IN recent years there has been considerable dissatisfaction with the quality of leather used for bookbinding; although many old books have their bindings still in good condition, others more recently bound have become dilapidated. In 1899 the School of Arts and Crafts formed a committee for the investigation of the subject, which appealed later to the council of the Society of Arts requesting it to undertake a thorough examination of the whole question, and in February, 1900, the society agreed to appoint a committee for the purpose. The first meeting was held in May, 1900, and two subcommittees were elected from the members; the first, consisting of Mr. Cyril Davenport, of the British Museum Library; Dr. J. Gordon Parker, director of the London Leather Industries' Research Laboratories; Mr. A. Seymourjones, leather manufacturer; Mr. W. J. Leighton, bookbinder; and Mr. Douglas Cockerell, bookbinder, was to visit various libraries to ascertain the comparative duration of various leathers used at different periods and preserved under different conditions. The second subcommittee consisted of Dr. J. Gordon Parker, Prof. Henry R. Procter, professor of leather industries at Leeds University, and Mr. A. Seymourjones; its duty was to ascertain the cause of any deterioration noticed and to suggest methods for its prevention. Mr. M. C. Lamb, director of the leather dyeing and finishing department of Herold's Institute, was afterwards added to this committee. Report of the Committee on Leather for Bookbinding. Edited for the Society of Arts and the Worshipful Company of Leathersellers by the Right Hon. Viscount Cobham Sir Henry Trueman Wood. Pp. 120. (London: George Bell and Sons, 1905.) Price 10s. 6d.