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CHAPTER XVI.
Colouring the Edges.
The edges of every book must be in keeping with the binding. A half roan book should not have an expensive edge, neither a whole bound morocco book a sprinkled edge. Still, no rule has been laid down in this particular, and taste should regulate this as it must in other branches.
The taste of the public is so changeable that it is impossible to lay down any rule, and I leave my reader to his own discretion.
Here are various ways in which the edges may be coloured.
Sprinkled Edges.—Most shops have a colour always ready, usually a reddish brown, which they use for the whole of their sprinkled edge books. The colour can be purchased at any oil shop. A mixture of burnt umber and red ochre is generally used. The two powders must be well mixed together in a mortar with paste, a few drops of sweet oil, and water. The colour may be tested by sprinkling some on a piece of white paper, allowing it to dry, and then burnishing it. If the colour powders or rubs, it is either too thick, or has not enough paste in it. If the former, some water must be added; if the latter, more paste: and it will perhaps be better if the whole is passed through a cloth to rid it of any coarse particles. The books may be sprinkled so as to resemble a kind of marble by using two or three different colours. For instance, the book is put in the lying press and a little sand is strewn upon the edge in small mounds. Then with a green colour a moderate
