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Saw a stat that 80% of books before 1850 were bound in leather from locally raised cattle
Found this in a footnote in a old binder's manual I picked up at an estate sale last spring. Never really thought about where the leather came from back then. Makes sense though with how transport was back then. You'd think they'd use sheep or goat more but nope, cowhide was the standard for most everyday books. Anybody else run across old binding facts that changed how you look at your materials?
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benlewis6d ago
Actually, sheep leather was pretty common for cheap books back then, not just cowhide.
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miles5816d agoMost Upvoted
Right on @benlewis, never thought about sheep leather being the cheap stuff back then.
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