How to apply gold leaf

From E.G. Fooks,  Plain and Ornamental Lettering.  A Practical Guide to Ticket & Showcard Writing, Sign Writing and Other Forms of Decorative Lettering.  (Sir Isaac Pitman & Sons Ltd., 1936)

From a more elegant age.

When I was an undergraduate at the University of Toronto, I enrolled in a course on the philosophy of Bertrand Russell, taught by a professor who had been one of his colleagues and friends.  He brought in several books he had inherited from Russell's library, to show us the gold leaf applied to the letters on some pages.  He pointed out to the class that our daily university experience was limited to plastic chairs and desks and mass-produced books, and so he thought it his duty to let us an experience some really beautiful things.  I no longer remember much about the class content, but I vividly remember this.