Tooled in Blind and Gold;
Some British Bindings at Columbia

ALICE H. BONNELL

Other examples of fine bookbindijrg in the Columbia Libraries have
been the subject of earlier articles in our journal—French bindings in
the November i^S4 issue, pp. 1^-2^, and early American ones in the
February 1^6} issue, pp. 25-5 /. Now the focus is on some of the British
ones.                                                                           editor's note

A LTHOUGH books in various forms have a history of
/'\ nearly five thousand years, the book as we know it to-
A )\ day began its development less than two thousand years
ago when the continuous roll of parchment or papyrus was gradu¬
ally replaced by the codex. This book of leaves required covers
for protection, the smooth surface of which invited ornament.
Metal-work, painting and cloth were variously used to cover the
boards, but, at an early date, leather was found to be the most
satisfactory material. Thus it is that the history of decorative
bookbinding is, in large measure, the history of the working of
leather.

The exact origins of this craft are not entirely known, but indi¬
cations seem to point to Egypt as the place where leather was first
worked and decorated as an art. The skill of the Egyptian and
Coptic craftsmen was carried by the Moslems to southern Europe,
whence it spread over the continent. With the introduction of
finer leather (morocco) and the art of gold tooling (also thought
to have originated in Morocco), the craft of fine bookbinding
reached great heights.

The earliest known leather binding of k'nglish workmanship to
survive is considered to be of the 9th or loth century,^ although

1 Hobson, G. D., English Binding before lyoo. Cambridge University Press,
1929, p. 1.

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