and another for the sides. The oil applied on the cover previous to laying on the gold will be sufficient to make the polisher glide easily over the surface. The polisher must be heated, and well cleaned on a board, and passed quickly and evenly on the back, sides, or joints, as the case may be, taking especial care that it is not too hot, as the glaire would thereby be turned white and the work damaged in appearance, nor so cold as to give a bad polish.

The book, as gilt, must be first polished on the back, by taking it with the left hand, resting it on the table, and polished with the right hand by gliding backwards and forwards the smooth part of the polisher on the whole extent of the back. This not only polishes the surface, but smooths down the indentations formed upon the leather by the gilding-tools, bringing up the gilding to the surface. The polisher must be passed on such places only as it is wished to make brilliant, and great care taken not to touch the places intended to be left dull.

The sides are similarly polished, by laying the volume on the table, covered with baize, and passing the large iron quickly over, first from the fore-edge towards the groove, and then, by turning the volume in a contrary way, from the tail to the head.

If the joint requires polishing, the book is laid before the workman, the tail towards him, and the iron applied on the side next the groove, polishing the whole length of the board; then, turning round the volume, and bringing the fore-edge towards him, he polishes the side on the fore-edge, and, turning again, completes the whole by polishing the parts at the head and tail.

In addition to polishing, it is desirable to give to the sides the greatest possible smoothness by pressing them between polished tins or horns. These are placed on each side of the book even by the groove, put between pressing-boards, and screwed tightly in the press, and left for some time.

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