The following remarks, without attempting a description in detail of the different phases through which the art of decorating leather has passed since its origin in primitive times, deal with the treatment of leather solely from the decorative point of view, the present volume being limited to the consideration of this aspect of the subject.

In all ages man has sought to develop to their fullest extent the possibilities of splendour in the materials of his dress, and an important place in the wardrobes of our early ancestors was filled by skins shorn of hair, thus lending themselves easily to decoration in many different ways.

The nomadic races, described to us as at first riding their horses barebacked to the conquest of the West, soon adopted ornamental trappings more suited to their position as conquerors, as shown by the marvellous mosaics of piquÉ leather which from an early date constituted the foundation of the war-like equipment of the Tartars and Moguls.

In addition to magnificently woven materials and damascened arms, the Crusaders brought back with them to Europe, leather ornamented with wool, silk and precious metals. Europe set itself to imitate this art of working in leather, and found a source of faultless taste and purest models in Spain, then occupied by the Moors.

For several centuries the art of decorating leather remained the speciality of Spain. The word “cordwainer,” derived from Cordova, is a witness of this monopoly by the Peninsula of everything connected with leather-work, apart from the modelled and stamped leathers, introduced into Venice from the East.

Other countries, however, were doing better work than that of imitating the celebrated manufactures of Cordova. In Germany especially, leather was discovered to be an ideal material for rendering the mantles and plumed helmets of heraldry, while the marvels of carved and embossed leather preserved in the Dijon Museum are a proof of the interest taken in leather-work by the great decorative school of the court of Burgundy.

In the Middle Ages precious stuffs adorned with enamels, ivory and gold were discarded as covering for the beautiful manuscripts executed by the monks, and in their place heraldic subjects in carved and modelled leather were introduced and lent a new character to books which were no longer the exclusive property of crowned heads. The invention of printing afforded the Renaissance movement the means of attaining its full development, and soon called for a less archaic binding for its incunabula. Leather either decorated in mosaic or tooled in gold formed a perfect covering for these marvels of typography, and from the end of the fifteenth century to the present revival of decorated leather both styles have been much in use.

There are various standard works on this subject, which may be consulted by those desirous of studying its development further.