The following three ebooks are provided as
free downloads by a company in England, called Harmatan and Oakridge Leathers 2008 Ltd. They are a manufacturer of fine goatskins and calfskin bookbinding leathers (remember those? ha).
You may notice that the copyright date, of 1905, is given on two of the books (I couldn't find a date for the third one, but it is old, too). You may be wondering why I'm posting these. They are well out of copyright? Right? Well, apparently they aren't, because they were copyrighted in England and/or the U.K., which have different copyright laws than in the U.S. In each one of the pdfs below, there is a statement relating to the fact that the books are copyrighted and not to be reused without permission.
I do believe these to be legal
free downloads, due to the fact the website of the company who made the electronic version offers them on
their website as downloads, and without any caveats, etc.
Even though I'm a full participant now in the digital revolution in books, I still love the tactile feel of a physical book in my hands, and its appearance on a shelf (I even love to smell them!). So, I found these books to be interesting. I hope that you do, too.
The links below are all direct links to the pdfs.
Leather for Libraries.
Leathers for Bookbinding & Upholstery.
The Wonderful Story of Leather.