J. Gordon (James Gordon) Parker

Born in 1869, James Gordon Parker was a Scottish chemist who became known for his work on leather and tanning. Sources connected with his author records identify him as Principal of the Leathersellers Technical College in London, showing how closely his writing grew out of professional expertise.

Parker wrote technical and practical works rather than literary fiction. He is especially associated with Leather for Libraries and Principles of Tanning, books that suggest a strong interest in how materials were made, tested, and preserved. That makes him an unusual figure for modern readers: an author whose books opened up the science behind objects people handled every day.

He died in 1948. Although little biographical detail is easy to confirm online, the surviving records present him as a specialist writer whose work sat at the meeting point of chemistry, education, and the care of books.