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CORNELL 
 
 UNIVERSITY 
 
 LIBRARY 
 
 BOUGHT WITH THE INCOME 
 OF THE SAGE ENDOWMENT 
 FUND GIVEN IN 1891 BY 
 
 HENRY WILLIAMS SAGE 
 
Cornell University 
 Library 
 
 The original of this book is in 
 the Cornell University Library. 
 
 There are no known copyright restrictions in 
 the United States on the use of the text. 
 
 http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924029501065 
 
HISTORIC BINDINGS 
 
 IN THE BODLEIAN LIBRARY. 
 
HISTORIC BINDINGS 
 
 IN THE 
 
 BODLEIAN LIBRARY, 
 
 OXFORD, 
 
 VOitl] Keprobuctions of Cipentg=four of tl?e finest ^inbin^s, 
 
 FULLY DESCRIBED BY 
 
 W. SALT BRASSINGTON, F.S.A. 
 
 LONDON: 
 
 SAMPSON LOW, MARSTON AND COMPANY, 
 
 ZIM/T£D, 
 
 <St. lungtsn's "gjonst, 
 Fetter Lane, Fleet Street, E.G. 
 
 1891. 
 
 ^< 
 
Stamp formerly impressed upon 
 Bodleian Bookbindings. 
 
 
Ip^reface. 
 
 T may be advisable in this place to explain the 
 system upon which the following pages have 
 I been compiled. From the beginning, it was 
 obvious that a complete catalogue of all 
 noteworthy bookbindings upon the shelves of 
 the Bodleian could not be attempted. Com- 
 pleteness being impossible, a representative 
 selection was the best alternative. Out of a total of nearly five 
 hundred examples forty were selected for photographing, and of 
 these twenty-four of the best negatives were chosen to illustrate 
 the text. The plates are arranged as far as possible in chronological 
 order. Each plate will be found to be described at length with 
 historical notes, precise measurements, press marks, and titles or 
 descriptions appended. Where possible, similar bindings both in 
 the Bodleian and elsewhere have been mentioned. 
 
 Owing to the limitations attached to the photographic art, it was 
 found to be impossible to procure satisfactory plates of several 
 important bindings, but descriptions of these will be found either 
 in the text or in the Introduction, which also contains some account 
 of early stamped leather bookbindings. 
 
 I desire to express my thanks to E. W. B. Nicholson, Esq., 
 M.A., Bodley's Librarian, for the facilities and assistance he has 
 given me in the prosecution of my work. 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 To Professor J. O. Westwood, M.A., I am indebted for kindly 
 allowing me to inspect his unique collection of carved ivories, and 
 for the descriptions appended to Plates I., II., and III. 
 
 My thanks are also due to the Rev. W. D. Macray, M.A., 
 upon whose "Annals of the Bodleian" my historical notes are 
 based, and to F. Madan, Esq., M.A., for valuable assistance. 
 
 Lastly, but no less heartily, I beg to thank Mr. Joseph Cundall, 
 whose name for upwards of half a century has been associated 
 with many standard works upon Industrial Arts, and to whom the 
 inception of this book is due, for the kind manner in which he has 
 assisted me by piloting the work through the press. 
 
 WM. SALT BRASSINGTON. 
 
 New Manor House, 
 
 MosELEY, Birmingham, 
 
 July 25///, 1891. 
 
H Cbronolootcal ILtst of the XEwenti^^toui: JSinbinos. 
 
 PLATE PAGE 
 
 I. EVANGELIARIUM, SIVE LECTIONES EVANGELIC^ PRO FESTIS, ETC. FOLIO MS. 
 
 ON VELLUM. loTii CENTURY ........ 2 
 
 In red morocco (iSf/i centicry), with ivory carving of the loih century inlaid. 
 
 IL GOSPELS OF ST. MATTHEW AND ST. MARK, ETC. LATIN MS. FOLIO, iith 
 
 CENTURY ........... 4 
 
 In brown leather with ivory carving of the \oth century inlaid, surrounded by a border of 
 gilt brass, engraved. 
 
 III. CODEX EBNERIANUS, THE NEW TESTAMENT AND THE NICENE CREED. GREEK 
 
 MS. OF THE I2TH CENTURY ........ 6 
 
 In engraved silver (iSth century), inlaid with ivory carving of Our Saviour, of the nth 
 century. 
 
 IV. LATIN PSALTER, ILLUMINATED. OCTAVO MS. ON VELLUM. 13TH CENTURY . S 
 
 In silver covered with translucent enamel, representing the Coronation of the Blessed Vii-gin 
 and the Anmmciation, with hand-wrought border of silver-gilt foliage. 
 
 V. CHRONICLE OF EVENTS FROM THE BEGINNING OF THE WORLD TO THE 
 
 CHRISTIAN ERA. IN GERMAN. LARGE FOLIO MS. 15TH CENTURY . lo 
 
 In hand-wrought leather, with many figures, engraved metal-work corners and bosses. 
 
 VI, LAS HORAS DE NUESTRA SENORA, ETC. SPANISH. PRINTED IN PARIS BY 
 
 NICOLAS HIGMA AND SIMON VOSTRE. c. 1520 ..... 12 
 In leather, deeply stamped and gilt, in the Arabesque style of Francis I. 
 
 VIL LATIN EPIGRAMS ADDRESSED BY ROBERT WHITINTON TO CARDINAL WOLSEY. 
 
 MS. ON VELLUM. i6th CENTURY ....... 14 
 
 In brown leather, deeply stamped and gilt, representing St. George slaying the Dragon, etc. 
 
 VIH. "VITAE ILLUSTRIUM VIRORUM." FOLIO MS. FROM LIBRARY OF KING HENRY VIIL 16 
 In brown leather, gold-tooled, or?tdmented with Royal Arms and the Tudor Rose. 
 
 IX. ARCHITECTVRE OU ART DE BIEN BASTIR, DE MARC VITRUUE. FOLIO. PARIS, 
 
 1547. FROM THE LIBRARY OF DIANNE DE POYTIERS . . . . iS 
 
 In white calf, tooled, painted and silvered, with monogram and bows, arro7vs, and quivers. 
 
 X. BINDING FROM THE LIBRARY OF THOMAS WOTTON, ESQUIRE. .. 1550 . . 20 
 
 In brown leather, gold-tooled in GroUeresque style. E?tglish (?) 
 
 XI. BINDING FROM THE LIBRARY OF THOMAS WOTTON, ESQUIRE, c. 1550 . . z2 
 
 In light brown leather, gold-tooled and painted in GroUeresque style. English (?) 
 
 XII. COVSTVMES DU BAILLIAGE DE SENS, ETC. QUARTO, PRINTED ON VELLUM, 
 
 A SENS. c. 1556-9 ......... 24 
 
 In brown leather, stamped, tooled, and painted, with cameo portrait of Henri II. 
 
26 
 
 28 
 
 32 
 
 A CHRONOLOGICAL LIST OF THE TWENTY-FOUR BINDINGS. 
 
 Tm. DIONIS NIC^I RERVM ROMANARVM, ETC. LVTETIAE, EX OFFICINA ROBERTI 
 STEPHANI. 1551 ....■••••■ 
 In brown leather, stamped, tooled, and painted, with badge of the Earl of Leicester. 
 
 XIV. DIALOGUE DE LA VIE ET DE LA MORT, ETC. OCTAVO. LYONS, c. 1558 . 
 In rose-red satin, embroidered with gold and silver thread, with silver filigree work. 
 
 XV. HORE BEATE VIRGINIS MARIE: SECUNDU VSUM SARUM, ETC. LARGE OCTAVO. 
 c. 1565-70 ......••••• 
 
 In brown leather, gold-tooled and stamped, with initials N. V. 
 
 XVL HEURES A LUSAIGE DE ROME. FROM THE LIBRARY OF CATHERINE DEI 
 
 MEDICI. LARGE OCTAVO. PRINTED ON VELLUM, t. 1580 . . -34 
 
 In cream-coloured calf-skin, gold-tooled by Nicolas Eve (?) 
 
 XVII, THE HOLY BIBLE. QUEEN ELIZABETH'S COPY. LARGE FOLIO. PRINTED BY 
 
 CHRISTOPHER BARKER, 1583 ....•••• 3^ 
 In ruby velvet, embroidered with coloured silks, gold, silver, and seed pearls. 
 
 XVIIL LA SECONDE SEMAINE, ETC. DU BARTAS. FROM THE LIBRARY OF PRESIDENT 
 
 DE THOU. PRINTED ON VELLUM. 1584 ...... 38 
 
 In olive-green morocco, ornamented d. la fanfare, by Clovis Eve (?) 
 
 XIX. CONFUTATION OF ASTROLOGICALL D^EMONOLOGIE, OR THE DIUELL'S SCHOLE. 
 
 MS. ON PAPER. FOLIO, c 1603 ....... 42 
 
 In brown leather, ornamented with a falcon, the badge of the Boleyn family, by an Eton 
 bookbinder (?) 
 
 XX. SIR THOMAS BODLEY'S REGISTER OF DONATIONS. LARGE FOLIO. 1604 . . 46 
 
 In black morocco, with silver-gilt centre-piece, corners and clasps. Arms in enamel on 
 silver. 
 
 XXI. ROYAL BINDING, FROM THE LIBRARY OF KING JAMES L FOLIO, c. 1620 " . 50 
 
 In brown leather, gold-tooled. Royal Arms in centre, ornamented ivith roses and thistles, 
 fleurs-de-lys and harps. English work (?) 
 
 XXn. BOOKE OF COMMON PRAYER— PSALTER— NEW TESTAMENT— WHOLE BOOKE OF 
 
 PSALMS. QUARTO. 1630-1 ........ 54 
 
 In canvas, embroidered with coloured silks and silver and gold thread, attributed to the 
 Sisters of Little Gidding. 
 
 58 
 
 XXin. BOOK OF COMMON PRAYER— HOLY BIBLE AND WHOLE BOOK OF PSALMES. 
 OCTAVO. 1639-40 .......... 
 
 In white satin, embroidered with silks of various colours, gold and silver thread, etc., in 
 an oval panel a female figure, representing Plenty, sits on a verdant bank ; in the 
 distance, a bridge, a city, etc. 
 
 XXIV. RACONALE DIUINORUM OFFICIORUM, ETC. FOLIO. PRINTED ON VELLUM . 60 
 
 In rose-coloured morocco, decorated in rococo style, bought for the Bodleian in 1790. 
 
 From photographs taken by the Orthochromatic process by L. B. Fletning, and printed by 
 
 Waterlow tSf* Sons. 
 
Jntrobuctton. 
 
 N the "Decameron" of Dibdin the assembled company 
 are made to discourse for awhile upon bookbinding. 
 From that pleasant conversation we infer that the 
 worthy doctor regarded this subject from an historic 
 as well as from an artistic point of view : by so 
 doing he testified to the intimate relationship between 
 art and history, and to the helpfulness of the one in interpreting 
 the other. Indeed it may be taken for granted that every beautiful 
 object has a story worth knowing, and there is of necessity a close 
 connexion between the history of a library and the books it contains; 
 In the case of an ancient institution like the Bodleian the connexion 
 is both close and interesting ; as intimate as that of the binding to 
 the book. To quote the words of a celebrated living statesman, 
 " The binding of a book is the dress with which it walks out into 
 the world. The paper, type, and ink are the body in which its soul 
 is domiciled, and these three, soul, body, and habiliments are a 
 triad, which ought to be adjusted to one another by the laws of 
 harmony and good sense." 
 
 tlbe ptecutsors of the Boblelart 
 
 BENEATH the Oxford of to-day repose the remains of a 
 city of the past, monastic rather than collegiate ; 
 a city with buildings and institutions rivaling 
 those of modern Oxford in extent and in beauty. 
 St. Frideswide's nunnery, now Christ Church, was 
 the nucleus around which the schools, both secular 
 and claustral, of this monastic centre gradually gathered, until they 
 developed into an university wherein colleges occupied the place of 
 abbeys and friaries. Later the walled city, dominated by a feudal 
 
 B 
 
X INTRODUCTION. 
 
 castle, gave place to the ungated streets and broad highways of 
 a modern town. The outward aspect of Oxford was changed ; the 
 culture remained and remains. 
 
 Monasteries and schools almost of necessity imply libraries ; 
 indeed in the Benedictine and Franciscan cloisters most of the 
 learning and culture which survived the night of the dark ages, and 
 illuminated the dawning of the Renaissance, was fostered, and it is 
 almost certain that the earliest libraries in Oxford were founded by 
 monks and friars for their own benefit, and the use of the students 
 sheltering beneath their hospitable roofs. It is recorded that the 
 Franciscans who settled in Oxford in 1224 had two great libraries 
 built and furnished with books by Robert Grosseteste. Some of 
 Grosseteste's MSS. are said to be in Balliol College library to this day.* 
 
 One by one monastic libraries were founded ; two hundred years 
 passed by, and one by one these libraries disappeared, till at the 
 Reformation all were destroyed or absorbed into other libraries. At 
 least as early as the beginning of the 14th century, perhaps earlier, 
 a few MSS. were deposited in St. Mary's Church : some, for reference 
 only, these chained to desks; others, for lending out under pledge, 
 were stored in massive book-chests under lock and key. For upwards 
 of two centuries this was the only public library available for 
 university purposes. Then St. Mary's was at once the church, the 
 court-house, the examination hall, the public treasury, and the library 
 of the University ; even now the Vice-Chancellor's Court is held under 
 the roof of the Bodleian, and less than ten years ago the examina- 
 tions took place within the same building. 
 
 In the year 1367 was begun and in 1409 completed the first 
 building specially set apart for an university library. To one who 
 is a native of the city in bello in pace semper fidelis, it is gratifying 
 to discover that a Bishop of Worcester, Thomas Cobham, "the 
 honest clerk," who had graduated in three faculties in' three 
 universities, was the founder of the first public library of any 
 
 * "A Bygone Oxford." The Rev. F. Goldie. The author is unable to verify this statement 
 but there are stamped bindings dating from c. 1470 in Balliol College library. 
 
INTRODUCTION. XI 
 
 importance in Oxford. Cobham was consecrated at Avignon in the 
 year 1317. He died in 1327. During those ten years, probably about 
 1320, he set on foot the work of preparation for the building. The 
 rooms he built were attached to the north side of the chancel of St. 
 Mary's Church ; they are standing yet, but shorn of much of their 
 beauty by the zeal of old Puritans and modern architects. The 
 former broke in pieces " the brave painted glass containing the arms 
 of benefactors," and the latter hid the beautiful tracery of the old 
 windows beneath a network of bastard Gothic ornament. The building 
 contained two rooms ; in the lower one, of old sat the solemn 
 congregation of the University, afterwards it became the home of 
 the fire-engines, and then it was a chapel used at times by the Non- 
 collegiate students. Above the old Congregation House is another 
 room of similar proportions ; this is Bishop Cobham's library, 
 completed and furnished after Cobham's death by the assistance of 
 Henry IV. Meanwhile, in the year 1345, Richard de Bury, Bishop 
 of Durham, the Dibdin of the 14th century, was making arrange- 
 ments for founding Durham College in Oxford, intending to put a 
 practical conclusion to his great work "Philobiblon" by bestowing his 
 books upon the college. Whether he did so is not known ; certainly 
 he died in debt, and his books seem to have been dispersed. A few 
 only really belonging to him have been found, and these are said to 
 have come from Durham College after it was dissolved by Henry 
 Vni. The library of Balliol College is reported to possess some of 
 de Bury's books, perhaps others may be in the Bodleian and at 
 Trinity College ; at all events they are said to have been transferred to 
 Duke Humfrey's library, but uncertainty rests upon these traditions. 
 
