old tooling without and within, gilt edges, and fly-leaves
of finest satin. I said beautiful, _prima facie_--and this calls to mind
the definition of that law term by a learned Vermont jurist, who said:
"Gentlemen of the jury, I must explain to you that a _prima facie_ case
is a case that is very good in front, but may be very bad in the rear."
So of our so much lauded and really lovely calf bindings: they develop
qualities in use which give us pause. Calf is the most brittle of the
leathers--hence it is always breaking at the hinges; it is a very smooth
leather--hence it shows every scratch instantly; it is a light and
delicate leather--hence it shows soils and stains more quickly than any
other. Out of every hundred calf-bound volumes in any well-used library,
there will not remain ten which have not had to be re-bound or repaired
at the end of twenty or thirty years. Heavy volumes bound in calf or
half-calf leather will break by their own weight on the shelves, without
any use at all; and smaller volumes are sure to have their brittle joints
snapped asunder by handling sooner or later--it is only a question of
time.

Next comes Russia leather, which is very thick and strong, being made of
the hides of cattle, colored, and perfumed by the oil of birch, and made
chiefly in Russia. The objections to this leather are its great cost, its
stiffness and want of elasticity, and its tendency to desiccate and lose
all its tenacity in the dry or heated atmosphere of our libraries. It
will break at the hinges--though not so readily as calf.

Lastly, we have the morocco leather, so called because it was brought
from Morocco, in Africa, and still we get the best from thence, and from
the Mediterranean ports of the Levant--whence comes another name for the
best of this favorite leather, "Levant morocco," which is the skin of the
mountain goat, and reckoned superior to all other leathers. The
characteristics of the genuine morocco, sometimes called Turkey morocco,
having a pebbled grain, distinguishing it from the smooth morocco, are
its toughness and durability, combined with softness and flexibility. It
has a very tenacious fibre, and I have never found a real morocco binding
broken at the hinges. The old proverb--"there is nothing like
leather"--is pregnant with meaning, and especially applies to the best
morocco. As no material yet discovered in so many ages can take the
place of leather for foot-wear and for harness, such is it