CHAPTER III.

To correctly locate the sources of skin supply suitable for bookbinding is not easy, in consequence of original breeds having been transplanted to equally suitable climes over the seas. In many cases purity of breed has been maintained, while in the majority, deterioration has set in, due to desire for heavier beasts: therefore the purposes of this chapter will be best met if original breeds are described and their general _habitat_ located. The animals which furnish skins suitable in quality and quantity to meet the increasing demands of to-day are: sheep, goat, calf, seal, and pig or hog. Other animals may produce skins good for bookbinding, but a description of the foregoing will afford ample illustration.

The sheepskin takes first place in regard to quantity. Probably more than two-thirds of modern commercial bindings are represented by this much-abused skin, which is frequently so skilfully manipulated as to deceive even an expert, that it is not what it is represented to be. After the pelt has been split or cut in twain--the grain part after tanning being termed "a skiver," and the flesh after dressing designated chamois--the former is so manipulated with dyes, finishes, and embossing, that surface or grain detection is extremely difficult, say, between a true morocco or embossed skiver. Much of this so-called misrepresentation has been created by the public, who order their books to be covered in "leather," which they are pleased to think is morocco, or pig or seal, when reflection should tell them that it cannot be genuine at the price they have paid, often for book and binding complete. This "faking" is very largely accomplished upon sheepskin, because it readily lends itself to such alterations both by nature and price; but when such leathers are employed they should be correctly described by the binder. Sheepskins have a large place in the commercial bookbinderies and affections of the public at large, and there is no reason why they should not only hold their ground, but succeed in displacing the cloth imitations of leather; and, provided the skins are selected from suitable breeds, they should find a place in the binding of certain classes of books intended for permanent reference in libraries.

The sheep as a family are divided into two classes: the Upland and Lowland breeds. The Upland class inhabit the mountain ranges, and while possessing a short firm wool, have a mass of close thick hair underneath. Their habits and life make the character of meat and skin approach a goat nearer than any other animal. The parent stock are the argali or wild sheep of the Himalaya, and the "Musmon" of the Andes and Sierra Nevadas. Fuller particulars will be found in the "Royal Natural History," by Richard Lydekker, B.A., F.R.S., Vol. 2, pp. 212 to 234. The Upland sheep of to-day vary in purity or closeness to the parent stock according to the source of supply. In certain Mongolian, Arabian and Welsh sheep it is not easy to discriminate between them and a true goat, after the wool has been removed. It is the skins of such sheep that are suitable for binding books in libraries where price and hard wear are a consideration. Sheep-grazing countries having high altitudes would be probable sources of supply of such skins. Great Britain, through Wales, Cumberland, Westmorland, and the Highlands of Scotland provides many millions of skins a year to the cotton spinning trade, for covering drawing rollers, an operation calling for a hard-wearing grained skin.

In practice it has been found that sheepskins yield the most lasting results when tanned slowly in oak-bark liquors; the product is a tighter and more solid skin than when tanned in sumach, though sumach may be used in given cases, or a combination of both. Commercially valued, the upland sheepskins sell at prices varying from 2-1/2d. to 9d. per square foot, when finished according to the Society of Arts' Bookbinding Committee's Report.

The Lowland breed, commonly known as domestic sheep (Ovis aries) are found wherever there are grazing lands. In sheep grazing, the graziers' "object" varies. It may be the "wool or the flesh." If the former, the skin is usually unfavourable for binding purposes, while if the latter, a large portion find their way to the sheepskin splitters, who by machinery of considerable delicacy split the skins into what are known in the trade as grains and fleshes. The grains alone interest us, being subsequently tanned into skivers. This class of leather has its use in low-price trade bindings of flexible character, and as such competes and compares in price and durability successfully with any imitations.

To make skivers suitable in wearing qualities it is advisable to take the plain dyed class, reasonably stout, tanned in sumach, and dyed without mineral acid, dried out with a little stretch left in, and if they are required as tough as it is possible to obtain a grain, a little nourishing material may be used to advantage. By following these lines it will reduce the risk of imitations. Though "paste grain," "long grain," and "glazed skivers" will still find a market among binders, they must not be classed among the "Imitations." Skivers are sold from about 1d. to 5d. per square foot.