 The year 1426 marks an epoch in the history of the development 
 of architecture in Oxford ; it is also a memorable year in the annals 
 of the library. In that year was begun the Divinity school upon 
 which the first gallery of the Bodleian was afterwards raised. 
 Humfrey,* Duke of Gloucester, son of Henry IV., contributed largely 
 
 * " Humfrey " is the correct form of this name. When writing in French, the Duke writes it 
 Homfrey. As Humfrey comes from a Teutonic root and not a classical one, it ought never 
 to be spelt with a ph. Humphrey is as incorrect as Alphred would be ! 
 
xii INTRODUCTION. 
 
 to the building fund, and finally 'gave his library of magnificent 
 MSS. to the University. Between the years 1439 ^^d 1446 six hundred 
 MSS. were forwarded by the duke to Oxford, where they were at 
 first deposited in chests in Cobham's library, and finally, upon the 
 completion of the gallery over the Divinity school, removed to the 
 presses of that chamber, which still bears the name of the good 
 duke, and is now the hive of many busy literary bees. In completing 
 this room there were long delays, till in 1478 a gift of one thousand 
 marks from Thomas Kemp, Bishop of London, furnished the funds 
 necessary for the work. 
 
 For seventy years Duke Humfrey's library continued to be used, 
 then came the boy king's commissioners in 1550 and destroyed as 
 popish nearly all the illuminated MSS. Some they burned, others 
 they sold to bookbinders to cut up for covers and end papers, or to 
 tailors for measures, and, since this was done without examination of 
 the contents, very probably the ornaments upon the bindings were 
 enough to seal the fate of many priceless MSS. 
 
 To quote the words of Bodley's librarian: — "How the rest of 
 the collection disappeared is unknown, but disappear it did so 
 completely that in 1556 the University itself sold the very seats at 
 which the readers had sat."* Finally, the lead was stripped off the 
 roof, the windows battered out, and the finest library in Oxford, or 
 indeed in England, became a grass-grown ruin. 
 
 ®f the f ounbing of the Bobleian, 
 
 [LiZABETH, requiring recruits for her cultivated and 
 brilliant court, patronised the University, and at the 
 same time served herself by bestowing preferments 
 both in Church and State upon promising young 
 scholars of Oxford. Such an one was Sir Thomas 
 Bodley. By birth a member of an ancient Devon 
 family and the son of a rigid Protestant, Thomas Bodley shared 
 during Mary's reign his father's exile. At Geneva he studied theology, 
 
 * The Bodleian Library in 1882-7. A report from the Hbrarian. Oxford, 1888. 
 
INTRODUCTION. Xlll 
 
 Hebrew, and Greek under Calvin, Beza, and others, reformers of 
 learning and religion. Upon the accession of Elizabeth in 1558 
 Bodley returned to England and entered at Magdalen College, in 
 due course taking his degree ; then he travelled on the continent and 
 again returned to England to be appointed fellow of Merton College 
 in 1563. Bodley was an apostle of the new learning, and without 
 fee or reward he undertook to deliver a course of Greek lectui'es in 
 his college hall, and this led to the recognition of Greek as a 
 necessary part of university training at Oxford. He was appointed 
 Gentleman Usher to the Queen, and afterwards employed upon 
 embassies to foreign courts, till at the age of fifty-three, weary of pomp 
 and of going up and down in the world, he concluded (I use his 
 own words) at the last to set up his staff at the library door in 
 Oxon ; being thoroughly persuaded he could not busy himself to 
 better purpose than by reducing that place (which then in every part 
 lay ruined and waste) to the public use of students. The first thing 
 to be done was to roof the library, for the walls alone were standing. 
 Merton College gave the timber for this purpose, and Sir Thomas 
 Bodley's roof is the admiration of visitors to the library to this day ; it 
 is elaborately painted in compartments with the arms of the University 
 and those of Bodley affixed to the beams. Then Bill, the London 
 bookseller, was sent to Italy, at Bodley's expense, to collect books, and 
 donations were solicited from wealthy friends. How generously these 
 appeals were answered the register of donations clearly shows. On the 
 8th of November, 1602, upwards of 2,000 volumes had been collected, 
 and the library was opened with due solemnity. 
 
 From that day until the present the Institution has grown 
 unceasingly; there are now (1891) within its walls, in round numbers, 
 perhaps as many as 1,500,000 volumes,* and in point of size the 
 Bodleian probably ranks among the six largest libraries of the world. 
 It ranks first among public libraries in Europe for antiquity; the 
 second being that of Angelo Rocca at Rome opened in 1604, the 
 same year that King James I. granted letters patent styling the 
 library by Bodley's name. 
 
 * The term volume here equals title-page. There are over 500,000 separately bound volumes. 
 
XIV 
 
 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 Founded in the earliest years of the 17th century, and enriched 
 with the collections of the founder, the Earl of Pembroke, Sir Kenelm 
 Digby, Archbishop Laud, Oliver Cromwell, the illustrious Selden, 
 Sir Thomas Fairfax, Junius, Marshall and Bishop Barlow ; 
 in the i8th century by the benefactions of Archbishop Marsh, the 
 Clarendon family, Rawlinson, Ballard, Browne Willis and Godwyn ; 
 and in the present century by the bequests of Gough, Malone, Douce 
 and others, the Bodleian contains the best representative collection of 
 books to be found in England, and in respect of beautiful and historic 
 bindings this library may fairly lay claim to be second to none other 
 in the land. Thanks to the comparatively clear atmosphere of Oxford 
 and the intelligent care bestowed upon the preservation of the volumes, 
 the bookbindings as well as the books themselves are in excellent 
 preservation. 
 
 Qt Bookbinbers in ©yforb. 
 
 The earliest notice of bookbinding at Oxford with which I am 
 acquainted may be found in the pages of Chaucer, who quaintly 
 describes the private library of a 14th century Oxford man, the Clerk 
 
 of Oxenford, who studied logic till he 
 waxdd lean and preferred books to a 
 benefice — 
 
 "For him was levere have at his beddes heed 
 Twenty bokes, clad in blak or reed, 
 Of Aristotle and his philosophye, 
 Than robes riche, or fithele, or gay soutrye." 
 
 In the glass case, on the left of the 
 librarian's table, anyone who cares to do 
 so may see a book chained, and clad in 
 red, just as described by Chaucer. Old 
 monastic libraries were often rich in bind- 
 ings of this kind, formed of thick oak 
 boards, covered with sheepskin dyed red 
 but not otherwise ornamented. The title of this book is " Pastorale 
 nouellum Ruodolfi de Liebeck" (MS. Douce 133). In Germany a 
 
 Armorial Stamp on the Bindings 
 OF Sir Kenelm Digby's Books. 
 
INTRODUCTION. XV 
 
 superior kind of leather, dyed a rich red colour, was sometimes used 
 for bookbinding, and ornamented with most elaborate stamping, 
 cutting and tooling, similar to a late but very elaborate heraldic 
 example preserved in one of the Douce Scrapbooks of bookbindings. 
 
 It is probable that the early bookbinders of Oxford used stamps, 
 similar to those discovered by Mr. W. H. James Weale at Durham 
 and at the Record Office, but up to the present time no example has 
 been discovered. There is some slight evidence that the bookbinding 
 fraternity were numerous in Oxford in early times, and that they 
 were countenanced by the Canons Regular of Osney Abbey, for we 
 find the bridge leading from the castle to the abbey gate and High 
 Street, St. Thomas', called emphatically " Bookbinders' Bridge." 
 There is a tradition also that of old bookbinders congregated in 
 Cat-strete, the lane running from High Street at the east end of 
 St. Mary's to Broad Street, and still often so called, though labelled 
 Catherine Street. Here was a central position close to the schools, 
 thirty-two in number, reaching from the west end of St. Mary's to the 
 city wall along School Street, parallel to Cat-strete, and close to the 
 University Library over the old Convocation House. The craftsmen 
 here settled probably would follow other trades conjointly with book- 
 binding — that of the stationer and of the coffer-maker it may be. 
 The tradition of the binding fraternity in Cat-strete is strengthened 
 by an entry in an old catalogue in the British Museum made by 
 David Casley, one of the librarians to George 11., and quoted by 
 Mr. E. Gordon Duff in a paper on Early Bookbinding read before 
 the Oxford Architectural Society on November 30th, 1886. Unfortu- 
 nately, the MS. was rebound and the original binding destroyed. 
 The note, for which I am indebted to Mr. Duff, runs as follows : — 
 
 ' ' Liber ligatus erat Oxonii, in Catstrete., ad instantiam Reuerendi 
 Domini Thome Wybarun, in sacra theologia Bacalarii 
 Monachi Roffensis, Anno Domini 1467."* 
 
 The few sumptuous MSS. from Duke Humfrey's library yet preserved 
 in the Bodleian, without an exception, have been rebound ; but the 
 
 * Quoted by Dibdin, " Bib. Dec." ii. 449. Dibdin gives the reference. MSS. Reg. 6. D.II. 
 
Xvi INTRODUCTION. 
 
 rebinding took place so long ago that the second bindings are not 
 entirely devoid of interest. 
 
 Before the invention of printing, velvet was a favourite material 
 
 for the covering of valuable MSS. It is evident from existmg 
 
 records that velvet was used for bookbindings long before the time 
 
 usually assigned to it. Arnett ("Books of the Ancients," p. 63) 
 
 mentions a 14th century velvet book cover, and quotes the will of 
 
 Lady Fitzhugh, 1427, " Als so I will * * my son Rob't a sauter 
 
 covered with rede velwet." Several volumes in the Bodleian Auctanum 
 
 are so clothed, but the covers are mostly of comparatively late 
 
 date. One great folio is resplendent in a coat of figured velvet, 
 
 perhaps at one time part of a priest's vestment or an altar-cloth. 
 
 Bindings of this kind, enriched with precious metals and jewels, 
 
 seldom escaped the hands of robbers in times of anarchy ; consequently 
 
 few examples have descended to our time. Only the most precious 
 
 books would receive these precious bindings, and it may be doubted 
 
 whether the early bookbinders of Oxford usually produced bindings 
 
 in material more costly than the .stout leather or smooth parchment 
 
 with which every one is familiar. The mediaeval bindings enriched 
 
 with carved ivories, gold, silver, and enamel, now exhibited in the 
 
 binding cases of the Bodleian, are of foreign workmanship. 
 
 It may be useful to leave for a moment the strict chronological 
 order of events to notice the various kinds of bookbindings recognised 
 by law in the early years of the i6th century.* In "An Act concern- 
 ing Stationers," passed in the 25th year of the reign of Henry VIII. 
 (1534), repealing an Act passed in the ist year of the reign of 
 Richard III. (1483), three distinct kinds of bindings are mentioned — 
 
 (i.) In parchment. 
 
 (2.) In boards (half binding). 
 
 (3.) In leather. 
 
 There cannot be any doubt that parchment bindings were in use at a 
 very early period, and further that the parchment was either stretched 
 
 * It must be remembered that the bindings referred to are what we should call publishers' 
 bindings, not special bindings, that is, they belonged to the class in ordinary use. 
 
INTRODUCTION. XVll 
 
 over wooden boards forming the sides of the binding, or used alone 
 without boards, in the manner now called "limp." The parchment 
 bindings referred to, of course, belonged to this latter class ; but I 
 suppose that centuries before Henry VIII.'s time parchment bindings 
 would be employed in Oxford. The small nth century folio (Bodl. 
 MS. 516) containing sundry minor writings of St. Augustine and other 
 Fathers of the Church was bound in parchment with wooden sides. 
 There is no reason for supposing this to be an Oxford bound book, 
 but it proves, if proof were wanting, the antiquity of the employment 
 of parchment for binding purposes. Also a special interest is attached 
 to this volume because the title of the book is written on the back 
 in a 1 2th century hand. Until the i6th century it was the rule to 
 write the titles of books upon the fore-edge, and place the volumes 
 upon the shelves back inwards ; this little book appears to have been 
 an exception to the rule, and in this respect it is believed to be unique. 
 Some time ago Mr. Nicholson, finding the volume in a dilapidated 
 condition, caused it to be repaired, and in taking the binding to pieces 
 the original vellum or parchment cover was discovered beneath one 
 of more recent date ; the outer cover had protected the ancient writing 
 from injury. The old parchment was then carefully removed, cleaned, 
 and fastened within the present cover. The writing of the title is 
 assigned to a scribe of the 12th century. An example of parchment 
 binding of somewhat doubtful antiquity may be seen upon " The 
 Cordyale," printed by Caxton in seven weeks, beginning on 2nd February 
 and ending on 24th of March, 1479 (new year's day being March 25th). 
 The binding is formed of a stiff piece of parchment with turned-in 
 edges. The marks of the rivets whereby the book was secured to a 
 chain are visible. Mr. W. Blades* is of opinion that the Bodleian copies 
 of " The Art and Craft," 1491, and " The Game and Play of the 
 Chess," 1481, are in original vellum bindings {vide "William Caxton," 
 Ed. 1882, p. 133). In England at a later period, commencing about 
 the reign of Elizabeth, perhaps earlier, the sides of vellum-bound books 
 were ornamented with gold-tooling and gold-stamping. An example of 
 a royal binding ornamented in this manner, bearing the Crown and the 
 
 * Since this essay was written this eminent bibUographer has passed away. 
 
xviii INTRODUCTION. 
 
 initials I.K. covers a copy of " The Play of the Creation," written by 
 John Jordan in 1611— probably James I.'s copy. Handsome arabesque 
 centre ornaments, and shields of arms, were stamped on vellum 
 bindings at and after this time. Of much greater rarity than the 
 bindings mentioned above are the pierced vellum covers of pocket- 
 books and albums. By the kindness of Mr. Macray two examples 
 were brought under my notice — one a note-book (MS. Rawl. B. 4), 
 the sides measuring 6 in. x 4 in. A stamped and gilt medallion of 
 Justice occupies the centre of one side, a number of small piercings 
 form borders around the medallion, and beneath the piercings light 
 blue silk is placed. When new the cream-coloured vellum and the 
 blue silk must have looked very charming, but the materials were 
 too delicate long to retain their freshness, and for that reason vellum 
 is regarded by most practical people as unsuitable for bookbinding. 
 
 The second class of binding, called in the Act " in boards," literally 
 consisted of two stout wooden boards fastened together by leather 
 thongs extending across the back of the volume, and having the ends 
 pegged into the solid wooden sides. To cover these bands a piece 
 of leather was glued partly over one side, stretched across the back, 
 and glued to the other side, presenting an appearance similar to the 
 modern " half-bound " books, except that the portions of the sides 
 not covered by leather were left simply unadorned and uncovered. 
 Monastic bookbinders affected this style, sometimes plain, sometimes 
 ornamented with elaborate stampings ; but since half binding resulted 
 from a desire for economy, it is usual to find the white roughly 
 dressed leather backs, and half sides unornamented. Upon the 
 shelves of the Bodleian rest numerous examples of mediaeval half- 
 bound books. 
 
 The third class — books whose sides and backs are wholly covered 
 with leather— cannot be dismissed in a paragraph. Volumes have 
 been written, volumes still have to be written upon this subject, 
 which, from its close connexion with the works of the early printers, 
 forms an important branch of bibliography. From both an utilitarian 
 
INTRODUCTION. XIX 
 
 and an aesthetic point of view, leather is the best material that can 
 be used for binding a book. The smooth sides of leather bindings 
 being admirably adapted to receive almost every species of ornament, 
 from a simple self-coloured dye to the most splendidly designed and 
 elaborately tooled patterns, are and have been deemed worthy of the 
 work of the most skilful craftsmen. It is on this account chiefly 
 that ancient bookbindings are valuable — not merely from a commercial 
 point of view, but on account of their own artistic merit. It is for 
 this reason that the cult of old bookbinding is fashionable in circles 
 which are supposed to be the most cultivated. The historic interest 
 attached to particular books weighs lightly with the ordinary collector, 
 neither does he value the book as a literary production ; knowing 
 little he cares less for the true principles of art and literature. Ethics 
 underlying art are to him as the riddle of the Sphinx was to the 
 Thebans. Perhaps some day an Oedipus will come and clear away 
 the mystery. 
 
