Leather Bound Books

About Antique Leather Bound Books

Some people collect antique leather-bound books for purely aesthetic reasons, using them as decorative objects to fill the shelves of a living room or study. Others collect for content, choosing leather-bound versions of their favorite novels or historical works of literature.

Regardless of a collector’s motivation, there are a few things to know. First of all, what type of leather is used in the book’s binding? Because it’s easy to dye, calf skin has long been a favorite of book binders, who also use this type of leather to create tree-trunk or other wood-grain effects. Levant leather is made from goat skin, and was typically used in books described as being made from Moroccan leather. Then there’s seal skin, which is easy to work and gives book covers a shiny look...

The other major attribute of leather-bound books is the decoration on the leather itself. Some books feature coats of arms on their covers, signifying the patron who commissioned them. Others are decorated with specks of dye to create a sprinkled effect.

Relievo binding refers to a deeply embossed type of tooling on a leather-bound book’s cover, Cambridge is the word for two-tone leather covers, and Etruscan binding describes a cover that has been acid etched and typically features a central panel surrounded by a decorative border.

Private presses famous for their leather-bound books include The Kelmscott Press, which was founded in 1891 by English Arts and Crafts evangelist William Morris. Kelmscott inspired Elbert Hubbard to set up the Roycroft Press in the United States.

In the 1920s and ’30s, the U.K.’s Golden Cockerel Press hired Sangorski & Sutcliffe to bind limited editions of “The Canterbury Tales” and other titles. Around the same time, Caxton Press of Idaho published a number of signed, Morocco-leather Vardis Fisher books, some in editions as small as 10.

In recent decades, Easton Press has been producing large quantities of leather-bound books by contemporary authors as varied as Kurt Vonnegut and Maya Angelou. And in the 1970s and ’80s, the Franklin Mint’s Franklin Library division produced mass-market sets such as “The 100 Greatest Books of All Time” and “Pulitzer Prize Classics.”