Before proceeding further it may be well to point out that the skins from old or very young animals should be avoided, although old animals are a rarity. Exceptionally large skins in their class should be viewed with suspicion, likewise very small ones. The former may indicate weakness, and the latter want of maturity. This must in practice have a general application.

The goat (Genus Capra) finds most favour as furnishing a suitable skin among binders. This animal, in the proper sense of the word "goat" exclusive, belongs to the Old World, being confined to the area north of the southern flanks of the Himalaya, though one species is found in Egypt and another in Abyssinia, but quite unknown in the remainder of Africa. In America the term "goat" is applied to our ruminant. While being essentially a mountain animal, goat breeding has become a business to-day throughout the world, which has been laid under contribution to supply the enormous demand which has been created during the past twenty years by the chrome glacé kid manufacturers, one maker alone requiring 5,000 dozen skins per diem to keep his factory running full. The skins generally employed for book purposes are the European and Northern African supplies, though many other sources are equally suitable. Goat skins, on account of their firm nature are best tanned in pure sumach (Sicilian). Time has conclusively proved this point. In the Rylands Library in Manchester (Eng.) are two heavy volumes bound in plain undyed sumach-tanned goat-skins which were bound in Spain in the 16th century, and are to-day in a perfect state of preservation. The Niger skins (mixed goat and sheep) which have found favour among certain bookbinders are produced from a breed of Egyptian goats, tanned and prepared by Nigerian natives with a species of nut-galls which gives them that peculiar close, tight feel, and when such firmness is required in European stock it may be equally effectively produced with oak bark. The large proportion of so-called moroccos offered to-day are made from skins tanned in East India with a catechol tannin. It is unfortunate that this tannage has failed to withstand the tests supplied by the Scientific Committee appointed by the Society of Arts on Bookbinding Leathers, because it excludes from the Binding Trade a very useful and cheap supply of pretty looking and feeling skin ready to hand for finishing in moroccos. While condemned for permanent library work--that is, guaranteed leathers--the writer sees no reason why such leathers may not safely be used for Lending Library work, where the life of a binding is not expected to run more than ten years, provided the surplus tan is washed out and replaced by some nourishing material (fat), and in all processes inorganic acids and alkalis are avoided. Goat-skins differ from other animals mainly in the pronounced grain formations, while the texture of the skin is closer and firmer than a sheep, the grain is harder, more scale like, the papillæ between which the hair-holes are situate are most marked, and it is their formation which produces during the operation of "boarding" the grained morocco with its beautiful nodules. If these nodules or grains are bold and large it indicates a thick skin originally. Such grains cannot be expected upon a thin skin--it implies either over-reduction (shaving) in substance or embossing. Thin skins will produce a small shortlike grain. If the grain is fine on a large skin it may have been reduced too much in substance, and thereby loses most of its muscular structure and strength. It is necessary when buying moroccos, which are not only expensive but are expected to yield longevity and be hard wearing, to obtain a manufacturer's guarantee that the skins are genuine goat (Genus Capra) and not mountain sheep (Argali) or bastards, and that they have been prepared in accordance with the Society of Arts' Report on Bookbinding. In value the moroccos vary considerably in price, according to substance, size, quality, and character. The skins are generally bought in the dry pelt state with hair on at per lb., the large, plump, well-flayed skins commanding higher prices than less favoured ones. In this state it is difficult to detect grain faults, consequently to the manufacturer it is somewhat of a speculation, and unless he is well informed in his trade he stands to lose heavily. Generally speaking the prime clear grains go into bright colours at higher prices than defective grains, which can be hidden by darker colour with the aid of a suitable finish. For example, the colour of the Niger skins previously referred to is an excellent one for hiding grain defects. The amount of absolutely perfect skins is small, but the remainder are good skins in their class for half-bound work. The perfect skins will realise up to 2s. 6d. per square foot, and according to quality and colour the balance will range down to 8d. per square foot.

