Renaissance Bookbinders

Several years ago, Renaissance Bookbinders began offering gauffered edges on special orders. Gauffering is a design on the (gilded) edges of the pages of a book, and was most often done with small repeating patterns made by heated hand tools. German bookbinders were more likely than others to have employed gauffering, especially in the 16th century, and their designs were more colorful than those of English bookbinders. While there was a marked decline in the use of gauffering after 1650, by the end of the 18th century it enjoyed a marked revival for about a hundred years. Naturally, it was most likely to be found on elaborately bound books, often religious books.
The gauffering done by Renaissance may be done with heated tools and gold foil as well as with paints. Both methods require that the book be clamped shut tightly while gauffering is done to prevent leakage on to the pages of the book.