 But to return to my subject — leather bookbinding. In Europe 
 the five schools of Italy, Germany, France, Spain, and England are 
 distinct ; but at various times they have influenced one another to a 
 considerable extent. Even the early English school, of which Mr. 
 James Weale has discovered some three dozen examples, exercised an 
 influence on continental art, and the High German School — too little 
 known now-a-days — influenced still more the art of the surrounding 
 nations. Asia, and Africa too, added their quota, the Italians 
 imitating the Arabian tooling so closely that it would be easy for 
 a novice to mistake an early Italian binding for Arabian work. The 
 Arabs, civilized by the teaching of Mahomed, gradually forsook 
 their nomad habits, and forming settled communities became learned 
 in arts and sciences — in geometry especially they excelled ; then 
 from a few simple figures they evolved the poetry of geometrical 
 design known to us by the name of Arabesque. Modified by various 
 national influences, Arab ornament spread through Europe, northward 
 and westward. The Crusades assisted in the work ; the merchant 
 princes of Italy completed it. In the i6th century the Italianized 
 Arabesque and Saracenic ornament superseded the more human if 
 
XX INTRODUCTION. 
 
 less rhythmical Gothic. This, be it remembered, applies to book- 
 binding alone, not to the sister arts. From the workshop of Aldus 
 in Venice, and from some of the seaports of northern Italy, Oriental 
 ornament filtered into France. On the book-covers of Maioli and 
 Jean Grolier de Servin Oriental designs crystallized. The bookbinders 
 of France, Germany, the Low Countries, and England copied as best 
 they could the Italian models, each artist giving his own idea of 
 what a Grolier binding ought to be, till at last the " Grolieresque " 
 degenerated into rococo. In England books were bound for Henry 
 VIII., Edward VI., and some of the great nobles in the Italian and 
 French styles ; some of the specimens belonging to the Bodleian will 
 be noticed later. It is probable that an Italian binder settled in 
 England towards the end of the i6th century and made several 
 bindings of great richness for Queen Elizabeth, Archbishop Parker, 
 and the Earl of Leicester, possibly also for Nicholas Bacon. Examples 
 of this binder's work may be seen at the Bodleian, at the British 
 Museum, Lambeth Palace, Gloucester Cathedral, and elsewhere. The 
 Reformation under Henry VIII. caused the decline of art generally, 
 and especially as applied to bookbindings ; also it led to the introduction 
 of much Dutch and German work curiously grotesque. To our close 
 commercial intercourse with the Low Countries we owe, not only the 
 introduction of the printing-press, but also of men who were book- 
 binders as well as printers, and an immense number of foreign 
 bookbinding tools, and much foreign leather. Oxford did not escape 
 this invasion, as we shall see presently. To expatiate at length upon 
 the superlative merits of leather is unnecessary ; everyone knows that 
 there is nothing like leather for the bookbinder's art as well as for 
 that of the cordwainer— the old English name for a shoemaker 
 derived from the Cordovan leather upon which he exercised his craft' 
 The word is at least as old as Chaucer's days— Sir Thopas had ''His 
 shoon of Cordewane," and it is possible that in those days the old 
 English shoemakers may occasionally have turned their hands to 
 bookbinding. Before paper was in general use for the making of books 
 leather of several kinds was a necessity to the old scribes who 
 frequently became very skilful in decorating it in various ways 'other 
 than by means of the pen. The early printers closely followed the 
 
INTRODUCTION. XXI 
 
 traditions of their predecessors the scribes, who sometimes exercised 
 all the crafts necessary to the complete manufacture and preservation 
 of a book. In the monasteries the same system was employed — the 
 parchment was dressed, the ink made, the book composed or tran- 
 scribed, the illuminations painted, the loose sheets secured and 
 bound together, the binding ornamented, and a case or coffer made 
 for the completed volume, if not by the same hands, at all events in 
 the same establishment. Many of the tools also appear to have been 
 home-made. There cannot be any doubt that at Oxford, in the 
 religious houses, hundreds of books were thus manufactured, in the 
 true sense of the word, for all books were hand-made in those days. 
 Many of the covers, doubtless, were ornamented with beautifully 
 designed stampings similar to those employed by the early binders 
 at London and Winchester and at the Abbeys of Durham and 
 Hyde. I have already stated that the earliest dated Oxford binding 
 yet discovered was bound in Cat-strete in 1467. From this time 
 onwards specimens of Oxford leather bindings become more common. 
 In the Bodleian may still be seen several rare old volumes printed 
 by Theodoric Rood and Thomas Hunte, the first Oxford printers ; 
 these bindings are curiously stamped, showing the printer's connexion 
 with the continent, and perhaps, with William Caxton. 
 
 Theodoric Rood of Cologne was the earliest and most important 
 of Caxton's contemporaries in the art of printing in England. In 
 1478 Rood immigrated to this country and settled at Oxford, where he 
 entered into partnership with Thomas Hunte, an Englishman, who 
 styles himself " Stationarius Universitatis Oxon." Rood appears to 
 have brought with him from Cologne types and bookbinding tools ; 
 he and his partner soon commenced the business of printers, issuing 
 several carefully printed quartos. The Bodleian possesses seven 
 specimens of these first-fruits of the Oxford Press ; the earliest dated 
 1479, the latest i486, all in original bindings. From the year 1479 
 till 1518, when John Scolar, living in St. John Baptist's Lane, 
 printed one or two little books, no printing appears to have been done 
 in Oxford, and there was, I think, little employment for the bookbinder. 
 Before describing in detail the bindings upon the Bodleian examples of 
 
XXll INTRODUCTION. 
 
 the books printed by Rood and Hunte, it may be well to premise that 
 at this period German bookbinders planned the ornament of the sides 
 very differently to their English brethren. The German method was 
 an outer frame, composed of parallel, vertical, and horizontal lines 
 overlapping at the four corners. The panel thus enclosed was then 
 divided into lozenge-shaped compartments by diagonal lines. The 
 spaces left between the lines were often enriched by stampings, but 
 sometimes the pattern produced by the ruled lines alone was considered 
 sufficient ornament. On the English examples from the 12th to 
 the 15th century we find the stamps arranged in horizontal and 
 perpendicular lines only, suggesting a Byzantine origin. Sometimes, 
 however, as in the case of the Winchester book belonging to the 
 Society of Antiquaries, the central ornament is circular. The repetition 
 of stamps placed close together in a straight line apparently gave the 
 idea of the roulette. 
 
 On the earliest binding attributed to Rood the ornament is 
 planned in a manner that is neither German nor English, but a 
 compromise between the two (c. 1478). Upon the bindings of books 
 published in 1481 and 1483 the German diagonal method appears, 
 while two bindings, presumably made at Oxford about that time, one 
 in the possession of Mr. F. Madan, and the other at the British 
 Museum, are decorated in the English style. But the most remarkable 
 fact in connexion with these early Oxford bindings is that the beautiful 
 cover of the Bodleian Caxton " Chronicles," which is ornamented with 
 some of the same stamps that appear on Rood's books, has the obverse 
 planned in the German manner and the reverse in the English. I 
 cannot say that the Caxton was bound in Oxford, but I think it not 
 unlikely. Respecting the stamps used on these bindings it is almost 
 certam that they emanated from the same city, viz. Cologne*; but 
 although the devices are similar, and in some cases identical, it' does 
 not follow necessarily that the tools used were the same: many copies 
 of an origmal stamp could be, and doubtless were, made. 
 
 * Mr. W. H. James Weale believes they may hive been brought from Brabant. 
 
INTRODUCTION. Xxiii 
 
 ®f the Stampeb Xeatbet Btnblngs on lEatl^ 
 ©yfotb printeb IBooh^, Sic 
 
 (i.) On "expositio Alexandri (de Ales) suf (primum secundum 
 et) terciulibz? (Aristotelis) de anima." 
 Colophon. — Impressum f me Theodericu rood de Colonia 
 in alma uniusitate Oxon. Anno incarnaconis dmce. 
 
 M.CCCC.LXXXI. [AUCT. R. SUPRA I O.J 
 
 The binding of this work is undoubtedly contemporary with the 
 printing. The sides measure iif in. x Sin. There are four bands, 
 boards oaken covered with brown leather of excellent 
 quality, ornamentation of the rudest description, consisting 
 of a number of double lines ruled diagonally across the 
 sides in the German manner, but without any attempt at 
 siigiMy enlarged, rcgularlty, and so crooked that they might be the work 
 of a child. In each of the lozenge-shaped spaces thus formed is an 
 elliptical stamp of the Virgin and infant Saviour. It should also be 
 noticed that only the back cover is thus ornamented, the front cover 
 being quite plain, also the Virgin and Child have been stamped 
 upside down, if the cover was ornamented after the book was bound, 
 but what may have happened is that after the cover had been prepared 
 the book was put in it upside down. Assuming this to be so, then 
 it was (what was meant to be) the front cover that was ornamented 
 and the back cover left blank, and the stamps were put on the right 
 way up. The book was evidently once tied across the fore-edge with 
 two thongs near the top and two near the bottom. 
 
 (2.) Vulgaria quedam abs Terentio in Anglica linguam 
 traducta, and other tracts. Without preface or date, 
 but identified by the type. [Auct. R. supra 2.j 
 
 From a MS. note written in red ink on a fly-leaf we learn that 
 in " 1483. Fiater Johannes grene em?t hue libxnm Oxom'e de 
 elemof/;«is amicot^»? [uoxum." 
 
XXIV INTRODUCTION. 
 
 The binding is of brown leather upon wooden boards. Measure- 
 ments of sides, 8 in. x 5^ in. ; bands, 4 in. The clasp plate alone 
 remains. The only attempts at ornament are double lines ruled 
 diagonally across the sides. 
 
 (3.) Textus Ethicorum Aristotelis, per Leonardum Arretinum 
 TRANSLATUs. 1479- [S. Selden, e. 2.] 
 
 This volume formed part of the Selden bequest, and came to 
 the library not later than 1659. It is bound in wooden boards 
 covered with brown leather. The sides measure 8^ in. x 5i in. ; 
 bands, 3. The reverse, a border arranged in the English manner, 
 and composed of a repetition of stamps, half-an-inch square, encloses 
 a parallelogram. Each stamp bears the figure of a squirrel in high 
 relief, but now much worn. Diagonal and perpendicular lines, 
 composed of stamps three-quarters of an inch long by about a quarter 
 of an inch broad, intersect in the centre of the panel, and between, 
 square stamps occur wherever there is space to place them. The 
 stamps used to form the diagonal bands are not suitable for that 
 purpose, and are placed in this position in obvious imitation of the 
 German plan ; they were intended for rectangular borders. A fillet 
 stamp of rather unusual character occurs at the top and bottom of the 
 panel. In the centre the great stamp of the library appears ; this is an 
 addition made in the early years of the present century, and obliterates 
 the old stamping beneath. On the obverse a similar arrangement 
 occurs to that on the reverse, but a circular stamp of the Agnus Dei 
 takes the place of the square squirrel stamp ; the diagonal lines are 
 arranged differently, in a manner more German in character. 
 
 (4.) EXPOSICIO SANCTI IeRONIMI in SIMBOLUM APOSTOLORU3 AD 
 
 PAPA3 Iauretiu. 
 
 C^/,9/^^;^.— Explicit exposicio, &c. Impressa Oxonie Et finita 
 Anno domini. M.cccclxviij. 
 
 One of the best specimens of Oxford 15th century binding 
 belonging to Mr. F. Madan. The binding contained other tracts 
 
Textus Ethicorum Aristotelis, 1479. 
 
 D 
 
Xxvi INTRODUCTION. 
 
 besides the famous " Exposicio." The names of these, written in a 
 neat but now almost, illegible hand, appear upon the leather on the 
 underside of the obverse cover. The date, 1468, about which so 
 much has been written, is now usually taken to be a misprint for 
 1478. The arguments, briefly stated, are as follows:— 
 
 In 1664 Richard Atkyns, Esq., published an account of a 
 document, said to have been found at Lambeth Palace, containing 
 a history of the introduction of printing into this country by one 
 Corsellis, about the year 1468, who set up his press in Oxford. 
 The printed date of the " Exposicio " agrees with this statement. 
 If the story told by Atkyns be true, then the " Exposicio " is the 
 first book printed in England, and the honour of having printed 
 it rests upon Corsellis and his Oxford press. Modern research has 
 effectually disposed of this fable, and it is now universally admitted 
 that the " Exposicio " is the earliest known product of Rood's Oxford 
 press. From a comparison between the known works by Rood and 
 Hunte and the " Exposicio," it is clear that whoever printed the 
 former also printed the latter. The type is identical. Like the 
 preceding examples, this binding is of strong brown leather, darkened 
 by age, and ornamented with a number of curious little stamps, 
 copied from those used at Cologne and in the Netherlands, or perhaps 
 imported thence into this country. 
 
 The sides measure 8^ in. x 51 in. ; bands, 3. The two clasps 
 have been removed. The ornament is planned in the English style. 
 Both sides are alike. The outer border is ornamented with rose 
 stamps and circular punchings, the inner border of long stamps 
 representing twining tendrils. Although very similar, these stamps 
 are not the same as those upon the " Aristotle " of 1479. In the central 
 panel are arranged five pairs of small rectangular stamps. Upon 
 the first, two birds with human heads ; on the second a dragon, 
 eating his own tail ; on the third two cocks fighting ; on the fourth 
 and fifth the subjects on the second and first are repeated. The 
 stamp with the quarrelsome cocks occurs also on a Louvain binding 
 of 1476, said to be the work of a Cologne bookbinder, also upon a 
 binding now at the British Museum on a " Nider." A similar 
 
INTRODUCTION. XXVll 
 
 binding is that upon the "Latterbury" of 1482 in All Souls' College. 
 The British Museum binding just mentioned closely resembles the 
 binding of the " Exposicio," all the stamps of the latter are used upon 
 the former; but the "Nider" has three extra stamps representing a 
 double-headed quadruped, a double-headed eagle, and two birds 
 drinking from a chalice. 
 
 (5.) The Chronicle of England. (No title.) 1480. 
 
 Colophon. — Thus endeth this prefent booke of the cronicles of 
 englond, enpnted by me william Caxton In thabbey of 
 weftmynftre by London. Fynyffhid and accompliffhid the 
 x. day of Juyn the yere of thincarnacion of our Lord god 
 M, cccc. Ixxx. and in the xx. yere of the regne of kyng 
 Edward the fourth. [S. Selden d. 4.J 
 
 This is a binding belonging to the same class as the foregoing 
 and to the same period. Measurements of sides, 12 in. x 8 in. ; bands, 
 4 ; clasps gone. Marks of having been chained. The ornamentation 
 is on the German plan, but differs in several respects from the 
 bindings usually found upon Caxton's books. The "Boethius" of 1479, 
 discovered by my late friend Mr. William Blades at St. Alban's, 
 bears a strong likeness to this binding, but it lacks the stampings, 
 and the diagonal lines are three-fold, like those of the outer border 
 upon the binding before us. A careful inspection will show that 
 five stamps were used upon one side and three on the other, one 
 square, two oblong. 
 
 (i.) A lion rampant, square. 
 
 (2.) A chimaera,* oblong. 
 
 (3.) A stag couchant, square. 
 
 (4.) A dragon, square. 
 
 (5.) Two birds drinking from a cup, oblong. 
 
 The stamps are small, being half an inch square. Nos. 2, 4, 
 and 5 occur on the obverse, where they are arranged in six parallel 
 
 * The animal is the fabulous classical monster called the Chimaera. It has a lion's head, a 
 tail consisting of a serpent, and a goat's head rising from the middle of its body. 
 
xxvui INTRODUCTION. 
 
 perpendicular rows, with a row at right angles along the ends. Stamp 
 5 occurs on the British Museum " Nider " mentioned before. All 
 these stamps differ from those usually supposed to have belonged to 
 Caxton, and the inference is that this is not Caxton's binding. I opine 
 that it is the work of an Oxford binder. 
 