Calf skins have long been favoured for bookbinding, but through much variety of tannages and faulty selection of skins have been brought somewhat into disrepute for permanent work, but if prepared by slow tanning in oak bark or sumach there is no reason why they should not be reinstated. Undoubtedly the calf is favoured by Nature with the finest and silkiest grains of all animals, and though too tender for rough usage, is nevertheless, if suitably nourished, capable of standing greater wear than it is credited with. Calf skins for bookbinding are the product of the domestic ox (Bos taurus), and as this useful animal is bred the world over, we are not wanting in supplies, nor is one land more favoured than another. If the principle is accepted that small books require small thin skins, as the books increase in size so should the skins and substance, a great difficulty will be overcome, because in buying calf one of the fatal mistakes made is the stipulation that large skins must be thin. If this is insisted upon they must be split or shaved of all their muscular tissue till merely the grain or skiver is left. A reasonable amount of shaving is permissible, but splitting is disastrous. Calf skins are invariably free from grain faults, so that for delicate shades of colour they are particularly suitable. The grain does not lend itself to any very definite formation in boarding (graining), therefore calf by preference should be left smooth. In the raw state they are purchased by the pound, and such cost being a governing factor in selling, the price when finished may vary from 8d. to 1s. 8d. per square foot.

The skins of seal (family Phocidæ) are most useful for bookbinding, possessing special features, viz.: evenness of quality throughout, there being no flanky or abdominal parts, extremely durable and producing pretty grains either coarse or fine, dependent upon the substance and character of the skins. The sources of supply are Russia, Norway, Spitzbergen, Greenland, Labrador, and Newfoundland, the largest supply coming from the latter place. Isolated supplies have been shipped from the Falkland Islands and Antarctic. These are the true or earless seals (family Phocidæ), commonly called hair seals in contradistinction to the fur or eared seal (family Otaridæ) which inhabit the Pacifics. As a leather for bookwork when tanned with a pyrogallol tannage it is soft and kind to the touch, having few equals and no superiors. It is essentially a hard-wearing leather and in this respect only equalled by certain classes of goat-skins and pig or hog skins. The "grained" skins exhibit a grain which sparkles in a manner which is peculiarly characteristic and absent in other grained leathers. The value of seal-skins, finished, ranges from 10d. to 2s. per square foot. The former are useful for half-bound books.

Finally, pig or hog skins have played an important part in ancient bindings of all sizes, and proved their great value as a hard wearing cover by coming down to us in a remarkable state of preservation, even on very heavy tomes. But, regretfully, some discredit has been cast upon this splendid skin, partly due to ignorance in manufacture, also to the very clever imitations. It is, perhaps, one of the easiest skins to reproduce in its grain features and solid character, though the imitations are easily detected by immersing a piece of the suspected leather in water until saturated, then pulling it out with the hands to stretch when the grain, which is produced by embossing, will disappear, while the true hog grain will remain showing clear hair holes through from grain to flesh. A hog-skin may be said to be practically fibreless, approaching nearer to a piece of tough gristle than anything else. In the raw state the skins are shipped from southern Europe, Danubian and Balkan States, China and the East generally, while North America has an almost unlimited supply, but Scotland produces the finest and most esteemed. In size they vary considerably, like all skin supplies, but a most useful skin for binders' use will contain about 11 to 12 square feet. Slow oak-bark tanning is most suitable for this class of skin. Sumach may with advantage be employed after tanning to prepare them for the "dressing" or "finishing" process, but no mechanical or chemical means should be employed to overcome a too gristly nature, otherwise its unique capacity to withstand the act of attrition is proportionately decreased, or if some similar means are adopted to attain evenness of shade in dyeing, the same result may be expected: therefore, so far as it is practicable, this skin should be used in its natural state, if full durability is required.

Pigskins containing 11 to 12 square feet may be purchased, according to their quality and degree of manufacture, from 8d. to 1s. 4d. per square foot.