The book is now ready to be covered.
(10) If the book is covered with leather, the leather is carefully pared all round the edges and along the line of the back, to make the edges sharp and the joints free.
(11) The book having been covered, the depression on the inside of the boards caused by the overlap of the leather is filled in with paper, so that the entire inner surface may be smooth and even, and ready to receive the first and last leaves of the end-papers, which finally are cut to shape and pasted down, leaving the borders only uncovered.
Sometimes, however, the first and last leaves of the "end-papers" are of silk, and the "joint" of leather, in which case, of course, the end-papers are not pasted down, but the insides of the boards are independently treated, and are covered, sometimes with leather, sometimes with silk or other material.
The book is now "forwarded," and passes into the hands of the "finisher" to be tooled or decorated, or "finished" as it is called.
The decoration in gold on the surface of leather is wrought out, bit by bit, by means of small brass stamps called "tools."
The steps of the process are shortly as follows:—
(12) The pattern having been settled and worked out on paper, it is "transferred" to, or marked out on, the various surfaces to which it is to be applied.
Each surface is then prepared in succession, and, if large, bit by bit, to receive the gold.
(13) First the leather is washed with water or with vinegar.