her on the back may crinkle up and become detached.

The next thing will be to decide what lettering and what decoration,
if any, is to be put on the volume. The lettering should be made out
first (see page 215). If the book is to be at all elaborately
decorated, paper patterns must be made out, as described in Chapter
XVI.

[Illustration: FIG. 83.]

For tooling the back, the book is held in the finishing press between
a pair of backing boards lined with leather (see fig. 84), and the
paper pattern put across the back, with the ends either slightly
pasted to the backing boards, or caught between them and the book.

For the sides, the pattern is very slightly pasted on to the leather
at the four corners. The book is then put in the finishing press,
with the board to be tooled open and flat on the cheek of the press,
unless the book is a large one, when it is easier to tool the sides
out of the press.

[Illustration: FIG. 84.]

The selected tools, which should be ready on the stove (see fig. 85),
are one at a time cooled on a wet pad, and then pressed in their
former impressions upon the paper. The degree of heat required varies
a good deal with the leather used, and will only be learned by
experience. It is better to have the tool too cool than too hot, as it
is easy to deepen impressions after the paper is removed; but if they
are already too deep, or are burnt, it will be impossible to finish
clearly. Generally speaking, tools should hiss very slightly when put
on the cooling pad. In cooling, care must be taken to put the shank
of the tools on to the wet pad, as, if the end only is cooled, the
heat is apt to run down again, and the tool will still be too hot.

[Illustration: FIG. 85.--Finishing Stove]

Before removing the paper, one corner at a time should be lifted up,
and the leather examined to see that no part of the pattern has been
missed.

In some patterns where the design is close, or in which the background
is dotted in, it will not be necessary to blind in every leaf and dot
through the paper. If the lines with perhaps the terminal leaves are
blinded in, the rest can be better worked directly through the gold.
This method implies the "glairing in" of the whole surface. It is not
suitable for open patterns, where the glaire might show on the surface
of the leather.

If the book is only to have lines, or some simple straight line
pattern, it is often easier to mark it up without the pap