ow the block need not be heated, but is inked by means
of a roller for each impression. A separate printing is necessary for
each colour. These printings always require great care on the part of
the operator, who has to watch the working of each pull very
carefully, and if any readjustment is wanted, to make it at once, so
that it is difficult to estimate at what rate they can be made. In the
matter of gold blocking there must be great care exercised in the
matter of the heat of the block, for if it is too hot the gold will
adhere where it is not wanted, and if too cool it will not adhere
where it is required. Great nicety is also necessary as to the exact
pressure required as well as the precise number of moments during
which the block should be in contact with the gold, which is fastened
to the cloth or leather by means of the solidification by heat of egg
albumen. Blocking presses are mainly of German make, but Scottish and
English presses are also largely used.

[Illustration: FIG. 14.--Blocking Machine.]

AUTHORITIES.--See the _Anglo-Saxon Review_ (1899-1901); C.J.
Davenport, _Royal English Bookbindings_ (1896), _Cantor Lectures on
Bookbinding_ (1898), _English Embroidered Bookbindings_ (1899), _Life
of Thomas Berthelet_ (1901), _Life of Samuel Mearne_ (1906); W.Y.
Fletcher, _English Bookbindings in the British Museum_ (1895),
_Foreign Bookbindings in the British Museum_ (1896); L. Gruel, _Manuel
de l'amateur de relieures_ (1887); H.P. Horne, _The Binding of Books_
(1894); S.T. Prideaux, _Historical Sketch of Bookbinding_ (1893); E.
Thoinan, _Les Relieurs francais_ (1893); O. Uzanne, _La Relieure
moderne_ (1887); H.B. Wheatley, _Remarkable Bindings in the British
Museum_ (1889); J.W. Zaehnsdorf, _The Art of Bookbinding_ (1880).
(C. D.)

BOOKCASE, an article of furniture, forming a shelved receptacle, usually
perpendicular or horizontal, for the storage of books. When books, being
written by hand, were excessively scarce, they were kept in small
coffers which the great carried about with them on their journeys. As
manuscript volumes accumulated in the religious houses or in regal
palaces, they were stored upon shelves or in cupboards, and it is from
these cupboards that the bookcase of to-day directly descends. At a
somewhat later date the doors were, for convenience' sake, discarded,
and the evolution of the bookcase made one step forward. Even then