Dyeing Leather

This book is transcribed from a copy currently at the National Art Library in London, England. Although this is the 1605 edition, the original edition was printed in 1586. Many of these recipes are translated verbatim from T Bouck va Wondre, an early 16th century Dutch manual on dyeing, cleaning and other household hints. The text suffered in translation. The primary transcription error was the translation of "weld" as "wood." Madder was consistantly translated as "greening weede."

I found references to the processes for making black and brown dyes. These are the most common colours we see in illustrati ons, painting and manuscript s.

This bibliography is for the benefit of people, especially historical re-enactors, who are interested in pre-nineteenth century historical documents concerning dyestuffs and dyeing techniques.

Includes the following articles: "Dyeing in Greece," "The Roman Dyers," "Dress and Dress Materials in Greece & Rome," "Greek and Roman Tanners," and "Historical Gleanings."

The book these recipes were transcribed from is in the National Art Library in England. The volume is cobbled together from various chapters/volumes of the 16th c. bestselling work, the Secretes of Alexis of Piedmont. Originally published by Ruscelli in Italian, it was quickly translated into French, German and English. A number of different books and chapters on a number of different topics were printed. This document is a transcription of all of the recipes related to cleaning of fabric & textiles and dyeing of fabric, leather & other materials.

The earliest copy of the Mappae Clavicula was a manuscript in the Benedictine monestary of Reichenau, dated to 821-822, which is no longer in existence. The translation below is based on the Phillipps-Corning Mappae Clavicula manuscript, currently in the Corning Museum of Glass at Corning, NY. This manuscript was translated by Sir Thomas Phillips and printed in the 1847 edition of Archaeologia. This manuscript is primarily concerned with metalworking and making of pigments, but scattered among the recipes are several that deal with creating "dye" liquids (used either to paint or dye fabric) and instructions for dyeing fabric and leather.

Medieval recipes for leather dyes.

An outline of leatherworking techniques used before the 17th century: tooling, painting & dyeing, tools, and styles.

Dyeing and painting leather.