Mark Twain, deploring the prose of James Fenimore Cooper:
“when a personage talks like an illustrated, gilt-edged, tree-calf, hand-tooled, seven-dollar Friendship’s Offering in the beginning of a paragraph, he shall not talk like a negro minstrel in the end of it.”That comes from the infamous essay “Fenimore Cooper’s Literary Offenses,” which I was delighted to read decades ago. At the time I didn't pay attention to "tree-calf," but it caught my eye yesterday.
I found the explanation at Pazzo Books (whence the embedded top image):
Named for the tree-like design left behind by the treatment with acidic chemicals, tree-calf (and it’s less arboreal cousin, acid calf) were popular binding choices from the late 18th century until well into the 19th.When I worked as a librarian, I remember reshelving some books that looked like these. I never knew there was a term for the style. You learn something every day.
Addendum: "Friendship's Offering" explained.
Indeed! And there is controlled vocabulary for it. Whee!
ReplyDelete655 7 Tree calf bindings ǂ2 rbbin
Thank you. I don't read Klingon, and Google couldn't find your explanation, but I did find this at a rare book site while searching:
DeleteCALF
Bindings made from calf hide are the most frequently seen leather coverings. Such bindings have a smooth surface with no identifiable grain. The natural tone of a calf binding is light brown, but can be dyed almost any color. The following terms are often associated with calf bindings:
DICED: a decorative design of diamonds or squares that has been scored onto the leather.
MARBLED: stained with a diluted acid to produce the effect of swirling hues.
MOTTLED: a random design on calfskin produced by sponging it with acid or dyes.
PANELED: a rectangular space on a cover or spine, often framed by gilt or plain ruled lines tooled into the leather.
POLISHED: calfskin polished to a smooth, reflective finish.
REVERSED: binding with the inner side of the skin facing outward.
SPANISH: a process, originating in Spain, of using red and green acid dye to stain brilliant flecks of color in the binding.
SPECKLED: leather treated with acid to form patterns of small dark spots or specks.
TREE CALF: a highly polished calf binding that originated in the late 18th century in which the leather has been stained to produce a dark tree-like pattern along the front and rear boards.
It's surprising you don't understand Unknown's "Klingon" if, as you stated, you were are librarian. That is basic controlled metadata vocabulary which is essential to the librarian profession.
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