Tanning and Decoration with Dyes

Abstract

In this chapter we shall be concerned with a variety of substances that can be extracted from plant parts and used by man for the treatment and decoration of his clothing. These substances include tannins, which man has used from a very early date to prepare leather from the animal skins that formed his first covering, as well as plant dyestuffs, which he used for coloring skins (his own and those of the animals that he captured) and the textiles that he was able to manufacture later.