The daily morning journal and courier., 1905-02-17

per. the wood pulp in which quickly goes to pieces. But apparently our book-bindings are in an equally bad way. Cloth is but a makeshift, yet perhaps it will outlive the leather bindings now being made. On this subject a book-binder said to repre- sentative of the London Daily News:
 Look at this book. It is three cen turies old, and yet the leather is as sound as on the day it was cut from the hide. l could not guarantee that even the leather which I put on my best work will last as this has done, and carry my name down the ages. l do. not make my own leather. We do not tan to-day, as they tanned in old ell days; and the trouble comes partly from the tanning. partly from the acid dyeing, and partly from the al tered conditions under which books live. No leather, however good, will stand years of exposure to the fumes of gas. The atmosphere of towns is generally bad for leather-bound books, especially when they are left undis- t1rbed on the bookshelves. The fumes act chemically on the leather, and set up sIilphuric acid. Naturally, where there is already sulphuric acid in the leather the process of decay is much more rapid.
 T know of only one firm which pro- fesses to sell leather absolutely inno- cent of acid. They all use acid; some more, some less. Some colors, such as greens, require more acid than other colors. Some feathers, before they can be dyed at all evenly, so as to be dyed profitahly, have first to be bleached nearly white with acid. Some process es seem to require more acid. Russia leather is so charged with acid that I have entirely given up using it, except when customers insist on having it af- ter I have told them what the result must be. It is so bad that it perishes even before I can use it.'
 The binder showed the interviewer a number of pleasantly smelling hides of Russia" leather tanned in London. The perfume was still there, but the leather was so rotten that it would tear like paper, and its surface would break up beneath the thumb-nail. That" continued the book-binder, has not been on my premises more than a year. I suppose it has not been tanned for onger than fifteen months at the outside. It cost me close upon two shillings a square foot and it is useless" ,.:
 Here" and he picked up a, pretty ! volume of series specially addressed to 'book lovers.'' It was bound in what appeared to be natural undyed pigskin. Beautiful to look at isn't it It is sheepskin into which that pigskin l pattern has been rolled. Sheepskin is utterly useless as a book cover. But almost all the cheap leather bindings | are made. out of sheepskin. Some of them-'roans,'' as. they, are called-are such excellent limitations in appear ance of genuine, goat that after they are made up could not myself say positively that they were imitation. A hide of roam costs about one-sixth Of the price of a genuine goat hide, | You can therefore guess how much real goat is used.n .<<....
 The leather seller informed the inter- | NtS"St thll Aouid llol hides free from acid, and did not be. lieve that dyed leather was produced without acid. He was so certain of it that he would not pretend to attempt to procure a hide which could be guar anteed. After a little chat he readily produced number of hides for inspec' tion. He was rather proud of his imi. tation pigskin, made from sheepskin, and, comparing it with a real hide
 pointed out that it was the more natu
 ral looking. and its grain a better
 pattern" than that from the genuine pig. He explained that an. especially choice sample was always chosen as
 the model for the machine rollers. He
 showed almost every kind of skin made out of sheep hide and also mo rocco made from pigskin. Among the limitations was thin sheepskin leath-
 CT that would tear like tissue paper
 That" he said, lis used for Things
 and, at any rate, it enables the dealer
 honestly to say that the article is al
 leather It certainly is leather. It is
 a surface split by machinery off a
 sheepskin. Imitation pigskin is largely