 Of BookbinbinG in ©ytorb in tbe 16tb Century. 
 
 ilooKBiNDiNG in Oxford held a lowly place in the 15th 
 century, and it does not seem to have advanced greatly 
 during the succeeding age. While the century was 
 yet young, foreign bookbinders introduced large-sized 
 stamps into England, and the roulette soon followed ; 
 indeed it must have been suggested by the endless 
 repetition of little stamps used by the binders of the former generation. 
 Both large stamps and the roulette were, I believe, in use in Oxford 
 at an early date. I have before me two volumes bound in leather 
 stamped with medallions containing classic heads. The first is a 
 grammar printed by Gymnicus in 1541, belonging to the library of 
 King's Norton School, founded by Thomas Hall before 1662. There 
 can be little doubt that this book was brought by Hall from Oxford ; 
 in the binding was discovered a pad of paper composed entirely of 
 sheets of a rare treatise on ethics by an author whose latinized 
 name is Johannes Dedicus. This treatise was printed at Oxford by 
 John Scolar in 15 18. It is almost impossible to decide whether the 
 sheets are binders' or printers' waste, the latter seems the more likely. 
 The second volume, a " Caesar " printed by Sebastianus Gryphius in 
 the same year as the grammar (1541), is bound in oak boards. The 
 leather sides bear the same medallion stamp, and the binding has 
 every appearance of having come from the same workshop. In later 
 times some one stamped the initials H. G. upon the sides, and more 
 recently Sir Harry Inglis impressed his mark upon the title-page. 
 It is possible that these stamps were used by an Oxford binder, 
 perhaps an itinerant, in the first half of the i6th century ; but 
 the evidence is not conclusive, and therefore I throw this out as a 
 suggestion only. After John Scolar came Carolus Kyrfoth, a 
 
INTRODUCTION. XXIX 
 
 Dutchman, who stayed in Oxford but a short time, and appears to 
 have printed but one book in 1519 ; it may be that Scolar and 
 Kyrfoth were both bookbinders as well as printers, but none of their 
 work has been identified. There are in the library several books 
 bound in leather, ornamented with roulette work of a graceful design, 
 and having the initials C.K. There is reason to think that these are 
 Oxford-bound books. Hitherto I have regarded them as later than 
 Kyrfoth's time, but the tool may have been Kyrfoth's. 
 
 According to a statement found in the pages of Anthony a 
 Wood, Peter Treveris followed Kyrfoth; and, in 1527, printed several 
 books in the University, before he removed to Southwark. Peter 
 Treveris printed ten or more of the works of Robert Whitinton, 
 some with, others without date and place. When in London, Treveris 
 was associated with John Reynes, for whom he printed several 
 works ; whether Reynes bound books for Treveris we have not 
 ascertained. Two points however are certain, viz., that many of 
 Treveris' books were handsomely bound and stamped with the royal 
 arms of England (Henry VUL's and his queens'), and that one of 
 these stamps bears the closest resemblance to the woodcut on the 
 back of the title-page of the book printed by John Scolar in Oxford 
 in 1 5 18. From 1527 till 1585, when a new press was erected at 
 the expense of the Earl of Leicester, Chancellor of the University, a 
 hiatus occurs in the annals of the Oxford press, and consequently 
 to a considerable extent in the annals of bookbinding also. The 
 first book printed at the new press was " Johannis Casi Speculum 
 moralium quaestionum in universam Ethicam Aristotelis," printed by 
 Joseph Barnes, printer to the University, in 1585. There is a copy 
 of that book in the library. 
 
 During the 17th century some solid work was produced in 
 Oxford ; the earlier examples are remarkable for the excellent quality 
 of the leather and the roulette ornaments, usually applied with care. 
 This style was succeeded by one yet plainer, except that the blind- 
 tooling was abandoned in favour of gold-tooling ; more labour was 
 bestowed upon the ornamentation of the back than of the sides, 
 which often bore a device or crest in gold stamped in the centre. 
 
XXX INTRODUCTION, 
 
 Take for example the volumes of Du Chesne's " Historiae Francorum 
 Scriptores," 1636, bought with the money bequeathed by Margaret 
 Brooke of Temple Combe, Somersetshire. Upon the centre of each 
 side is a large device stamped in gold, consisting of a snake forming 
 a circle, with a cornucopia at each side; at the top a laurel wreath, 
 and at the bottom a label bearing the inscription, " annvo reditv. 
 MargaretcB- Brooke' qvinq- librarwn ;" while in the centre is " coronasH 
 annvm bonitatis t'VCB. Ps 65." The Earl of Abingdon (James Bertie, 
 1682), who married Eleanor, daughter of Sir Henry Lee of Ditchley, 
 CO. Oxon, affected a similar binding for some of his books, but in 
 this case the stamp was the Abingdon crest, a man's head ducally 
 crowned, surrounded by a laurel wreath, and ensigned by an earl's 
 coronet. The back of a volume of "Pierce's Sermons," 1671, in my 
 own collection, thus stamped, is elaborately tooled. There is a similar 
 binding in Lichfield Cathedral. Another style peculiar to England 
 displayed more taste ; it is usually associated with the name of 
 Hugh Hutchins in London, but the contemporary binders in Oxford 
 rivalled Hutchins. The material usually used was blue morocco, 
 upon which delicate gold-tooling appeared ; this was based upon the 
 second Bourbon style, but completely individualized. Often the crest 
 of the collector for whom the bindings were made appears among 
 the ornament, but not obtrusively. An example of this style appears 
 upon the " Salisbury Prymer," 1557 (Gough Missal 37). Mr. Macray 
 ("Annals of the Bodleian") suggests that the binding of this was by 
 Roger Payne. In modern times some very creditable work has been 
 executed in Oxford binding offices. 
 
 ^l tbe Stampeb Xeatbet Bookbinbmgs In the 
 
 Bobletan, 
 
 HE stamped leather bookbindings in the Bodleian are 
 numerous. The collection contained in the two Douce 
 Scrapbooks is in itself representative, and the volumes 
 thus adorned, to be found in almost every part of 
 the library, are too numerous to be fully recorded 
 here. The bindings of the Caxtons and the early 
 
INTRODUCTION. XXXI 
 
 Oxford printed books have been fully described in a previous section. 
 Two beautiful early stamps appear upon a copy of " Joannes Valenis 
 de Regimine Vitae Htimanae" 1496, and upon "^ Prayer of 
 Salisbury tise: F. Regnault" 1531 (Douce b.b. 89), also among the 
 Bagford Scraps in the British Museum. 
 
 (i.) The Mass of St. Gregory, a panel whereon the saint is 
 represented before an altar, with two attendants : above the cup 
 appears the image of our Lord supported by two angels and 
 surrounded by stars; the border around the panel is composed of 
 graceful foliage and a number of animals ; at the top, on a label, 
 appears the motto, "Ihesus. filii. de," and below, " Scte : gregorii." 
 These inscriptions are obviously by a workman who did not know 
 Latin: both are unconstruable. So below, "ore" ought to have been ora. 
 
 (2.) On the obverse, within a similar border, the figure of St, 
 Barbara, standing beside her symbol, the tower with three windows; 
 above the figure are two canopies; the background is sprinkled with 
 fleurs-de-lys. In the border is the legend, " Sancta barbara : ore." On 
 a fly-leaf of the "Prayer" of 1531 Douce made the following note, 
 which may easily be explained by supposing that the Caxton 
 mentioned had been issued unbound, or had been rebound at an 
 early period of its history: "I have seen a copy of Caxton's " Boke 
 of the faytes of armes and chyvalry " in the original binding, the 
 covers being stamped with the stamps used for the present volume. 
 This singular (and perhaps unique as to the binding) copy of 
 Caxton's work had belonged to Serjeant Maynard." Measurement 
 of both stamps, 5 in. x 3J in. There are two small circular holes or 
 stamps at the top and bottom of each panel. 
 
 (3,) A stamp of somewhat similar workmanship but entirely 
 different design occurs upon a copy of " Horarium scd'ni vfttm 
 traieden dyocefis" 1492, small octavo. In the central panel, a tilting 
 shield, bearing a double-headed- eagle, ensigned with an imperial 
 crown and supported by a lion and a gryphon. At the four corners 
 of the border are as many shields. ist (to left), bearing three 
 fleurs-de-lys; 2nd (to right), an eagle; 3rd (below on left), three 
 
xxxii INTRODUCTION. 
 
 saltire-shaped charges (I do not know what they are called) ; 4th (to 
 right), a lion rampant. Measurements, 5 in. x 31 in. [Douce 16.] 
 
 (4.) Among Bishop Barlow's books bequeathed to the library 
 in 1 69 1 are two theological works (numbered A. 7, 21, and 22, Lincoln), 
 printed by Josse Badius of Assche or Assen— Badius Ascensius, the 
 early printer of Paris— bound in leather, ornamented with stamps of 
 unusual size in the French style. Both stamps are divided into 
 four compartments by lines intersecting at right angles at the centre. 
 Under an arch in each compartment the figure of a saint is 
 represented, viz.: ist (to left), Our Lady of Pity; 2nd (right), a 
 female in the dress of a nun bearing a flail ; 3rd (to right), St. 
 Catherine; 4th, St. Barbara. In the centre a shield with the initials 
 n+l)* joined by a true-lovers' knot. 
 
 (5.) On the reverse: — ist, God the Father; 2nd, St. Peter; 
 3rd, St. John Baptist ; 4th, St. Nicholas ; in the centre the same 
 initials. Measurements, 6i in. x 41 in. The same stamp (No. 4) also 
 occurs in one of the Douce Scrapbooks, and a variation of No. 5, viz., 
 the four compartments without the shield in the centre: — ist, God the 
 Father (slightly different) ; 2nd, St Peter ; 3rd, St. John Baptist ; 
 4th, King David. A combination of the ist and 4th compartments 
 occurs on a stamped binding in Worcester Cathedral Library 
 (described by me in "The Bookbinder," vol. IL, p. 104). 
 
 English regal heraldry is well represented upon the covers of 
 books in the Bodleian, but the earliest stamp of the armorial 
 bearings of an English king, that bearing the arms and supporters 
 of Edward IV., appears to be wanting. The only example known to 
 me is in Westminster Library. The date of the stamp is probably 
 about the year 1476. 
 
 (6.) Upon a " Sallust," Lugd. 1519 ; on the obverse the arms 
 of Henry VIII. party per pale with those of Catherine of Aragon, 
 crowned and supported by two angels ; below, a mound with flowers 
 and grass springing therefrom. Measurements, 51 in. x 3I in. 
 
INTRODUCTION. XXXlll 
 
 (7.) On the reverse the king's arms alone,* supported by a 
 dragon and a greyhound, and ensigned with a crown ; above, two 
 angels holding scrolls and a Tudor rose ; below, two portcullises. 
 
 (8.) Upon a block of the same dimensions as 6 and 7, the arms 
 of Henry VIII. party per pale with those of Ann Boleyn, viz. : — 
 (i), Arms of the Earls of Lancaster ; (2), Arms of Engolesme ; 
 (3), Arms of Guyenne. These were the augments conferred upon Ann 
 with the title of Marchioness of Pembroke. (4), Butler and Rochford, 
 quartered ; (5), The arms of Thomas de Brotherton Earl of Norfolk, 
 families connected with the Boleyns. The queen's paternal coat, 
 viz., argent a chevron gules with three bulls' heads, couped, sable, 
 being wholly omitted. The date of this stamp may be fixed between 
 January 25th, 1533, the day of her marriage with Henry, and 
 May 15th, 1536, when she was beheaded. There are varieties of 
 the three impressions, Nos. 6, 7, and 8, proving that more than 
 one stamp of each kind was made.f 
 
 There is another class of stamps, of which there are numerous 
 examples, extending from the time of Henry VII. to late in the reign 
 of Henry VIII. The earliest of these panel-stamps, according to 
 Mr. W. H. James Weale, bear the initials H. N. An example may 
 be seen at Worcester Cathedral. Since they all bear the arms and 
 supporters of the Tudor kings, and the supporters — a greyhound and 
 a dragon — were changed in 1528, we may safely date all these stamps 
 between 1485 and 1528. 
 
 * It is absurd to suppose that all books stamped with the royal arms were bound for the 
 royal library, but it may be presumed that the binders who used these stamps held certain 
 privileges from the Crown. In several cases the grants giving these privileges are extant. The 
 books in the royal library were bound in a distinct manner. The present locations of many of 
 Henry VIII.'s books are known. The majority are preserved in the British Museum; some may be 
 seen at the Bodleian. {Vide p. i6) 
 
 + The arms of Henry and Ann Boleyn also occur upon a smaller upright stamp 
 (3i in. X 2~ in.); above the crown are placed an angel's head, the sun and moon. The supporters, 
 a lion on the dexter and a greyhound on the sinister, have supplanted the dragon and greyhound ; 
 beneath the supporters are the initials H. and A. (Roman capitals). The same initials also occur on 
 a pair of panel stamps with the city arms, &c. This example is in the Bagford collection. 
 
XXxiv INTRODUCTION. 
 
 fq ) Tulian Notary, after he removed to London in 1503, used 
 two panels of this kind, first, containing a large Tudor rose surrounded 
 by the motto — 
 
 " l|ec xo\a Diitutis be celo m\\a fc^eno €te^tul floies ^egia fcept^a fe^t " 
 
 on two labels supported by angels ; in the upper corners the sun and 
 moon, the arms of St. George and of the City of London. Below 
 the rose Notary's well-known mark and initials occur. 
 
 (10) Notary's second stamp contains the arms of England and 
 France quarterly, on a shield supported by a dragon and a greyhound, 
 and ensigned by a crown. In the upper corners appear the sun. 
 moon arms of St. George and of London. These are the earliest 
 stamps bearing the arms of the City of London that have yet been 
 discovered. In the Bodleian an example may be seen in the Douce 
 collection. There are examples at Lambeth, the British Museum, 
 and in several private collections. 
 
 (11 and 12.) Henry Jacobi, probably a foreigner, but settled in 
 London early in the i6th century, a bookseller, illuminator, printer, 
 and binder also, is supposed to have used the same designs with 
 the addition of his initials and printer's mark beneath the rose, 
 and his initials only beneath the shield. In the Douce collection 
 both blocks may be found joined by another stamp, whereon is 
 figured a band of Renaissance ornament. Examples occur at 
 Lambeth and the British Museum.* 
 
 (13 and 14.) Similar, but somewhat smaller, are the stamps 
 employed by the famous John Reynes. In the rose stamp Reynes 
 substituted shields bearing his own initials for those of St. George 
 and the City, and beneath the rose he placed a pomegranate, 
 Queen Catherine's badge, thus proving the date of the stamp to be 
 
 * A panel stamp of Netherlandish workmanship in the British Museum, Bagford collection, 
 bearing the inscription, " Jacobi illuminator fecit,'' perhaps belonged to the same binder. 
 
INTRODUCTION. 
 
 XXXV 
 
 seen in the accompanying illustration. 
 
 Tudor Rose Stamp with Initials of Binder A. H. 
 
 after the accession of Henry VIII. These also are in the Douce 
 Scrapbooks. 
 
 (15.) An early and very excellent example of the class of stamps 
 here described may be 
 [8" A. 24. Art. Seld.] In 
 this case the device is 
 surrounded by a border 
 of conventional foliage in 
 a manner rather unusual. 
 Beneath the rose are 
 placed the initials A.H. 
 joined by a true-lovers' 
 knot. These are the 
 binder's initials, and not 
 those of Henry V-III. 
 and Ann Boleyn, as 
 sometimes stated, since 
 in all probability the 
 binding of the book dates from c. 15 18, fifteen years before Henry's 
 marriage with Ann, and the stamps themselves may be still older 
 than the binding. 
 
 (16.) On the reverse appears a beautiful representation of the 
 Annunciation surrounded by the verse, Luke i. 38 — 
 
 " '^ccz ancilla bomini flat miclji secunbuin uc3bum tuum " 
 
 The initials A. H. appear in the foreground of the picture. 
 
 (17.) The next stamp is slightly smaller than those described 
 above (4 in. x i\ in.). In the centre a shield bearing the arms of 
 France and England quarterly, surrounded by a garter bearing the 
 usual motto and surmounted by a crown ; below are two shields 
 with devices difficult to decipher, the whole surmounted by a semi- 
 circular arch and around the outer border the prayer — 
 
 "Deus bet nobis suam pacem et post mortem citam etcrnam," 
 
XXXV 1 
 
 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 (i8) Another stamp by an unknown binder brings us to the 
 English regal badges, of which there are a great number of very 
 beautiful impressions. Here we have the four chief badges in four 
 compartments. The stamp measures 4i in. x 2| in., and is divided 
 into four equal canopied compartments; in the ist is placed the 
 rose in the 2nd the pomegranate, in the 3rd the castle, and in the 
 4th the fleur-de-lys, each ensigned by a crown. The engraving is boldly 
 executed and the background relieved by minute dots. This may 
 be found in the Douce collection of bindings. 
 
