By the aid of a form obtained in some such manner as the above, it is possible to restore the effaced ornaments, provided that the leather is prepared to receive and hold the gold. Let me note in passing that it is difficult for inexperienced amateurs to set gold smoothly; only long practice will make this possible. Necessarily, the very thin gold leaf always covers and reaches beyond the spot to be tooled. It is essential that the iron be pressed exactly upon the spot intended to receive it, which is very difficult to accomplish. Moreover, the gold must be kept smooth and fresh over the entire impression. Perhaps one might substitute for the gold leaf a coat of gold powder spread over the design, which should be coated with albuminous paste (glaire) to hold the powder.
One sometimes wishes, also, to rectify a defective title or erroneous date on the binding. The simplest method is to stamp the desired lettering or date on an odd bit of leather, which is then applied to the book. The amateur may do this himself if he has the necessary letter, a form to hold them, and a certain amount of skill.
Suppose a case where, in a title anciently gilt and which one wishes to preserve, there is a single letter or a single character to change. It is first necessary to efface the letter or character to be replaced. To do this, it is touched with a drop of alcohol; on wiping it, the varnish which may have covered the gold is removed. If the gold resists thorough rubbing, chemical compositions may be tried. I would not advise, however, the use of aqua-regia, the infallible dissolvent of gold, because it would disorganize the leather. I think that a drop of mercury, applied hot upon a letter by means of an iron or sunrays through a lens, would absorb and amalgamate the metallic particles. In any case, there would still remain a moulded impression which might be removed, I think, by swelling the leather at that spot by means of a jet of steam applied through a very narrow glass tube.[26]
The impression effaced, or at least reduced, one may proceed to replace the corrected letter. For this, a letter or figure matching the others in size and character must be secured. Sometimes it is necessary for the amateur to make this himself. This can be done by securing a fragment of rolled copper and, with the aid of small pincers, fashioning the profile of the desired letter on its edge. The thickness of the metal would form the thickness of the letter’s face; strokes required slender may be pared with a knife. With a little care and skill, the desired character may be produced. The bit of metal is then set in a handle of plaster or clay, which is allowed to dry and harden.
TRANSFERRING ANCIENT COVERS. Is it possible to transfer the covers of works richly bound, but valueless inside, to the boards of other books more precious in their text and more deserving of the transferred binding? Some of our binders have replied in the affirmative.
Many a volume has retained virginal the splendour of its original binding simply because the text has been tiresome and insipid. In this class appear certain volumes of indigestible theology, “Sacred works and not to be touched,” as Voltaire remarked, and those odes of court-flattery, insipidly rhymed in doggerel, in aristocratic liveries, addressed to high personages who paid for them but who never read them. From books of such sorts, one may, without remorse, lift the precious coverings. However, to make use of them, it is necessary that all their dimensions correspond with the new volumes on which it is proposed to place them. The old books in good condition are easily despoiled when there is no need to be careful of the cording, the fly leaves or the boards. The process requiring the most time is that of scraping away the dry paste which adheres here and there to the inside of the leather after its removal. I have re-covered more than one quarto in covers of gold tooled vellum lifted from books of the same format. When the back was too narrow or too wide, I replaced this part, but then the cover was formed of three pieces. When the back was of the right width, I effaced the old title, generally lettered in ink, by means of sorrel-salt, and inscribed the new title in the same place but with Chinese ink. Where the old title happened to be gilt, I covered it with a new piece of skin, finding it too laborious to efface all the letters by the process mentioned above.
Let us suppose it is necessary to replace upon a rare volume, changing only the boards, the old contemporary binding which covered it. If the skin is worn on the edges and corners and at the hinges, removing it without injury from the old boards is a very delicate operation. However, it may be done, even without moistening the leather, by using the skill and patience which both come from practice. Our binders, in cases where expense has not been in consideration, have executed more than one feat of this kind. Only, nearly always, they are obliged to renew the parts injured by use and the end papers. They apply, here and there, to the new boards bits of leather matching the tint of the old, reset the preserved cover, still charged with the rich ornaments which constitute its value and, upon the portions renewed, restore the gilding after the model of that which they have before them. More than one binder has succeeded, with great skill, in placing upon a new foundation the splendid cover of a very rare book without being obliged to go to the regrettable extreme of a second sewing and trimming. It is even possible, with the exercise of great care, to clean the sheets, one by one, and repair the torn and missing places, without separating the book; but one can see that such restorations are a matter of expense and not suitable except for books of considerable value. I believe that there exist in Paris binders of sufficient skill to replace a cover “in octavo,” transposing it without injury to the volume and without leaving the least trace of this difficult operation.