Leathers with a prominent grained surface, such as morocco, seal or pig skin, may either have the grain rough or crushed flat. If there is to be much finishing, the grain had better be crushed, but for large books that are to have only a small amount of finishing, the grain is best left unflattened.
Fig. 82.
If the grain of the leather is to be “crushed,” it may be done at this stage. To do this, one board at a time is damped with a sponge and put in the standing-press, with a pressing plate on the grained side, and a pad of blotting-paper, or some such yielding substance, on the other (see [fig. 83]). The press is then screwed up tight, and the board left for a short time. For some leathers this operation is best done after the binding has been finished and varnished, in which case, of course, the boards cannot be damped before pressing. No flexibly sewn book should be subject to great pressure after it has been covered, or the leather on the back may crinkle up and become detached.
The next thing will be to decide what lettering and what decoration, if any, is to be put on the volume. The lettering should be made out first (see page [215]). If the book is to be at all elaborately decorated, paper patterns must be made out, as described in Chapter XVI.
Fig. 83.
For tooling the back, the book is held in the finishing press between a pair of backing boards lined with leather (see [fig. 84]), and the paper pattern put across the back, with the ends either slightly pasted to the backing boards, or caught between them and the book.