 (19.) This stamp is a combination of the two previously described. 
 
 The arms, garter, and crown 
 appear in the centre; the four 
 badges are arranged in square 
 compartments, two on each 
 side, ist, the rose; 2nd, the 
 castle; 3rd, the pomegranate; 
 4th, the fleur-de-lys. In the 
 border in gothic letters 
 appears a similar pious ejacu- 
 lation to that upon No. 17 
 
 Arms of Henry VIII. and Royal Tudor Badges. aboVC viz " 
 
 " Deus bet nobis fuam pacem et poft mortam oitam eternam amen."* 
 
 " Serpens antiquus de septe peccatis criminalibus. Venudantur 
 
 IN VICO MATHURINORUM. In DOMO IoANNIS FrELLON." 
 
 Colophon. — " Finit hoc opus, per F. K. manus." 
 
 [8« S. 27 Th.] 
 
 From the fact that this stamp appears upon books printed by 
 John Rastell between 1523- 1528, e.g. upon the Lambeth copy of 
 " De Fundamentis Legum Anglie et de conscientia," I conclude 
 that the date is probably earlier than 1523. 
 
 * An ignorant artist has put mort«;« instead of mort(?w. The same mistake occurs on more 
 than one specimen in the Douce Scrapbooks. 
 
INTRODUCTION. XXXVll 
 
 There are several varieties of this stamp. The impressions 
 upon the obverse and reverse of the volume under consideration 
 differ slightly. On the obverse the badges are arranged in the 
 following order: ist, rose; 2nd, castle; 3rd, fleur-de-lys ; 4th, pome- 
 granate. Yet another variety is slightly smaller, and the inscription 
 round the garter is in Roman capitals instead of Gothic letters. All 
 three are in the Douce collection. 
 
 Before leaving the subject of royal arms and badges I must 
 mention two medallion starnps in the border of which there is some 
 attempt at heraldic decoration. 
 
 (20.) Two small circular medallions of laureated heads within 
 an oblong panel surrounded by a border of Renaissance ornament, 
 and at the four corners the rose, fleur-de-lys, pomegranate, and 
 castle. The name of the binder is unknown. 
 
 (21.) On a pair of panels very similar to the last, the royal arms 
 of England appear in the upper border, and below on one panel 
 upon a shield the monogram (3. assigned by Ames and others to 
 Thomas Godfray. 
 
 The great number of bindings ornamented with roulette work 
 bearing royal badges, binder's and printer's mark, precludes any 
 particular mention of them in this place. There are, however, 
 examples by John Reynes, Garret Godfrey van Graten of Cambridge, 
 Nicolaus Spierinck,* and others. In the Douce Scrapbooks so 
 frequently referred to in these pages may also be found stamps 
 bearing the names of Jehan Norins, Andri Bovle, and R. Mace, 
 and the initials I. R., N. H., B. V., O. F., I. R. (John Reynes), 
 M. D. and others. Of the twenty-one examples of stamped leather 
 bookbindings selected from among the vast treasures of the 
 Bodleian, and here described, no two are exactly alike. This 
 diversity is one of the charms of old bookbinding, the artistic 
 
 * Oq a binding this name appears " Spiemick." Mr. E. Gordon Duff discovered the binder's 
 own signature on paper in an old binding at the Bodleian. The signature is Spyrynck. 
 
XXXVlll INTRODUCTION. 
 
 excellence of the work is another and superior attraction. To the 
 men who designed and made the stamps in the first place credit 
 is due, but to the bookbinders who planned the ornament and 
 applied the stamps to the bindings must be given no small meed 
 of praise. Most of these bindings belong to the period immediately- 
 preceding the Reformation, and to this fact is due both the 
 selection of subjects and their artistic treatment. Scenes and 
 characters from sacred and legendary history are here represented 
 with all the force and vigour of mediaeval art, and the heraldic 
 subjects display a wonderful fertility of invention and excellence 
 of design. It is a significant fact that the true spirit of mediaeval 
 ornament died about the time when monasteries were suppressed, 
 and although three centuries and a half have passed since Henry 
 VIII. made himself supreme head of the English Church, art as 
 applied to bookbinding, at all events, has not recovered from the 
 blow it then received. No one will deny the corruptions existing 
 in some of the monasteries, but every true lover of art must deplore 
 that with the downfall of the monastic system in England came 
 the downfall of the old religious art, the first aim of which was 
 to instruct, and the second to gratify the sense of sight. The 
 Renaissance artists forgot the first aim ; their ornaments were 
 meaningless, though graceful. 
 
 ®f 6ome Specimens of (3olb-tooleb Binbinoa 
 
 T would be impossible to do justice to all the 
 magnificent examples of gold-tooled bindings in the 
 Bodleian. Representative examples are given in this 
 volume, but several have been omitted, because it was 
 
 fo""d to be impossible to obtain a satisfactory 
 
 photographic reproduction of them. 
 
 _ In the glass case No. 22, to the right of the librarian's 
 chair, may be seen a splendid specimen of 17th century French 
 bmdmg, but fineness and beauty are not the only qualifications 
 
INTRODUCTION. XXXIX 
 
 which entitle this binding to the notice of the amateur ; the 
 associations of its earlier days are equally interesting from an 
 historic and artistic point of view. The famous collectors Colbert, 
 le Comte de Hoym, Lamoignon, and Douce, regarded this book 
 with feelings of pride while they were the possessors of it. Its 
 memory, too, is enshrined in the "Decameron" of Dibdin, The title 
 runs, " La Saincte Bible Fran^oise." " Paris, par lean Richer et 
 Pierre Chevalier, 1621." 3 vols., large folio. Bears paper label: — 
 
 " Bibliotheca Lamoniana. a. 66-8," 
 and an inscription on title : — 
 
 " Bibliothecae Colbertinae. a. 67-9." 
 now : — Douce B. subt. 13-15. 
 
 This is what the gossiping author of "Decameron" has to say 
 about the binding : — 
 
 " I know not who was the usual binder of Count Hoym's books, but I 
 suspect either that the count, or his binder, was fond of a smooth fore edge ! 
 Greater heresy can scarcely be conceived. Mr. Douce possesses the most 
 beautiful specimen of binding from Count Hoym's collection which I remember 
 to have seen. It is a copy of the French Bible of 1621, 3 vols, folio, which 
 had been formerly in the Colbert collection, and which was ' newly covered ' 
 (I borrow the select phraseology of Messrs. Woodman and Lyon) by the Count : 
 ' Exemplar elegantissime exterius decmcraium' is the adjunct in the Bibl. Hoym, 
 No. 136. I admit the delicacy, truth, and brilliancy of its multitudinous circular 
 ornaments, ' like lacework manufactured by fairies, when the chaste orb of night 
 is riding near her highest noon', yet . . . ' W^hy so captious, gentle 
 Master Rosicrusius ? ' exclaims the generous-hearted reader. I reply, but 
 'quaere the ampler dimensions of the copy "Tempore Colberti?"' There is so 
 much of the ' smoothly shaven green ' about it that I own I am a little sceptical 
 thereupon. Yet most heartily do I congratulate its present friendly possessor 
 upon finding, when it had afterwards gone into the Lamoignon collection, that 
 the very beautiful tooling has not, in turn, been disposed of — for a substitute at 
 once hideous and tasteless ! For surely, surely, of all tasteless and terrific 
 styles of bindings what equalleth the reliure a la Lamoignon ? Mr. Payne, I 
 know full well, will scold prodigiously about this saucy attack upon the 
 bibliopegistic reputation of his beloved Lamoignon — for he bought the collection, 
 so called ' en masse,' and did not keep his carriage in consequence." 
 
xl INTRODUCTION. 
 
 The rose-coloured morocco in which the three volumes are 
 covered is as fresh as when it left the hands of the binder, the 
 so-called Le Gascon. The tooling closely resembles that on known 
 specimens of Florimond Badier's work, but unlike some of Badier's 
 best specimens this binding is not inlaid with leather of various 
 colours. The design resembles work executed by Clovis and Nicolas 
 Eve for President de Thou ; indeed, Le Gascon appears to have 
 studied the Eve method— perhaps he was a pupil of that famous 
 master— but in 1625 his bindings assume a distinctive character. We 
 notice the well-known geometrical patterns composed of lines edged 
 with gold, the spaces between the lines are filled with ornaments, mix 
 petits fers extremely beautiful and lacelike, composed of numberless 
 minute gold dots au pointilU. These, too, are the characteristics 
 of Florimond Badier, who, if he be not the same person as 
 Le Gascon the mysterious, certainly imitated his style. Badier was 
 appointed one of the booksellers to Louis Quatorze in 1645, and 
 Le Gascon disappears somewhere about the year 1651. The arms 
 of De Hoym appear in the centre of each side of the binding, and 
 diminutive human heads are introduced in two rows of four each 
 in a manner usual with Le Gascon. Since Dibdin's time bibliography 
 has advanced. It can be assumed now with confidence that the 
 so-called Le Gascon worked for le Comte de Hoym, and after 
 Le Gascon, Boyer. The back of each volume is divided into eight 
 compartments by seven bands. The title, " Sainte Bible, Tom. I.," 
 occupies two of these, the others are ornamented in a similar 
 manner to the sides, but in the lowest compartment on a label 
 are the words, "Par Pierre Frizon Paris 1621." The sides measure 
 16 in. X II in. 
 
 A binding of some historic importance, but uninteresting 
 artistically, is now numbered Douce G. subt. 6. It belonged to 
 King Philip of Spain, and is covered in dark claret-coloured morocco. 
 The ornament consists simply of three plain borders composed of 
 double lines or fillets in gold, one within the other, small tooled 
 ornaments at the corners, four small scrolls placed at the middle of 
 
INTRODUCTION. xH 
 
 each side, a circular laurel wreath in the centre, and two crossed 
 branches below the wreath. The inscription runs : — 
 
 "PHILIPPO AVSTRIO REGI 
 
 HI8PANIAE OPTIMO 
 
 MAXIMOQ- PRINCIPI" 
 
 In wreath : — 
 
 "NEC SPE NEC METV" 
 
 On reverse : — 
 
 "HVBERTVS GOLTZIVS HERBIPOLITA 
 AVCTOR DEV0TV8 NOMINI 
 MAJESTATIQ- EIVS' D"D"" 
 In wreath : — 
 
 "COLIT ARDVA VIRTVS" 
 
 Measurements, 12^ in. x 9 in. 
 
 The title of the work runs : — 
 C* IvLivs Caesar sive historiae imperatorvm caesarvmqve 
 
 ROMANORVM EX ANTIQVIS NVMISMATIBVS RESTITVTAE LIBER 
 PrImVS BRVGIS FLANDRORVM ANN'M'D'LXIII. 
 
 Another historic binding, the last that can be mentioned in this 
 essay, protects " A Hymn to Queen Elizabeth," written in French by 
 Georges de la Motthe, and presented by him to the queen in 1586. 
 Every page of the book has an ornamental border and a curious 
 miniature portrait of the queen precedes the " Hymn." The binding 
 of brown leather is inlaid in a Grolieresque pattern with various 
 coloured morocco ; the leading lines are all edged with gold ; the 
 arms of England, the initials E. R. and S., and the Tudor badges 
 complete the design in the centre, under a polished crystal is a 
 device in translucent enamel, once thought to be made of humming- 
 birds' feathers. Georges de la Motthe was a French refugee living 
 in England, and on that account I suppose the binding of the 
 
 F 
 
xlii INTRODUCTION. 
 
 " Hymn " to be English ; it is certainly unique, and a very early 
 example of leather inlaying. The following note appears upon a 
 fly-leaf :— 
 
 " Ex dono Ornatissimi, simulac optimae spei Juuenis D. Johaiiis 
 
 Cope Armigeri, Equitis Aurati, Baronetti, F. natu maximi, 
 
 Olim Reginensis Oxon. Almae Matris erg6. 4" Cal. 
 
 Jan., 1626" 
 
 and upon a fly-leaf at the end is attached a fragment of some 
 
 English theological treatise in a minute but wonderfully clear hand 
 
 (" Annals," p. 326). [MS. Fr. e. i.J 
 
 ®t some ©dental BookbinbiriGS. 
 
 |iNCE the Bodleian is exceptionally rich in Oriental 
 MSS., this essay would be incomplete without some 
 mention of Oriental binding. In 1887 the entire 
 Oriental MSS. room had been finally arranged 
 under the direction of the present chief librarian. 
 
 The use of distinctive colours* for binding different classes of 
 books has been abandoned in other departments of the library, but 
 in the Oriental Room it has been introduced with great advantage. 
 Many Oriental MSS. are in the form of rolls, or are written on 
 palm-leaves, and a special form of covering had to be devised for their 
 protection. For this purpose boxes were made covered in cloth of 
 various colours, fully lettered, and provided with air-holes to prevent 
 damp. In one year about 200 palm-leaf MSS., chiefly Dravidian, 
 Pali, Sanskrit, and Sinhalese, besides numerous rolls were boxed 
 thus. They are stored in specially deep shelves with the narrow ends 
 to the front. Cases or covers were likewise made for various MSS. 
 in beautiful bindings ; many of these bindings are priceless works 
 of art. It was intended to include several representative specimens 
 of Oriental bookbinding in this book ; indeed Mr. Nicholson justly 
 
 * Distinctive colours are used for labeling. 
 
INTRODUCTION. xliii 
 
 suggested that a work of this kind would not be complete without 
 them, but unfortunately owing to the difficulty in photographing 
 the gorgeous colours of some of the Indian and Persian book-covers, 
 and the consequent complete failure of the negatives, this part of 
 the work had to be abandoned. 
 
 Among the " Ouseley additional" MSS. is one (No. 177) of the 
 DiwAn-i-Khakan, i.e. the Diwan of the royal Persian poet Khakan, 
 that is Fath Alt ShA.h of Persia. The history of the MS. is curious: 
 it was written c. 18 10 and presented to the English Ambassador at 
 the Persian Court, and, perhaps as a mark of special favour to him, 
 the artist who painted the cover placed in the centre of each side a 
 miniature of the Holy Family, and above and below two medallions 
 representing the heads of European ladies in 17th century costume. 
 The rest of the ornament consists of flowers and birds beautifully 
 painted after the Persian manner. The introduction of Christian 
 subjects in Persian art may at first seem strange, but it can easily 
 be accounted for by the fact that Shah Abbas, who lived in the 
 early part of the 17th century, employed a colony of Dutch and 
 Italian artists to decorate the palaces of Ispahan. In South 
 Kensington Museum there are several Persian paintings of Christian 
 subjects, such as the Virgin and Child, the originals of which are to 
 be found upon the walls of Ispahan. An artist named Nadjef was 
 one of the best painters at the commencement of the present century, 
 and it is possible that this cover was painted by him. 
 
 Another most beautiful specimen of Persian miniature painting 
 upon papier-machd contains a collection of 27 portraits of the Moghul 
 emperors, from Timur to Muhammad Shah, a.d. 1335 to 1747 
 (MS. Ouseley adds. 173). The ground is green, with a shimmer 
 of gold in it, there are borders, corners, and centre-pieces of 
 conventional flowers and foliage. The remainder of the surface is 
 decorated with flowers painted with wonderful accuracy, springing 
 from thin gold stems, arranged so as to form a pattern of graceful 
 scroll-work. This cover was painted about the end of the i8th 
 century. The back of the binding is of Russian leather tooled in 
 
xliv 
 
 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 gold. There are also specimens of Indian work in ivory, gold-lacquer, 
 velvet, and silk brocade. 
 
 In conclusion, I would point out that it would be a herculean 
 task to attempt to mention all the bookbinding worthy of notice in 
 the Bodleian ; a few only of the most important can find a place in 
 these pages. Though they are few in number it is hoped that for 
 all practical purposes they may prove sufficiently representative. 
 
