Book Binding Tool

A blind tool used for decorating the cover and spine of leather books. This tool, similar in shape to a chisel, features a wooden handle with two decorative lines engraved in the wood. The metal end would be heated on a stove and then placed onto the leather to create a bind emboss in various decorative patterns, or it could be used with gold leaf to give the book a decorative gold finish.

Created around 1600, Belgium. Acquired before 2011 by Dirk Obbink, Oxford, England;[1] Privately purchased in 2011 by Green Collection, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma; Donated in 2017 to National Christian Foundation (later The Signatry) under the curatorial care of Museum of the Bible, Washington, DC.

Notes: [1] Museum of the Bible ascertained in a private meeting with Dr. Dirk Obbink in December 2017 that this object was previously with The Romantic Agony Auctions in Brussels prior to Obbink’s acquisition.