Preferred label
alum-tawed skin
alungarvet skinn
Alternative label
tawed
white leather
white tawed
whittawed
cuir de Hongrie
hungarian leather
Note (en)
Note
A skin prepared in an aqueous solution of a double salt of aluminium and potassium sulphates. The process, which is of great antiquity, produces a white skin which is dried (crusted) and then staked, or worked over a blunt metal knife, to produce a soft, supple skin, qualities which could be enhanced by the addition of flour and egg-yolk to the tawing solution. If wetted again, as many blind-tooled German bindings of the late fifteenth to the mid-eighteenth century were before tooling, the skin becomes once more hard and horny, as though it had reverted to the raw, untanned state. Alum-tawed skin is generally more durable and resistant to deterioration than tanned skins.
Note (nb)
Note
mineralsk garveprosess der aluminiumsulfat (alun) og natriumsulfat (koksalt) er anvendt for å få et hvitt og smidig skinn
Scope note source reference
source-reference-174
Source
Reed (1972)
Reed, R., 1972. Ancient Skins, Parchments and Leathers, London: Seminar Press.
Additional Reference
pp. 62-65
source-reference-192
Source
Middleton (1994, 4th ed.)
Bernard Middleton, A history of English Craft Bookbinding Techniques, New Castle, London, Oak Knoll Press, The British Library, 1994 (4th ed.)
Additional Reference
p. 117
Top concept
materials
Broader concept
Narrower concept
Concept uri