 Arms of Archbishop Laud. 
 
HISTORIC BINDINGS 
 
 IN THE BODLEIAN LIBRARY. 
 
PLATE 
 
 EVANGELIARIUM, SIVE LECTIONES EVAN- 
 GELICyE PRO FESTIS PER TOTUM ANNUM. 
 
 Folio MS. on vellum. ioth century. Red morocco with 
 
 IVORY CARVING OF THE CaRLOVINGIAN ScHOOL INSERTED IN 
 FRONT COVER. [MS. DoUCE 176.J 
 
 Measurements of the ivory panel: 8 in. x 5 in. 
 
 ANELS of carved ivory were used by the Romans 
 to protect a surface of wax or a few sheets of 
 parchment, upon which important memoranda 
 could be written. Consular diptychs of larger 
 size than those made for everyday use formed 
 part of the presents sent to eminent persons 
 by new consuls, on their appointment to office. 
 These consular diptychs were in later time 
 adapted to Christian purposes, for preserving in churches the names 
 of the faithful, of bishops, or of benefactors. In the Carlovingian 
 period the panels of diptychs were used to adorn the bindings of 
 precious manuscripts, and it is only with ivories devoted to this 
 purpose that we have now to deal. The Bodleian possesses three 
 famous ivories on book-covers, the earliest being that represented on 
 the opposite page. The history of the MS. in brief is as follows. It 
 can be traced to the Abbey of St. Faron, near Meaux, in the Depart- 
 ment of Seine and Marne. In 1833 it was bought at the sale of 
 M. Abel-Remusat's library by Payne (a bookseller), who sold it to 
 Douce for the sum of ;^3i 105-. 
 
 The volume was apparently rebound in red morocco some time 
 during the i8th century, and an ivory carving of the 9th or loth 
 century was mounted upon the obverse cover. It is evident that 
 the ivory was intended for the decoration of a book-cover, and it 
 is probable that the other leaf of the diptych (now lost) contained 
 in the centre a representation of the Crucifixion, surrounded by 
 twelve scenes of the later events in our Lord's history. The carving 
 is said to be Italian work. 
 
EVAXGELIARIUM. MS. OX VKLLU-M. X'h CEXTURV. 
 
 /;/ red )iiC'n\'i\\ Kith i:\vy carviiv:^ of ihe Car/oviiigiaii sr/i r/, i/iStriea. 
 
 riate I. 
 
PLATE I. 3 
 
 Professor J. O. Westwood thus describes the subjects of this 
 curious relic of early Christian art : — 
 
 "In the large central compartment is a very beautiful figure of the Saviour, 
 of the youthful type, with long flowing hair, and a cruciferous nimbus, treading 
 down the lion, serpent, dragon, and young lion. (Ps. xci. 13.) In His right 
 hand He holds a cross over His shoulders, and in His left hand an open book 
 inscribed, IHS. XPS. SUP{er) ASP(idem). The drapery is rather fluttering. 
 Around this chief figure are twelve smaU compartments surrounded by borders 
 ornamented with classical mouldings and pilasters, and containing representations 
 of the earlier scenes of the Gospel history. 
 
 I. The prophet Isaiah standing by a tree holding a scroll inscribed, ECCE 
 V[RG(o) CONCl(piet) (Is. vii. 14), in Roman capitals, the C and G 
 being of the angulated form. 
 II. The salutation of the archangel Gabriel. The Virgin (with an attendant 
 standing by an architecturally designed erection) seated with upraised 
 open hands, the archangel, with a long rod, having just reached the 
 ground, his wings still partly extended. 
 
 III. The birth of Christ. Joseph seated at the bottom to the right, the Virgin 
 
 seated on the bed to the left, the Infant lying in swaddHng clothes on 
 the manger, with the heads of the ox and ass to the right. 
 
 IV. The three magi offering their gifts to the Saviour, seated on His Mother's 
 
 knees. 
 V. Herod commanding the slaughter of the children, one of whom lies dead 
 at his feet, whilst another (larger than its mother, who stands near 
 with uplifted hands) is held up by an attendant, who is about to dash 
 it to the ground. 
 VI. The baptism of Christ, represented as a naked youth, in the river Jordan, 
 which is flowing out of a rock to the right ; the Baptist, an aged figure 
 to the left, places his right hand on the head of the Saviour, over 
 whom hovers the holy dove with rays springing from its beak. 
 VII. The first miracle at the marriage-feast in Cana. Christ commanding the 
 servants to fill the six water-pots with water. 
 VIII. Christ asleep in the ship awakened by His three disciples. 
 IX Christ restoring to life the ruler's daughter (Matt. ix. 25), who is lying 
 on the bed, at the side of which stand the father and the Saviour, with 
 His right hand raised in the act of benediction. 
 X Christ driving the devils out of the demoniac into the herd of swine, who 
 are rushing downwards towards the sea ; the face of the demomac is 
 sadly distorted. 1 u • t, 
 
 XI. Christ healing the paralytic, who is carrying his bed on his shoulders in the 
 manner represented on early sarcophagi. 
 XII. The woman with the bloody flux touching the hem of Christ's garment. 
 
 All these little groups (each about an inch square) are excellently treated." 
 
 This ivory has been figured in Didron, "Annal. Archdol.'' (vol xx. p. 118), 
 and in " Fictile Ivory Casts in the South Kensington Museum, London, 1876. 
 
PLATE II. 
 
 LATIN GOSPELS OF ST. MATTHEW AND ST. 
 MARK, PRECEDED BY THE CANONS OF THE 
 NEW TESTAMENT AND A PREFACE BY ST. 
 JEROME. 
 
 Folio MS. on vellum. Early iith century. Front cover:— 
 Ivory carving surrounded by engraved brass of the 
 Carlovingian School. [MS. Douce 292.] 
 
 Measurements : Ivory, 7 in. x \\ in. Side of cover, 9 J in. x 7-^ in. 
 
 FINE MS. of the Gospels .of SS. Matthew and 
 Mark comes next in date: it is of the nth 
 century, bound in exceedingly thick boards, 
 covered with brown leather, and ornamented 
 on the obverse side by an ivory carving 
 variously assigned to the 9th, loth, and nth 
 centuries. The ivory panel is framed in a 
 border of gilt brass, whereon are engraved 
 representations of our Lord seated upon rainbow, supported by two 
 angels, the four evangelists, an angel, a royal personage receiving a 
 book, and an ecclesiastic, in the act of benediction, each figure being 
 placed under a semicircular arched canopy. Two metal clasps (one 
 lost) revolved on large headed pins fastened to the fore edge of the 
 lower cover, and were secured by a similar projecting pin on the 
 upper cover. A small iron ring, attached to the binding by a thong 
 of leather, shows that the precious volume was intended to be 
 chained to a desk. The outer metal rim appears to be of later 
 workmanship than the engraved border. 
 
GOSPELS OF ST. MATTHEW AND ST. MARK. MS. XI™ CENTURY. 
 
 In leather, with ivory carving inlaid, with brass border, gilt and engraved. 
 
 Plate 11. 
 
PLATE II. 
 
 The carving represents Christ seated, surrounded by a vesica- 
 shaped aureola, upon which, behind the head, are three arms of a 
 cross representing a nimbus in an unusual manner. The figure is 
 represented as middle-aged, but beardless, draped in a flowing 
 garment. The left hand supports a book resting upon the knee. 
 The right hand is raised in benediction. The feet are naked, and 
 rest upon the heads of two allegorical figures representing earth and 
 water; the first is a female, who holds a snake coiled round her arm 
 in one hand, and a branch in the other. The second figure is 
 mutilated, but the left arm, holding a fish, remains, and one foot 
 appears in a stream of water ; both figures are winged. In the four 
 corners the four evangelical symbols are seen ; the subjects are 
 surrounded by a foliated border similar in design to the illuminated 
 border on the first page of the MS. A perfect bookbinding of the 
 nth century is a great rarity, but the example we are considering 
 appears to be a genuine specimen of that period, perhaps repaired 
 a century or two later. The scheme of decoration in this and the 
 preceding example is the same; in both a large oblong central panel 
 is surrounded by a border of small rectangular compartments, 
 containing a number of subjects of minor importance, and in both 
 the subjects chosen to decorate the binding have a direct bearing 
 upon the contents of the volume. The simplicity of conception 
 and boldness of execution are characteristic of the early art of 
 Germany, to which country the binding probably may be assigned. 
 
PLATE III. 
 
 CODEX EBNERIANUS. 
 
 A Greek MS. of the end of the i2th century, containing the 
 New Testament (without the Apocalypse) and the Nicene 
 Creed. Beautifully written and illuminated, with 
 pictures of Eusebius and Carpianus, the four Evangelists 
 and Saints James, Peter, Jude and Paul. With Lections, 
 etc., prefixed by Joasaph, a calligraphist, in 1 391, who also 
 added John viii. 3-1 i at the end of that Gospel. 
 
 [In the earlier half of the i8th century, its owner, Hieronymus Wilhelm 
 Ebner, stripped off its decayed cover (leather gilt, with 4 silver 
 clasps) and re-bound it in silver, using the silver-gilt stars of 
 the old binding, and adding the ivory figure, which is as old as 
 the MS.] [MS. Misc. Gr. 136.] 
 
 Measurements : Ivory, 6 in. x ■^\ in. Silver cover, 8|- in. x 6 in. 
 
 HE famous " Codex Ebnerianus," is a small 
 quarto of 426 leaves of fine vellum, beautifully 
 written and illuminated, embellished with 
 eleven rich paintings, and sumptuously bound. 
 The MS. is assigned to the end of the 12th 
 century ; it contains the New Testament (except 
 the Apocalypse) and the Nicene Creed. 
 
 Hieronymus Wilhelm Ebner Eschenbach, -of Nuremberg, whose 
 name the volume perpetuates, obtained it when first brought from 
 the East— "ex singulari numinis providentia "— and in the early half 
 of the i8th century caused it to be rebound in solid silver of 
 great purity, and further ornamented with five silver-gilt stars of 
 eight points, an ivory carving of the nth century, and an inscription 
 
I 
 
 w 
 
 -A 
 
 • p )bl /iMyA(jNjj(;)Y tI 
 
 
 ; i\m>''^ i!j I J L)in]AHj\i'!()v 
 
 NEW TESTAMENT. CODEX EBNERIANUS. GREEK. 
 
 Carved ivory fgure of the XF" century, on inodcni f/afe of silver. 
 
 Plate III. 
 
PLATE III. y 
 
 in Greek characters, corresponding to the style of the MS., praying 
 for a blessing upon himself and family. 
 
 The old 14th century binding of leather, covering wooden 
 boards, was ornamented with five silver-gilt stars and four clasps (the 
 same that now appear on the new cover). 
 
 In the year 1820 the library obtained the "Codex" by purchase 
 from Messrs. Payne and Foss for the sum of ;^i5o. 
 
 The ivory represents the Saviour seated upon a richly-carved 
 throne with cushion and footstool of the Byzantine type. The figure 
 is middle-aged, with thick flowing hair and pointed beard; the 
 nimbus around the head is of three rays, sometimes called cruciferous. 
 (Compare the two preceding examples in which the three rays are 
 clearly shown.) 
 
 The left hand, covered by drapery, holds a book resting upon 
 the knee, the right hand being raised in benediction, the first and 
 second fingers only being extended. 
 
 Traces of gold and vermilion still remain upon the throne ; 
 the figure appears to have been left in the original colour of the 
 ivory. To quote the opinion of Professor Westwood : " This is one 
 of the most exquisitely finished pieces of the later Byzantine work in 
 existence ; the drapery is even more delicately tooled than the Paris 
 triptych of Romans V., or the Fdjdrvary St. John." 
 
 As an instance of the error likely to arise from art critics working from casts 
 or models instead of originals, it may be well to notice that M. Didron ("Ann. 
 Arch^ol.") doubts the authenticity of this carving, because he cannot reconcile a 
 portion of the inscription and the silver star (which appear on the cast taken by 
 Professor Westwood for the Arundel Society) with the apparent date of the 
 carving, with which, as above stated, the ivory had no connection originally. 
 
 While the MS. was still in Ebner's possession a small descriptive volume of 
 forty-four pages, and an engraved facsimile, were published by Conrad Schoenleben, 
 under the title " Notitia egregii codicis Graeci Novi Testamenti Manuscripti," etc., 
 4° Norib. 1738 ; this was incorporated by Dr. Murr in his " Memorabilia Bibliothe- 
 carum publicarum Norimbergensium," published in 1788, part ii. p. 100, to which 
 was added thirteen well engraved plates of the illustrations, binding and text. 
 
 See also Scrivener's "Plain Introduction to the New Testament," 1883, p. 195. 
 
PLATE IV. 
 
 LATIN PSALTER, ILLUMINATED. 
 
 8V0. MS. ON VELLUM. I3TH CENTURY. TRANSPARENT ENAMEL ON 
 
 SILVER, WITH SILVER-GILT BORDER. 
 
 [AUCT. D. IV. 2.] 
 
 Measurements: 5^ in. X 3f in. Enamel, 2A ^'^- >< ^1 ^''^• 
 
 IwiNG to the intrinsic value of the materials used 
 in the adornment of the best mediaeval book- 
 bindings comparatively few examples have 
 escaped the melting-pot. Hence it is unusual 
 to find so perfect an example of binding, 
 adorned by the skill of the enameller and the 
 goldsmith, as the one represented on Plate IV. 
 Enamel is a very suitable adornment for the 
 binding of an illuminated MS., the rich colours of the enamel accord 
 with the miniatures within, and the weight of the silver keeps the 
 vellum leaves closely pressed together. Both panels are enamelled 
 upon silver, and surrounded by a solid silver-gilt border of foliage, 
 hand-wrought; in each of the four angles there are small projecting 
 studs of silver, so placed to prevent the cover from injury when 
 the book was being used. 
 
 The obverse side represents the Coronation of the Blessed 
 Virgin. Our Lord and His Mother are represented seated. Christ rests 
 His left hand upon an orb, and raises the right hand in benediction. 
 The face is middle-aged and bearded, the head is crowned, an 
 under-garment of purple is almost concealed by a robe of blue. The 
 Virgin's closely-fitting dress is coloured green with studs of gold, 
 the mantle purple, lined with blue. An angel in a purple vestment 
 descends from blue and purple clouds, and carries with him a golden 
 crown. A richly diapered background of green completes the picture. 
 Beneath are two bright blue forget-me-nots with yellow centres. 
 
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 V, 
 
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 -o 
 
 
 
 
 
 
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 Pi 
 
 ■S 
 
 W 
 H 
 
 c 
 
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 -5 
 
 l-T^ 
 
PLATE IV. g 
 
 The reverse panel is similar in treatment to the obverse, but the 
 scene represented is the Annunciation. The Blessed Virgin, clad 
 in purple with a blue mantle edged with brown, stands to receive 
 the angel, who kneels upon the ground, holding in one hand a label 
 with the words ECCE MARIA GRAClA, to which he points with the 
 finger of the other hand. From the right-hand upper corner the 
 dove is seen descending. One of the angel's wings is extended, the 
 other folded. Between the two figures a lily is placed. Two of the 
 silver knobs have been lost from this side, as well as two portions 
 of the silver border. Unfortunately, too, three pieces of enamel 
 have been chipped off; the other panel is perfect except a small 
 blemish on the Virgin's robe. 
 
 The subjects described above are engraved on silver plates, upon 
 which translucent enamel, resembling coloured glass, has been fixed 
 by fusion, and through the enamel the finest lines of the engraving 
 beneath are clearly visible. The bright silver shines through the 
 rich greens and purples of the enamel, and its actual colour may 
 be seen through the pure crystal covering of the faces of the figures. 
 This kind of enamel succeeded the early champleve and cloisonnd 
 enamels, and differed from them in being painted with fusible 
 materials upon a broad surface of gold, silver, copper, or platinum, 
 without hollows or prepared enclosures ; the colours became 
 transparent or translucent by fusion. This method was employed 
 chiefly during the 13th, 14th, and 15th centuries; but it was revived 
 in the i8th century, and applied to various small articles of 
 bijouterie, and with certain modifications it still flourishes at Geneva. 
 Limoges was the chief seat of the art of enamelling, from the 13th 
 to the 15th century, and the enamels produced there were 
 extensively used as devotional pictures, triptychs, and book-covers. 
 This beautiful work of art was given by Sir Robert Cotton to 
 William Butler, M.D., of Cambridge, in 1614, and to the Bodleian, 
 July 15th, 1648, by Dame Anne Sadler, wife of Ralph Sadler, of 
 Stonden, Herts. 
 
