Many bibliophiles wanted their books to be works of art, and to have unique bindings. Thus, new bookbinding workshops of a high technical quality began to emerge.
These included the workshops of Àngel Aguiló, Anglada & Basa, Miquel-Rius and Hermenegildo Miralles, as well as the designer Hermenegildo Alsina Munné.
The work of decorating these bindings tended to be commissioned to artists, and the decoration was usually historicist or modern in style.
One of the most common bookbinding techniques was leather embossing, a traditional method used to create relief images on this material.
Enric Prat de la Riba i Sarrà (Castellterçol, Barcelona, 1870-1917)
Ley jurídica de la industria. Barcelona, Libr. Penella y Bosch, 1898. Bound by the Miquel-Rius workshop, by Joaquim Figuerola, c. 1905
Pyrography, mosaic, etching and gilt on leather
Biblioteca de Catalunya, Barcelona