Cordwainer "cobbler" have often been considered not interchangeable, according to a tradition in Britain that restricted cobblers to repairing shoes. In this usage, a "cordwainer" is someone who makes new shoes using new leather, where as a "cobbler" is someone who repairs shoes. Medieval cordovan leather was used for the highest quality shoes, but cordwainers also used domestically produced leathers and were not solely producers of luxury footwear. In the historic London guild system, the cobblers and cordwainers were separate guilds, and the cobblers were forbidden from working in new leather. Historically, cobblers also made shoes, but only using old leather
Cordwainer Smith story is his first-published, "Scanners Live in Vain", which led many of its earliest readers to assume that "Cordwainer Smith" was a new pen name for one of the established giants of the genre. It was selected as one of the best science fiction short stories of the pre-Nebula Award period by the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America. It was selected for "The Science Fiction Hall of Fame Volume One, 1929-1964". Smith's next story did not appear for several years, but readers began recognizing the name on stories and novelettes, often published through "Galaxy Science Fiction". His stories