 H 
 
PLATE V. 
 
 A GERMAN CHRONICLE OF EVENTS FROM 
 THE BEGINNING OF THE WORLD TO THE 
 CHRISTIAN ERA. 
 
 Large folio MS. on paper. Written in 1459. Brown leather 
 
 WITH BRASS CORNERS. 
 
 [MS. Douce 367.] 
 
 Measurements: 16J- in. x \\\ in. Central panel, i\\ in. x 7 in. 
 
 Number of bands, 4. 
 
 HE binding we have now to describe is the finest 
 specimen of 15th century wrought leather 
 preserved among the. treasures of the Bodleian. 
 It is hand-wrought leather and engraved 
 metal work of the latter half of the 15th 
 century, German certainly, and perhaps produced 
 by a Nuremberg artist. It is not made of 
 aiir botiilli, although the method of producing 
 the ornament is similar to that employed upon that remarkably strong 
 and light material. In this binding there are heavy boards of great 
 thickness and substantial metal corners, clasps, and bosses. 
 Before describing the motif of the design it may be well to indicate 
 the manner in which the ornament was produced, a manner employed 
 chiefly in the towns of Germany and the Netherlands. The thick 
 well-tanned leather would be damped before being worked. Then 
 the design would be drawn upon the surface and the outlines 
 carefully cut with a sharp knife, and the portion of the surface 
 forming the background of the design peeled away. The detail of 
 the figures and foliage would then be added by a process similar to 
 engraving, and the depressed portion punched till it presented a 
 surface of minute granular spots. Sometimes punching, without 
 peeling, would be the process used to produce the background. 
 
CHRONICLE OF EVENTS. IN GERMAN. MS. XVT" CENTURY. 
 
 Ill hand-ivrouM leather, ivith brass corners and bosses. 
 
 Plate V. 
 
PLATE V. II 
 
 Alart Du Hameel himself could scarcely have twined foliage 
 and branch more cunningly, or fitted living forms to gothic ornament 
 more skilfully than the artist who wrought this leather. Gothic 
 ornament, always pregnant with meanings and moral lessons, often 
 presents great difficulties to the student who would interpret it. The 
 figures on the binding before us are allegorical; they probably 
 represent the temptation of man as set forth in German legend. The 
 long-haired gallant, whose length of limb is remarkable, offers 
 a ring to the lady, whom he clasps by the waist, while the little 
 grotesque creature in cap and bells holds out his hands mockingly. 
 This group of figures may represent Adam, Eve, and the Devil ; 
 Faust, Marguerite, and Mephistopheles, or any other three persons 
 by whom the mediaeval artist sought to represent a truth moral 
 and mystical. But who can interpret the meaning of the soberly- 
 clad citizen, the leaping figure, in Jiunting costume, and the dog 
 below ? 
 
 On the reverse the design is bolder in treatment. The border, 
 fully 2 inches wide, is filled with conventional foliage. The inner 
 panel measures 8i in. by 4.} in. Two curious beasts adorn the 
 panel, at the top, a quadruped, with a lion's body and a man's 
 head. The head appears to be grinning, or roaring, at the tail ; 
 beneath, a lion couchant. 
 
 Four elaborately-wrought brass corner-pieces with raised bosses 
 
 protect the leather from injury, and upon the under side a fifth boss 
 
 in the centre helped to steady the great folio when lying upon its 
 side on the desk. 
 
PLATE VI, 
 
 LAS HORAS DE NUESTRA SENORA CO MUCHOS 
 OTROS OFICIOS Y ORAgiONES IMPRESSAS 
 EN PARIS. 
 
 Colophon : — Fenescen las horas de nuestra senora Impressas 
 EN Paris por Nicolao Higma. Por el Symon Uoestre 
 
 LIBRERO . QUI BIUE EN PaRIS : A LA CALLE DE NUESTRA SENORA. 
 
 8vo. Brown leather, (c. 1520.) 
 
 [Douce BB. 225. J 
 
 Measurements : sides, 7^ in. x 4-^0 in. Bands, 4. 
 
 HE beautiful " Book of Hours," printed in 
 Paris, for Nicholas Higma and Simon Vostre, 
 is remarkable for the variety of its embellish- 
 ments ; the borders in particular are ifine ; 
 they contain two Dances of Death, besides 
 other subjects, and some of the larger 
 engravings are signed. As set forth in the 
 title, this is a Spanish Book of Hours ; 
 unfortunately it is undated, but it undoubtedly belongs to the early 
 portion of the i6th century, and the binding is contemporary 
 with the book. 
 
 In the Biblioth^que Nationale, some bindings of the time of 
 Francis I., display the same arabesque ornament in conjunction with 
 the royal badge, the salamander, the initial F, fleur-de-lys and 
 royal shield. 
 
 In the example before us, the boards are covered with light brown 
 leather ; the centre and corners are deeply impressed, and upon the 
 
LAS HORAS DE NUESTRA SENORA. SPANISH. 
 
 In brown leather, painted and gilt. 
 
 Plate VI. 
 
PLATE VI. 
 
 13 
 
 depressed surfaces, which are thickly gilded, graceful Saracenic raised 
 patterns, coloured black, appear; the broad borders surrounding the 
 depressions are also coloured black ; the remainder of the surface of 
 the leather retains its natural brown tan, and is thickly sprinkled 
 with gold dots, while the effect is heightened by the gold being 
 covered with a coat of glossy varnish. The back of the volume is 
 beautifully tooled with small Saracenic ornaments, similar to those 
 introduced into Western Europe from Venice by Holbein. The 
 sprinkling of gold dots, too, marks an epoch in decorative book- 
 binding. This innovation, it is said, appeared upon Venetian 
 bindings about the year 1475, speedily spread northwards and 
 westwards, and reached the French capital a few years later. 
 
PLATE VII, 
 
 LATIN EPIGRAMS ADDRESSED BY ROBERT 
 WHITINTON TO CARDINAL WOLSEY. PRE- 
 SENTATION COPY 
 
 Small folio MS. on vellum. i6th century. Brown leather 
 
 DEEPLY STAMPED AND GILT. 
 
 [MS. BODLEY 523.J 
 
 Measurements: sides, 6^ in. x <^\ in. Stamps, 6 in. X 2\ in. Bands, 5. 
 
 N the adornment of this binding two stamps 
 of unusual size were used ; the first represents 
 St. George in the act of slaying the Dragon, 
 the second contains three badges of the royal 
 house of Tudor. The designs are bold, but 
 exceedingly rude in execution, having the 
 appearance of English work of the early years 
 of the 1 6th century. St. George, who is 
 standing on the dragon's back and thrusting his spear down the 
 monster's throat, might be mistaken for St. Michael, were not the 
 Archangel's wings wanting ; he wears a suit of finely-fluted plate- 
 armour, the plumed bascinet has the vizor raised, showing the features 
 of the warrior. Beneath the plate-armour appears a skirt of chain 
 mail. The hips are further protected by ornamental tuiles. The legs 
 are encased in cuisses protecting the thighs, genpuill^res covering the 
 knees, and jambarts extending from the knees downwards to the 
 sollerets of broad overlapping plates on the feet. Poorly executed 
 foliage completes the design. In the second stamp the Tudor rose 
 occupies the upper portion of the block ; in form the badge is 
 somewhat unusual, the flower springs from a long stem with leaves. 
 In the centre is a portcullis of sixteen openings, from the upper 
 corners of which two chains hang down reaching to the pomegranate. 
 Below is the pomegranate set upon a short thick stem from which 
 two leaves spring. The stamps used were cut in cameo, the detail 
 being engraved upon the raised portion in a manner suggestive of 
 wood-carving of the period; indeed, it is quite possible that the 
 
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 lAS 
 
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 b'Ji^V. 
 
 Zi«_^- »->»JJ 
 
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 A>AV'''V*'liiiliiii'i'"*i«li^'i'irTi'i---tr<t«<'--*'^'' '-'"-^ 
 
 LATIN EPIfiRAMS. M.S. ON VELI,UM. XVIT" CENTURY. 
 
 In brown leather, stamped and gilt. 
 
 Plate Vn. 
 
PLATE VII. jr 
 
 Stamps were of wood and not of metal. The stamping upon the 
 leather is in intaglio, and the gold-leaf would be applied after the 
 first stamping, in the manner still employed by Oriental bookbinders. 
 In colour the leather is light brown, it is well-dressed, and of 
 fine grain resembling basil. The stamps are arranged to form three 
 oblong panels extending across the cover from the back to the 
 fore-edge. On the obverse, St. George is in the middle flanked 
 by the badges ; on the reverse, the badges occupy the centre, and 
 St. George the outer panels. There are slight differences in all the 
 impressions. A plain roller band of three lines surrounds the panels. 
 Four silk strings, one at each end and two at the fore-edge, secured 
 the covers. 
 
 There can be little doubt that the ornamentation upon this 
 binding was produced by means of pressure, and not by heated 
 tools. The next photograph (Plate VIII.) shows gold-tooling produced 
 in the ordinary way by means of small tools heated. 
 
 In many respects the binding before us is as interesting as any 
 in the Bodleian. It is a sumptuous binding intended for presentation; 
 the historical associations connected with it recall the time when 
 Wolsey, then in the height of power, was founding Cardinal College, 
 and Whitinton was the chief authority (in the schools of Oxford) on 
 points of grammar. The binding is useful too as an example of the 
 overlapping of styles. 
 
 Robert Whitinton, the author of this manuscript, was born at Lichfield 
 about the year 1480. He received his education " in the school at the gate 
 of Magdalen College, Oxford." In 1501, according to Berkenhout, he began 
 to teach a grammar school in London. In 15 13 he was laureated at Oxford. 
 Wynkyn de Worde and Peter Treveris printed some of his books, chiefly gram- 
 matical treatises. Now-a-days these books are seldom to be met with : those 
 still in original bindings usually bear stamps of the Royal Arms. Examples 
 may be seen on three volumes of Whitinton's works, dating from 15 16 to 
 1530, now at the British Museum. Johnson, in his account of Wynkyn de 
 Worde's press, in the first volume of " Typographia," gives a list of many of 
 Whitinton's books. These epigrams, addressed to Cardinal Wolsey, probably 
 have not been printed. In a note upon the Day-book of John Dome, Bookseller 
 in Oxford, 1520, Mr. F. Madan has directed attention to the striking fact in 
 connection with the studies of the University, that most of the grammatical 
 works then sold were written by John Stanbridge and Robert Whitinton, both 
 connected with Magdalen College Grammar School. 
 
PLATE VII 
 
 "VITAE ILLUSTRIUM VIRORUM." A MANUSCRIPT 
 FROM HENRY VIII.'s LIBRARY. 
 
 Gold-tooled with arms and initials of King Henry VIII. 
 
 Before a.d. 1529. 
 
 [MS. BoDL. 354.] 
 
 Measurements : \\\ in. X ()\ in. Bands, 4. 
 
 HE early history of English gold-tooled binding 
 is lost in obscurity, but it may be taken 
 broadly that many of the so-called English 
 bindings are in reality French or Dutch: this 
 may be proved in some cases by a compari- 
 son being made between known specimens of 
 Parisian binding and the so-called English. 
 It is also probable that some of the early 
 gold-tooling done in England came from the hands of foreign 
 workmen, of whom not a few were Huguenot refugees. That the 
 art of gilding leather was practised in this country at an early date 
 may also be taken for granted ; but the gold leaf was applied by 
 means of mucilage, and not by the mere pressure of heated tools. 
 
 Thomas Berthelet seems to have been the first bookbinder of 
 consequence who introduced gold-tooling into England. Berthelet's 
 period extends from about 1530 (in June of that year he published 
 certain proclamations) to 1555, when, according to the books of 
 the Stationers' Company, he died. From the patent, still extant, it 
 appears that Berthelet was the second man who held the office of 
 King's Printer in England, and it is certain that he bound and 
 adorned books for the King's Library. There is extant an account 
 of certain books bound by him "in the Venetian manner" for the 
 king, and in a case devoted to bookbindings at the British Museum 
 one of Berthelet's bindings may be seen to this day. 
 
 Without doubt, the volume we are now considering, formed 
 part of the royal collection. Its presence in the Bodleian is easily 
 
VITAE II.LUSTRIUM VIRORUM. 
 
 I7i hrown lea/Jic?; gilt, with royal arms and tudor rose. 
 
 Plate VIII. 
 
PLATE VIII. 
 
 17 
 
 ■accounted for. In August, 1605, James I. visited Oxford and the 
 Bodleian. " Moved to a wonderful temper of liberality, the king 
 then offered to present from all the libraries of the royal palaces, 
 whatsoever precious and rare books Sir T. Bodley, on examination, 
 might choose to carry away; and promised that a grant should be 
 made under seal lest any hindrance should arise."* This grant was 
 passed under the Privy Seal in November of the same year, and 
 Bodley appears to have carried off several valuable MSS. from 
 Whitehall, among others some ancient folios, of which this is one, 
 and some volumes belonging to James himself. 
 
 In the present imperfect state of knowledge respecting the early 
 Tudor bookbinders, it would be dangerous to affirm that this volume 
 was bound by Berthelet for King Henry's Library, but the, proba- 
 bilities seem in favour of the supposition. There is a strong 
 suspicion of Italian influence in the design and arrangement of 
 the tooling. An oblong panel in the centre contains the arms 
 and badges of Henry VIII., within an elliptical border. The 
 supporters are those used before 1529, the badges, the fleur-de-lys, 
 rose, and portcullis. The motto in Roman capitals, "REX : HENRICVS : 
 VIII : . : DIEV : ET : MON : DROIT ■:■ " This settles the ownership of the 
 volume without dispute. Above and below the central device, on 
 either side a crowned Tudor rose, are the letters K. H.f The 
 corners of the outer oblong compartments are adorned by vases 
 from which depend foliage and grotesque scrolls, the inner of the 
 two outer borders is composed of neatly tooled fleur-de-lys in 
 double row, the outer border is hidden beneath an edge of modern 
 leather. Written on a fly-leaf, in a bold hand, are the following 
 words: — "Codex hie fuit olim Henrici VIII. , ei Jo. Leylandus 
 Titulum fecit." "Vitae Illustrium Virorum, &c." And below, in 
 another hand, "Carmen scriptum manu Lelandi." John Leland, or 
 Leyland, if we accept the old spelling, was appointed by Henry VIII. 
 keeper of the King's Library about the year 1530. To him we owe 
 the preservation of many valuable MSS., and not a few antique 
 bookbindings. 
 
 •'' Macray, "Annals of the Bodleian," p. 32. 
 
 t It has been suggested that the initials K. H. = Kateryn Howard. 
 
PLATE IX. 
 
 ARCHITECTURE OU ART DE BIEN BASTIR 
 DU MARC VITRUVE POLLION AUTHEUR 
 ROMAIN ANTIQUE: MAIS DE LATIN EN 
 FRANQOYS, PAR JAN MARTIN SECRETAIRE 
 DE MONSEIGNEUR CARDINAL DE LENON- 
 COURT. POUR LE ROY TRES CHRESTIEN 
 HENRY 11. PARIS AVEC R DU ROY. ON LES 
 VEND CHEY JACQUES GAZCAN. i547. 
 
 A Book from the Library of Dianne de Poytiers. 
 
 [Douce V. Subtus I.J 
 Meastirements : sides, 15 m. X 10 in. Back, i^ in. Y. i^ tn. 
 
