It looks rather like the clamps and presses that bookbinders use to hold a block of pages to trim the edges. The groove looks like one that guides the "plough" that holds the knife that does the actual trimming.

Just a thought,

Rod

+1 for bookbinders press tool

M<artin

Yes, it's beech and was almost certainly made to serve as a bookbinder's lying press.

It's slightly unusual to have channels on both sides of the press for a plough, but then we don't really know what kind of plough it was intended to be used with – not a typical kind of plough, at any rate.

Having wing-nuts as a tightening mechanism for the cheeks seems somewhat inadequate to me; they would have to be tightened with an adjustable spanner or similar to get adequate pressure on a book for ploughing or edge gilding.

The photos show two of my lying presses. The smaller one is mahogany, and has a channel for the plough to run in. The bigger one is beech; it is 40 inches long, the cheeks are 6" by 5 1/2", and the wooden screws are 3" diameter. The screws are tightened with an 18" steel tommy bar.

Thanks for your reply, Bazyle. I've uploaded some photos of traditional ploughs. Their design is very basic but they work well if used properly.

Another, more modern, kind of plough is the so-called plough plane. I don't own an example of one of these but there are sure to be some images of them out there.

Yes, the crenellations around the finishing stove are for the tool handles to sit in while their shanks/heads sit on the hot plate. The French favour a different kind of finishing stove – shown in the last image.