Part 3

Next came the "drawing on" of the cover. The binder cut a piece of calfskin approximately ¾ inch larger all around than the covers of the book opened out flat, and with his skiving knife pared the margins of the leather very thin. After the leather had been well soaked with water on the outer or grain side and with paste on the inner side, the binder carefully molded it around the spine and smoothed it onto the boards--being careful not to stretch it. The pared margins were then turned in and the volume, except for minor touches and drying, was finally ready to be decorated.

Having decided on the pattern of decoration he wished to apply, the binder heated the appropriate brass tools to "blind in" the design. The tools had to be hot enough to make a sharp impression in the leather, but not hot enough to burn it. Each had to be pressed into the leather with just the right weight--not too much and not too little--to produce the desired effect.

If the pattern was also to be gilded, the binder prepared a solution of white-of-egg, called "glair," and painted it into the blind impressions. Having laid gold leaf thereon, he again pressed the same heated tools carefully in the same indentations. The excess gold was then wiped off and the leather cleaned with diluted vinegar and dressed with a good leather dressing.

Finally, the endpapers were pasted down to the insides of the boards and the book was complete. It took perhaps eight to ten hours of actual working time for a single volume, but spaced over as much as two weeks to allow drying time between processes.

_THE WILLIAMSBURG BINDERY TODAY_

Just as the printing office of William Parks and his successors stood on Duke of Gloucester Street in Williamsburg two centuries ago, so it stands again today on its original site. Again today it includes a bindery where gentlemen and ladies may bespeak books to be bound or rebound in the most exact manner and the most elegant taste. The master binder assures his patrons that he uses only the best materials and can, if they so wish, decorate a volume with the egg, the Mousetrap, or any other roll or ornament in his stock that pleases their fancy.

For he not only uses the same kinds of tools used in the eighteenth century; some of them are actually recut to produce replicas of the old patterns. And his methods of work, too, are the same that were employed in this shop by men who put sturdy covers on the volumes of William Byrd II, Thomas Jefferson, and Norborne Berkeley--otherwise titled Lord Botetourt.

_SUGGESTIONS FOR FURTHER READING_

Those who may be interested in pursuing further either the historical or the handicraft aspects of bookbinding will find the following list useful. Most of these books also include bibliographies or reading lists.

Susan Stromei Berg, comp., _Eighteenth-Century Williamsburg Imprints._ New York: Clearwater Publishing Co., 1986.

Vito J. Brenni, _Bookbinding: A Guide to the Literature._ Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Press, 1982.

Edith Diehl, _Bookbinding, Its Background and Technique._ 5th ed. rev. Port Washington, N. Y.: Kennikat Press, 1965.

Hannah D. French, _Bookbinding in Early America: Seven Essays on Masters and Methods._ Worcester: American Antiquarian Society, 1986.

David Muir, _Binding and Repairing Books by Hand._ New York: Arco Publishing Co., 1977.

Howard M. Nixon, _Five Centuries of English Bookbinding._ London: Scholar Press, 1978.

Matt T. Roberts and Don Etherington, _Bookbinding and the Conservation of Books: A Dictionary of Descriptive Terminology._ Washington, D. C.: Library of Congress, 1982.

C. Clement Samford and John M. Hemphill II, _Bookbinding in Colonial Virginia._ Williamsburg, Va.: Colonial Williamsburg Foundation, 1966.

Walters Art Gallery, _The History of Bookbinding, 525-1950 A.D._ Baltimore: The Trustees of the Walters Art Gallery, 1957.

Lawrence C. Wroth, _The Colonial Printer._ Portland, Me.: Southworth-Anthoensen Press, 1938.

Laura S. Young, _Bookbinding and Conservation by Hand: A Working Guide._ New York: R. R. Bowker Co., 1981.

_The Bookbinder in Eighteenth-Century Williamsburg_ was first published in 1959 and previously reprinted in 1964, 1970, 1973, 1978, and 1986. Written by Thomas K. Ford, editor of publications at Colonial Williamsburg until 1976, it is based largely on a monograph prepared jointly by C. Clement Samford, then the master bookbinder, and John M. Hemphill II, a member of the Department of Research. The monograph has been published as _Bookbinding in Colonial Virginia_ (Williamsburg Research Studies, 1966).

Transcriber's Notes

--Retained publication information from the printed edition: this eBook is public-domain in the country of publication.

--Silently corrected a few palpable typos.

--In the text versions only, text in italics is delimited by _underscores_.