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Antique Leather Book Lot! Collectible Rare Library Set!$3,075 Ends Saturday 72 bids 245 watchers
Oscar Wilde Complete Works 1909 10v Leather Hand Color$738.00 Ends Tuesday 6 bids 11 watchers
1895:10 Vol Set Chambers Encyclopaedia Leather Bindings$368.55 Ends Monday 2 bids 4 watchers
1861 Civil War Tooled Leather Union Confederate Battles$305.00 Ends Sunday 22 bids 44 watchers
Rare Early Byzantine Novel, First Edition Leather 1584!$305.00 Ends Sunday 19 bids 32 watchers
1789:8 Vol Set Spectator & Leather Bindings$299.36 Ends Sunday 1 bid 3 watchers
5 Buzz Aldrin Signed Ltd #rd Leather Nasa Moon Mint$202.50 Ends Sunday 4 bids 10 watchers
1680 Howel History World - Leather Very Scarce$189.50 Ends Wednesday 7 bids 33 watchers
Antique Miniature Leather Bible David Bryce Lens Tin$179.01 Ends Sunday 20 bids 53 watchers
Fore Edge Painting Fine Leather James Thompson Seasons$160.96 Ends in 49 mins 15 bids 25 watchers
Mark Twain's Complete Works Set ~24 Vol ~like Leather$138.50 Ends Sunday 25 bids 32 watchers
Craftsman Magazine Leather Bound 1903 1st Stickley$125.00 Ends Sunday 1 bid 9 watchers
Craftsman Magazine Leather Bound 1903-04 1st Stickley$125.00 Ends in 22 hours 1 bid 9 watchers
1875 Antique Family Bible Leather Illustrations 19th C $121.50 Ends Sunday 13 bids 28 watchers
Fore Edge Painting, Country Village, Leather & Gilt $115.83 Ends in 4 hours 2 bids 9 watchers
Greek Demosthenes Philippics Foulis Press 1750 Leather$112.75 Ends in 41 mins 1 bid 4 watchers
1835 Paradise Regained John Milton Gold/leather Devil!!$102.50 Ends Saturday 10 bids 17 watchers
1870 Antique Bible Huge Illustrated Leather Dore 1st Ed$102.50 Ends Sunday 11 bids 42 watchers
Juris Naturae 1738 Heineccius Old Leather Natural Law$100.00 Ends Monday 9 bids 6 watchers
10 Volume Moroccan Leather Calf Set Rare Books Mint L42$89.99 Ends in 6 hours 1 bid 3 watchers
1757 9 Vols Leather Alexander Pope Homer Iliad Odyssey$89.99 Ends Tuesday 1 bid 15 watchers
Big Leather Folio,pelagian Augustine,inquisition! 1707!$88.99 Ends Sunday 10 bids 6 watchers
David Mccullough Signed Ltd Truman Easton Press Leather$86.00 Ends Tuesday 3 bids 9 watchers
1920 Vtg Leather Book Of Mormon Signed Heber Grant Lds$81.00 Ends Sunday 5 bids 17 watchers
Rare 1840s 19 Volumes Leather Genealogy Quaker Friends$80.99 Ends Thursday 2 bids 6 watchers
Harold Nelson Undine, Fairy Tale, Art Nouveau, Leather$77.01 Ends Sunday 12 bids 22 watchers
Leather & 1700's Lot Of 11 Cute Little Antique Books$77.00 Ends in 23 hours 1 bid 9 watchers
Middlemarch George Eliot Easton Press - Leather$76.00 Ends Thursday 2 bids 2 watchers
Harvard Classics - 51 Vols - Leather Like - 1909 $67.66 Ends Wednesday 4 bids 17 watchers
Vtg Kjv Holy Bible Leather W Apocrypha Harper Brothers$66.00 Ends Tuesday 6 bids 3 watchers
11 Volume Leather Bound Set Of Longfellow Works$61.00 Ends Monday 5 bids 10 watchers
Brand New Invecchiato Leather 2008 Mormon Hymnal$60.00 Ends Saturday 1 bid 9 watchers
Very Rare 1875 Leather Mark Twain Sketches New And Old$52.00 Ends in 15 hours 2 bids 11 watchers
Encyclopaedia Britannica 11th Eleventh, 3/4 Leather Vg$51.58 Ends Saturday 7 bids 12 watchers
Bible Kjv +apocrypha 1845 Marbled Leather Covers Large$51.00 Ends Sunday 7 bids 9 watchers
1691 Secret Love Or Maiden Queen - John Dryden -leather$51.00 Ends Monday 2 bids 26 watchers
Civil War Map Slavery American Conflict Greeley Leather$51.00 Ends Monday 8 bids 28 watchers
Very Rare 1861 Leather Seventh Day Adventist Michigan$49.99 Ends Wednesday 1 bid 13 watchers
Rare 1811 2 Volumes Leather History Usa Robertson Map!!$49.99 Ends in 15 hours 1 bid 9 watchers
Birds Eastern Us-peterson-easton Press-leather Signed$49.95 Ends Tuesday 1 bid 2 watchers
30 Vol. Set Little Leather Library Luxart Books $45.00 Ends Tuesday 1 bid 1 watcher
Easton Press Dracula Bram Stoker Horror Leather Sealed!$41.00 Ends Wednesday 9 bids 23 watchers
Incidents Of Travel Yucatan 1848 Edition Leather Bound$40.00 Ends in 7 hours 1 bid 8 watchers
Rare 1852 Antique Leather Life Shakespeare Old Book$39.99 Ends Sunday 1 bid 1 watcher
The Book Of Psalms Leather Dec Stunning 1849$38.36 Ends in 2 hours 10 bids 7 watchers
Rare 1836 Leather Usa History Illustrated Revolution #1$38.00 Ends in 1 hour 5 bids 11 watchers
1900-10 Vol Leather-messages & Papers Of The Presidents$37.66 Ends Saturday 12 bids 15 watchers
Eikon Basilike 1649 Leather + Royal Prayers Madan 17$37.53 Ends Monday 1 bid 3 watchers
Easton Press Buffalo Bill Heroes Of West Leather Oop$36.01 Ends Saturday 10 bids 8 watchers
Second Edition Gunn's Domestic Medicine Leather 1834$36.01 Ends Saturday 6 bids 5 watchers
Frankenstein (shelley), Easton Press, *leather* New$36.01 Ends Monday 9 bids 14 watchers

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