Page:The Art of Bookbinding, Zaehnsdorf, 1890.djvu/104

74 mechanical process. It has a very high gloss; it is used on very cheap work. Sizing.—Paper should be always sized after being marbled. The size is made by dissolving one pound of best glue in five gallons of water with half a pound of best white soap. This is put into a copper over night, and on a low fire the next morning, keeping it constantly stirred to prevent burning. When quite dissolved and hot it is passed through a cloth into a trough, and each sheet passed through the liquor and hung up to dry; when dry, burnish as above. But it will be far cheaper to buy the paper, rather than make it at the cost of more time than will be profitable. The charge for demy size is at the rate of 20s. to 95s. per ream, according to the quality and colour; but to those to whom money is no object, and who would prefer to make their own marbled paper, I hope the foregoing explanation will be explicit enough. The "English Mechanic," March 17th, 1871, has the following method of transferring the pattern from ordinary marble paper to the edges of books:— "Ring the book up tightly in the press, the edge to be as flat as possible; cut strips of the best marble paper about one inch longer than the edge, make a pad of old paper larger than the edge of the book, and about a quarter inch thick; then get a piece of blotting paper and a sponge with a little water in; now pour on a plate sufficient spirits of salts (muriatic acid) to saturate the paper, which must be placed marble side downwards on the spirit (not dipped in it); when soaked put it on the edge (which has been previously damped with a sponge), lay your blot paper on it, then your pad, now rap it smartly all over, take off the pad and blot, and look if the work is right, if so, take the book out and shake the marble paper off; when dry burnish."

At a lecture delivered at the Society of Arts, January,