The art of doing this with highly decorated leather was first practised by the Coptic Church in Egypt, and became common with the 15th century development of printing. Gerry continues the craft of leatherbinding books by hand, in tandem with using modern methods for binding paperbacks, thesis and ring binders. He can re-cover and old volume, find bind special editions, or prepare a presentation book. The sheets come from the printer in sections, or signatures, often folded into 64 pages, or two 32-page sections, these are side sewn on a machine that will stitch each section to the next, holding them together. The book is trimmed in preparation for being gilt on three edges with gold foil, which is applied with heat and a little size.
Gilt helps to prevent the pages of the book from becoming dusty.
Traditionally either calf or goat skin is used, cut to size with a clip knife and 'skived' or pared down, so that it will turn neatly over the edges. A more expensive finish would be to bevel three edges of the board. The leather is pasted onto the board and eased over the raided bands which are firmly brought into profile using a pliers. The volume is left overnight in a press to prevent the leather warping the boards. The next day the end papers are put in, and it is replaced in the press for a week.