basil
A vegetable-tanned, sheep- or lamb-skin, producing
a soft, smooth leather but with only moderately
good wearing qualities. Its smooth surface lends
itself well to graining in imitation of other
skins, such as goat. There are several types of
basil, including E.I. (East India), N. Z. (New
Zealand) and Aus. (Australia), all of which are
generally tanned with native or mimosa bark. Crust
basils are tanned loose in pits and sold dry as
taken from the drying sheds; strained basils are
tanned as crust, but wet down, set out with a
slicker, stretched and allowed to dry; tawed
basils are sheepskins dressed with alum and salt
and finished in a white or nut brown color; and
organ basils are also tawed but with the salt
removed. Diced basils are skins which have been
dyed red, glazed, and embossed with a diced cross
line. Because of their relatively poor wearing
characteristics, basils are not often used today
in bookbinding, although in the first half of the
20th century they were employed fairly extensively
in binding cheaper blankbooks, and the like. (61 , 69 , 343 )
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