Mr. Underhill wrote:
Here's how I understand the different grades of leather used for book binding...
Full Grain Leather is the best leather money can buy and the only leather good enough for Saddleback. It comes from the top layer of the hide which has ALL of the grain, therefore, FULL grain. The natural surface of full grain leather burnishes and beautifies with use.
Top Grain Leather is the second highest grade because it is split from the top layer of blemished hide then sanded and refinished. This is how they get rid of scars and scrapes and light cow brands.
Genuine Leather is the third grade of leather and is produced from the layers of hide that remain after the top is split off for the better grades. The surface is usually refinished (spray painted) to resemble a higher grade.
Bonded Leather is the PT Cruiser of the leather world... pure junk. Leftover scraps are ground together with glue and resurfaced in a process similar to vinyl manufacture. Bonded leather is weak and degrades quickly with use.
Don't want to derail this topic, but the grading of bookbinding leather has nothing to do with any of the above. Grading (usually I, II, III, and ungraded) is simply a professional description of the presence (or not) of defects in the skin; it doesn't specifically refer to the leather type [*]. No reputable supplier of leather for bookbinding would sell bonded leather, and skivers (the "Genuine Leather" you describe) can still be conservation grade quality. I don't know what individual countries understand by the term, but there seems to be a reasonable consensus that the term "bonded leather" should not be an allowable term in reference to leather products i.e. it isn't leather.
My point really is: if you cannot (without difficulty) find out anything about the leather they use, besides some vague reference to "Italian" leathers, then one should be immediately suspicious of the quality of the leather being used. This is a pretty mute point for cheap books (e.g. with bonded leather); but Easton Press books aren't that cheap, are they? I have a EP
Silmarillion and the leather does not strike me as good quality.
Stating "genuine leather" on your title page screams "don't ask us about the quality of the leather we use".
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https://www.hewitonline.com/Leather_s/3.htm[
Hewit & Sons are world famous suppliers of bookbinding leather.]
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