The heat bonds the gold with the leather, and with custom-designed tools designs are burnt into the leather. After that, the excess leaf is simply wiped off, and a fine tooled leather book is born.

Book covers can reveal more about text and material history, says rare books curator A new exhibition at the University of Chicago Library quickly dispels the notion that a book should not be judged ...

There are various histories enclosed in brittle pages and tooled leather book covers that are only known to the avid collector.