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From the introduction:
The decay of leather used for bookbindings has for long been a subject which has attracted a great deal of attention and interest amongst librarians and book collectors. The first attempt to investigate the conditions leading to such decay appears to have been made by Faraday, whose historic researches into the condition of the library of the Athenaeum Club in 1842 still remain the only serious attempt made to investigate this subject. Of late years the matter has received still more earnest attention, owing to a growing belief among librarians that the quality of the leathers now made for bookbinding purposes is inferior to that made previous to, say, the middle of the last century. The matter has been discussed on several occasions at meetings of the Library Association, and in the year 1899 a meeting of persons specially interested in the question was held at the Central School of Arts and Crafts in Regent Street, under the chairmanship of Mr. Cobden-Sanderson. This meeting formed itself into a Committee to encourage the production of sound and durable leather for bookbinding. The Committee held several meetings, and some of its members carried out a good deal of investigation and experiment, but it appears to have come to the conclusion that the matter was too large a one to be dealt with by a separate and informal body of the sort, and it was decided to request the Council of the Society of Arts to undertake a thorough investigation of the whole question, and, after having done so, to issue a Report upon it.
From the introduction:
The decay of leather used for bookbindings has for long been a subject which has attracted a great deal of attention and interest amongst librarians and book collectors. The first attempt to investigate the conditions leading to such decay appears to have been made by Faraday, whose historic researches into the condition of the library of the Athenaeum Club in 1842 still remain the only serious attempt made to investigate this subject. Of late years the matter has received still more earnest attention, owing to a growing belief among librarians that the quality of the leathers now made for bookbinding purposes is inferior to that made previous to, say, the middle of the last century. The matter has been discussed on several occasions at meetings of the Library Association, and in the year 1899 a meeting of persons specially interested in the question was held at the Central School of Arts and Crafts in Regent Street, under the chairmanship of Mr. Cobden-Sanderson. This meeting formed itself into a Committee to encourage the production of sound and durable leather for bookbinding. The Committee held several meetings, and some of its members carried out a good deal of investigation and experiment, but it appears to have come to the conclusion that the matter was too large a one to be dealt with by a separate and informal body of the sort, and it was decided to request the Council of the Society of Arts to undertake a thorough investigation of the whole question, and, after having done so, to issue a Report upon it.