The origin of the present work was an attempt to prepare a second edition of the little Text-Book of Tanning which the Author published in 1885, and which has been long out of print. Though persevered in for years, the work was never brought to completion, partly owing to the constant pressure of other duties, but still more to the rapid advances which have been made in our knowledge of the subject, and in the scientific thought which has been devoted to it. For his share in the initiation of this work, much credit is due to Wilhelm Eitner, Director of the Imperial Royal Research Institute for Leather Industries in Vienna, but the advance he began has been energetically carried forward not only in Vienna, but in the Tanning Schools and Research Institutes of Freiberg, Leeds, London, LiÈge, Copenhagen, Berlin and elsewhere, and to a less extent in private laboratories.

Under the pressure of this rapid growth, as it was impossible to complete the work as a whole, the Author published an instalment dealing with the purely chemical side of the subject in 1898, under the title of the ‘Leather Industries Laboratory Book’; which has been translated into German, French and Italian, and of which the English edition is rapidly approaching exhaustion.

The present work, which should by right have preceded the Laboratory Book (and which frequently refers to it as “L.I.L.B.”), attempts to deal with the general scientific principles of the industry, without describing in detail its practical methods (though incidentally many practical points are discussed). To complete the subject, a third volume ought to be written, giving working details of the various methods of manufacture; but apart from the difficulty of the subject, and the weariness of “making many books,” the methods of trade are so fluctuating, and dependent on temporary conditions that they have not the same permanent value as the record of scientific advance.

As the present volume is intended to appeal both to the chemist and to the practical tanner, it must to a certain extent fail in both, since many matters are included which are already familiar to the former, and it is to be feared, some, which may prove difficult to the latter. For these and other imperfections the Author claims the indulgence of his Readers.

The Author must here acknowledge his indebtedness to Dr. Tom Guthrie and to Mr. A. B. Searle for assistance in writing several of the chapters; to Dr. A. Turnbull and Mr. F. A. Blockey for much help in reading proofs and preparing the MS. for the press; and to the many gentlemen who have furnished or allowed him to use their blocks and drawings in illustration.