Book edge decoration technique

Book block gilding is a unique decoration technique, similar to brocade paper. Often the gilded edges were also printed with embossed ornaments.

In the mid-18th century in his book on bookbinding (Der In aller heut zu Tag üblichen Arbeit wohl anweisende accurate Buchbinder und Futteralmacher, Frankfurt, Leipzig, 1741) Christoph Ernst Prediger gave some examples of patterns imprinted on the book edges for artisans to apply in their work.