Cordwainer Cordwainer A cordwainer () is a shoemaker who makes new shoes from new leather. The cordwainer's trade can be contrasted with the cobbler's trade, according to a tradition in Britain that restricted cobblers to repairing shoes. This usage distinction is not universally observed, as the word "cobbler" is widely used for tradespersons who make or repair shoes. A major British dictionary says that the word "cordwainer" is archaic, "still used in the names of guilds, for example, "the Cordwainers' Company""; but its definition of "cobbler" mentions only mending, reflecting the older distinction. Play 14 of the Chester Cycle was presented
Cordwainer Smith Hour." According to Cordwainer Smith scholar Alan C. Elms, this speculation first reached print in Brian Aldiss's 1973 history of science fiction, "Billion Year Spree"; Aldiss, in turn, claimed to have gotten the information from Leon Stover. More recently, both Elms and librarian Lee Weinstein have gathered circumstantial evidence to support the case for Linebarger's being Allen, but both concede there is no direct proof that Linebarger was ever a patient of Lindner's or that he suffered from a disorder similar to that of Kirk Allen. According to Frederik Pohl Linebarger's identity as "Cordwainer Smith" was secret until his death.