THE PUNCHED OR CHASED
GILT-EDGE.
The procedure by which the effect of the gilt-edge is enhanced and enlivened by chasing is very old, in fact nearly as old as the gilt-edge itself. It has been driven out of the market as many another thing by over production and has finally become obsolete. In recent times it has been taken up again on account of the progress in the industrial arts and is now very highly esteemed. The design for such a decoration of gilt-edges should always be prepared by an artist and should always conform strictly to the decorations of the cover.
Technically, the production of such edges is not difficult. Some talent for drawing and a sure hand are necessary, but the artist is repaid for his labor by the interest he derives from the execution of such kind of work.
There are two ways of producing them.
The first makes the ornament appear bright, while the ground remains dull, in the other the dull ornament appears on the shining ground surface.
The first is the more effective and the more easily produced.
The gilt-edge is here to be treated like every other plain gilt-edge, to produce dull ground, burnish with a piece of paper between the book edge and the burnisher.