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EDITOR’S FOREWORD

Gik leather hangings went out of fasluon ioon after 1700 and, as far as Northern Europę is conccrncd. their hcy-day was in the sixtcenth and sevcnteemh centuries. The art and decoration of chat period is so much less wcll known to us than ii that of the eightccnth ccntury, and few pcople now realise that the splcndour of the grandest European houses at the dmc rested to a large extcnt on the brilliant and colourful leather panels that clad the walli of their chambers. Vcry few of these wall-coverings are still in place and it is for the most part only smali sections of such leather panelling that now survive. Morcovcr, dicy are frcquendy discoloured and their ‘gilt’ tarnished, so it takes a great effoit of the imaginadon to cnvisagc how nugnificent they must originally have looked. AU the same, suffident ezamples survivc to wariant the publicadon of a scrious study of these luxury maienals of ferma dmes which long vied for pride of place with the contempotary silk vełvets, and rich tapesoy hangingi. Curiously cnough, linie has bccn written about them, and much of what has bccn written is of no consequence. Mr Watcrcr, on the other band, is panicularly wcU gmlificd to remedy the situadon, for noc only has hc been connectcd through the whole of his working lifc with the leather-making industry, but he has long been Honoraty Secretary of the Museum of Lcathercraft in London and has dcvotcd many yeart to studying the hittory ofthc craft.

The English contribudon to this form of dccorauve art nuy not have been very significant bur, with the publicadon of this book, Mr Watcrcr ensures that it is an English book which becomes the fint scrious full-lcngth study of this almost forgoctcn but oncc so important fcature of interior decorauon, and there can be no doubt that it will remain the standard work on the subject for a very long ume.

The author deals with the origins of the art in Moorish Spain. He then traces its

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