Browse Exhibits (4 total)

A Forest of Tree Calf

The fad for tree calf, or tree marble, is an excellent example of the fleeting nature of style. For about 150 years (1775-1920), tree calf was among the most popular forms of cover illustration; then it disappeared.

Tree calf is created by allowing water to run down the center of a calfskin cover to form the tree’s “trunk,” and then out into “branches” towards each side. While the water is still running, copperas and potassium sulfate are applied: the resulting chemical reaction etches the image of a tree onto the leather.

In a collection with strong holdings on botany and dendrology, tree calf bindings are especially evocative. But, just as floral decoration could grace the binding of any number of books, tree calf is by no means exclusive to books about plants or trees.

brown, calfskin, England, gold, Scotland, tree calf

Fine Bindings

This small exhibit features some of the more beautiful, elaborate, and luxuriously-decorated bindings in the Dumbarton Oaks Rare Books collection.

deerskin, England, France, goatskin, gold, gold tooling, inlay, parchment, signed binding, vellum

Floral Decoration

Please enjoy these images of flowers from across time periods and media.

floral decoration, France, Germany, Italy, United States

One Pope, Three Bindings

Dumbarton Oaks owns three bindings executed for Pope Clement XIV, pope from 1769 to 1774. These bindings have all been tooled in gold to display Clement XIV’s papal coat of arms. But they appear to have been decorated by different finishers working with different sets of tools. The tools used for specific elements (the crossed keys, the papal tiara, the stars and the hills) are not identical, creating an opportunity to observe variations on a theme.

arms, calfskin, floral patterns, gold, gold tooling, Italy, keys, papal bindings, popes, stars