 ILTHOUGH the brilliancy of this binding has been 
 dulled by age, it is still one of the finest of the 
 kind in the Bodleian or in any other English 
 library. It is a work of importance, not only 
 on account of the size and beautiful design, but 
 also by reason of the historical associations 
 connected with it. The ornament upon the 
 white calfskin sides consists of broad black lines 
 and scrolls edged with silver, and between the scrolls the monogram 
 H.D. In the elliptical central panel are grouped bows, arrows, 
 quivers, and crescents, the symbols of the huntress queen. On the 
 obverse side, near the top, a neat oblong brass frame, terminated at 
 the ends by crescents, is fixed to protect the title {Vitruvi) written 
 on a piece of vellum. The ornament upon the back is in keeping 
 with that upon the side covers, consisting of gracefully curved black 
 lines edged with silver, and crescents, bows, and triangles in silver. 
 
ARCHITECTURE DE MARC VITRUVE. PARIS, 1547- 
 
 In ivhite calf, painted and silvered. 
 
 Plate IX. 
 
PLATE IX. ig 
 
 The title Vitruve on the back proves that this volume, like most 
 of the books in the library at Anet, was intended to stand or lie 
 upon the shelf with the back facing outwards. At a period much 
 later than the middle of the i6th century the books in many 
 libraries, both English and continental, were placed upon the shelves 
 back inwards. I see no reason to doubt that the binding represented 
 in Plate IX. is a genuine example from Dianne de Poytiers' library. 
 
 Fastened inside the cover, at the end of the book, is an 
 engraving of a bookbinding of great beauty, and more elaborately 
 ornamented than the one before us. The engraving is taken from 
 ''Notes et Extraits des Manuscrits de la Bibliothique Nationale" 
 tome v. p. 257, d. 18, and represents a design somewhat formally 
 divided into rectangular compartments ; in the centre is a fine 
 miniature painting of the goddess Diana, who is represented with 
 her dogs pursuing game through a forest glade, her red robe 
 fluttering in the wind. Lions* heads occupy the four corners, and 
 the compartments are formed by bands of black and yellow morocco 
 inlaid upon a white ground. The usual monograms and badges of 
 Diana of Poitiers and Henry II. appear upon the binding. In the 
 Bodleian there are two more bindings supposed to have belonged to 
 Henry II. and the favourite duchess. These are upon (i) "Horae in 
 laudem beatissimae Virginis Mariae, ad usum Romanum. Parisiis 
 ex officina Reginaldi Calderii et Ct audit ejus filii" i549- [Douce 
 BB. 184]; and upon (2) ''The Prymer iji Englishe and Latin sette 
 out alonge: after the 2ise of SartmiJ' Printed by Florent Valentine 
 at Rouen in 1556. [Douce BB. 15.] 
 
PLATE X. 
 
 GROLIERESQUE BINDING: ENGLISH (?) 
 
 (^. 1550-) 
 
 From one of the Douce Scrapbooks of Bookbindings. 
 
 Sir Thomas Wotton's Bookbinding. 
 
 Measurements : 9 in. x 6^ in. {full size, now cut down to Z\ in. x 6 in) 
 
 T will be well to mention here that there are 
 in the Bodleian two large folio scrapbooks, 
 containing a remarkably fine collection of leather 
 bookbindings, some stamped, others gold-tooled. 
 These bindings were removed from the books 
 which they originally adorned, and arranged, 
 apparently without method, by Francis Douce, 
 who certainly appreciated good and artistic 
 work, and to whom the Library is indebted for many of the finest 
 specimens of bookbinding now to be found within its walls. For 
 the second scrapbook, bibliophiles are indebted to the forethought of 
 the present Librarian, Mr. Nicholson, who found a parcel of old 
 bindings in the library, and caused them to be arranged chronologically 
 and mounted in a book uniform in size with the Douce Scrapbook. 
 
 The plate on the opposite page is taken from a binding thus 
 preserved. It must be apparent to the veriest tyro in art, that the 
 design is meritorious ; although an obvious copy of the style of 
 ornament introduced by Grolier, it is not a servile imitation ; indeed it 
 bears marks of original and distinctive genius. The tooling may not 
 be so carefully executed as that of the great French artists of the 
 same period, but boldness of treatment, the true characteristic of 
 English art, fully compensates for any lack of mathematical exactness 
 on the part of the draughtsman or executant. 
 
GROLIERESQUE DESIGN ON BROWN CALF. 
 
 IViih arms of Thomas Wotion, Esquire. 
 
 Plate X. 
 
PLATE X. 21 
 
 The light brown leather is covered with delicately interlaced black 
 lines edged with gold, here and there arabesque foliage tooled in gold 
 adds lightness to the design. Along the central guiding line four 
 spaces, almost circular, are thickly sprinkled with gold dots, about 
 which more presently. In the centre of the design the arms of Sir 
 Thomas Wotton are stamped in silver. Quarterly first and fourth, 
 argent, a saltire engrailed sable: (Wotton.) Second and third argent 
 on a chief sable a lion, passant guardant, argent: (Rudstone.) 
 
 Sir Thomas Wotton was the father of the better known Sir Henry Wotton, 
 who in Elizabeth's days became secretary to the Earl of Essex. After the rebellion 
 of that hot-headed Earl Sir Henry fled for his life across the sea. At the accession 
 of James I. he returned to England, and died Provost of Eton in 1639. All Sir 
 Henry's adventures may be read of In the pages of Isaac Walton's " Lives," but 
 little is narrated about Thomas Wotton, the connoisseur of books, and especially 
 of bookbindings, beyond the facts that he came of a good family, and was twice 
 married, first, to Elizabeth daughter of Sir John Rudstone, Knt., by whom he had 
 three sons ; secondly, to Eleonora, daughter of Sir William Finch, by whom he 
 had one son — Sir Henry, the Eton Provost. Thomas Wotton's admiration for 
 the triumphs of the great French collector's bookbindings led him to emulate the 
 beauty of the continental models. So successful was he in his hobby that he earned 
 the name of " The English Grolier," The founder of the French school of 
 ornamental binding was born at Lyons in 1479, and died in Paris on the 22nd of 
 October, 1565. Sir Thomas Wotton's period lies somewhere between 1521 and 
 1589: his bookbindings are even more rare than those of his continental 
 contemporary. A binding with the Wotton arms, ornamented In a similar 
 manner to the example before us, is given In Bernard Quarltch's "Facsimiles of 
 Bookbindings." 
 
 The British Museum Library does not contain an example of 
 Thomas Wotton's armorial binding, but a fine specimen bearing his 
 name is exhibited in one of the glass cases in the King's Library. 
 
PLATE XL 
 
 GROLIERESQUE BINDING: ENGLISH (?) 
 
 Sir Thomas Wotton's Bookbinding (?) 
 Douce Scraps, {c. 1550.) 
 
 Measurement: iif in. X 7^ in. 
 
 HIS example is much larger than the previous 
 binding, although for the purpose of uniformity 
 the plate has been reduced in the process of 
 photography. The binding has neither inscription 
 nor arms whereby it may be identified as the 
 property of a particular collector, but it is 
 evident that whoever designed the last example 
 for Thomas Wotton, also designed this ; 
 material, technique, and treatment are the same in both-, though the 
 designs differ. If the binding we are now considering be the work 
 of an English bookbinder, it is a production creditable to English 
 art, and certainly it will bear comparison with some of the most 
 celebrated examples of foreign bookbinding of the same period. It 
 may be useful to set down the chief distinguishing features of the 
 few examples of Wotton's bookbindings which I have seen. 
 
 I St. The material is a soft light brown leather having a fine 
 satin-like surface. 
 
 2nd. The chief lines are painted black and edged with thin 
 gold lines, and measure from r^ in. to l, in. in breadth. 
 
 3rd. Spaces enclosed by curved lines are usually sprinkled with 
 gold dots. 
 
"W"*' 
 
 GROLIERESQUK DESIGN ON BROWN CALF. 
 
 From the library of Thomas WoUon, Esquire. 
 
 Plaie XI. 
 
PLATE XL 23 
 
 4th. Gracefully curved sprays of foliage are introduced where 
 practicable. 
 
 5th. The designs are geometrical, consisting chiefly of straight 
 lines interlaced. 
 
 The example of Wotton's binding at the British Museum, 
 referred to in the description of Plate X., has been reproduced in 
 Mr. H. B. Wheatley's book. On the middle of the side is the legend 
 THOM/E • WOTTONI • ET ■ AMICORUM, tooled in gold, in obvious imita- 
 tion of Grolier and Maioli. 
 
 Date of some of the best specimens of Wotton's bindings, c. 1544 
 to 1552. 
 
PLATE XII, 
 
 COVSTVMES DU BAILLIAGE DE SENS & ANCIES 
 RESSORTS D'ICELUY, REDIGEES, & ARESTEES 
 AU MOIS DE NOUEMBRE, L'AN MIL CINQ 
 CENTS CINQUANTE CINQ, PAR ORDONANCE 
 DU ROY. 
 
 A Sens, De l'Imprimerie de Gilles Richeboys, m. d. lvi. 
 AuEC priuilege DU Roy. 4x0. Printed on vellum. Royal 
 Valois Binding. Brown leather, {c. 1556-9.) 
 
 [Arch. Bodl. D. Suet. 2 2. J 
 Meastirements of sides : gf in. x 6|- in. 
 
 r5H KmtSFJ 
 
 HIS sumptuous copy of the Coustumes du Bailliage 
 de Sens, has the appearance of having been 
 printed and bound specially for presentation to 
 the king. It is in every way a most beautiful 
 and artistic production, worthy of the best 
 period of French art ; boldness of conception, 
 simplicity and gracefulness of treatment, are 
 the leading characteristics of the design. In 
 point of date, the binding cannot be much later than the year 
 in which the book was printed (1556). The style of ornament, too, 
 agrees with this supposition, and the binding may have been 
 executed by one of Geoffroy Tory's pupils. (Tory himself died in 
 1 533-) To quote from the introduction to his Champfleury, he had 
 been employed by " Monseigneur the treasurer for war. Master 
 Jehan Grolier, councillor and secretary of our lord the king, lover 
 of fine arts, and of all learned personages," both as designer of 
 letters and of bookbindings. Many of the finely woven and inter- 
 twined designs known to us by the name of the amateur were, I 
 
Plate XII. 
 
 COUSTUxMES DU BAILLIACE DE SENS. 
 
 In Invivn leather, 7fith cameo portrait of Henri II. 
 
PLATE XII. 
 
 25 
 
 imagine, the product of Tory's brain and pencil. The so-called 
 Grolieresque style was to a great extent though not entirely due to 
 Tory's pupils, who developed the style brought from Italy by their 
 master. 
 
 The effect of the gold-tooling upon the brown leather of the 
 example before us is heightened by broad black lines twining around 
 the gold medallion in the centre, upon which is stamped in high 
 relief a portrait of Henry II. of France; above and below appear 
 the crescents of Diana; but the other emblems of the Huntress 
 Queen and of her frail namesake are absent. 
 
 Blue, green, and white pigments add lightness to the general 
 effect; these colours are used as edgings to the black scrollwork, 
 and upon rosettes. It should be noted that the colour upon this 
 and similar bindings was applied moist by brush or knife, and it is 
 pigment not leather. The inlaying of leather upon leather was not 
 generally practised till a later period, although examples of mediaeval 
 inlaid leather are known. 
 
 The portrait, a bust with head uncovered, and body protected 
 by finely wrought armour, is flanked by the initials H. H., ensigned 
 by a royal crown : in the border surrounding the medallion, above 
 the head is a wreath of laurel leaves. Gold medallions are found 
 upon Italian bookbindings of the sixteenth century, but usually 
 they are copies of ancient cameos or gems, not portraits of living 
 people. There are examples of Italian cameo bindings in the Douce 
 collection, and at the British Museum. King Henry II. does not 
 appear to have adopted the medallion for ornamenting his book- 
 bindings till about the year 1555, and the Grolieresque French style 
 did not come into general use among amateurs till after 1560, when 
 it denoted degeneracy in art. Medallions were produced by means 
 of stamps. When portraits were not engraved upon the medallions, 
 and the design would allow, the stamps were quartered, and the 
 triangles thus formed used for corner-pieces as well as in combina- 
 tion for centre-pieces. 
 
 K 
 
PLATE XIII, 
 
 DIONIS NIC^I RERVM ROMANARUM A 
 POMPEIO MAGNO AD ALEXADRUM MA- 
 M^^, EPITOME AUTHORE lOANNE XIPHI- 
 LINO. EX BIBLIOTHECA REGIA. 
 
 LVTETIAE, Ex OFFICINA ROBERTI StEPHANI TYPOGRAPHI ReGII, 
 
 Regiis typis. m . d . LI. Cum priuilegio Regis. 
 Small folio. Brown leather, gold-tooled, &c., badge of the 
 
 Earl of Leicester. 
 Binding from the collection of Robert Dudley, Earl of 
 
 Leicester, c. 1556. [A A. 15. Med. Seld.] 
 
 Measurements of sides : 10 in. X ']\ in. 
 
 THOUGH a meritorious piece of work, this binding 
 is inferior in many respects to the beautiful 
 French example. No. XIL Here we see a 
 centre-ornament quartered in order to be 
 pressed into the service as a corner-piece, and, 
 obviously, out of harmony with the rest of the 
 design. Then the delicate gold convolutions 
 forming the outer frame to the medallion are 
 overpowered by the heavy black lines of the inner border and the 
 mechanically produced corner-pieces. Notwithstanding the blemishes, 
 the detail and general effect are good, and the work is conscientiously 
 executed ; indeed, this is one of the finest specimens of Robert 
 Dudley's bindings. 
 
 In England during the reigns of Edward VI., Mary I., and 
 Elizabeth, several great nobles indulged their taste for splendour by 
 furnishing their libraries with books in elaborately ornamented bind- 
 ings. Many specimens of great beauty, bearing the arms and badges 
 of the famous men to whom they belonged, have endured centuries 
 of hard usage, and may still be seen in almost pristine freshness. 
 
DIONIS NIC/T?! RERUM ROMANORUM, ETC. 
 
 In bi-own leather, with badge of the Earl of Leicester. 
 
 Plate XIII. 
 
PLATE XIII. 
 
 27 
 
 William Cecil Lord Burleigh, Sir Thomas Wotton, Robert Dudley 
 Earl of Leicester, and Henry FitzAlan Earl of Arundel, are among 
 the best known patrons of art and of bookbinding; the two first 
 preferred the so-called Italo-Grolieresque style, examples of which 
 have been given in Plates Nos. X., XL The Earls of Leicester and 
 Arundel, on the other hand, affected a style copied more directly from 
 the French. It is possible that both earls employed French artists 
 living on the continent, but it seems to me more probable that the 
 books were bound in England by workmen following French traditions. 
 
 A few words about the badge in the centre of the side may 
 not be out of place, since it is by means of the badge that the 
 history of the binding is known. Upon a wreath a bear erect, 
 argent, chained and muzzled, or, supporting a ragged staff; this 
 is the famous badge of the Earls of Warwick. Doubtless Camden 
 is right in supposing that the Beauchamps "gave the beare for their 
 cognizance, and left it to their posterity," since, as he quaintly puts 
 it, " the Beauchamps came of a daughter of Ursus de Abtot." 
 However that may be, the badge is at least as old as the time of 
 Sir Richard Beauchamp Earl of Warwick, who died a.d. 1439, ^'^d 
 it has been customary, from an early period, to represent the bear 
 muzzled and chained. In the present example the badge is marked 
 with the cadence-mark, the crescent, used by Leicester to distinguish 
 his badge from that of his brother Ambrose Earl of Warwick. Some 
 of Leicester's bindings have the initials R.D. in addition to the badge. 
 On the Earl of Arundel's bindings the oval is turned lengthways, 
 and within it is painted a horse galloping through woods. 
 
PLATE XIV. 
 
 DIALOGUE DE LA VIE ET DE LA MORT, COM- 
 POSE EN TOSCAN PAR MAISTRE INNOCENT 
 RINGHIERE, GENTILHOMME BOULONGNOIS. 
 NOUUELLEMENT TRADUICT EN FRANCOIS 
 PAR JEHAN LOUUEAU, RECTEUR DE CHAS- 
 TILLON DE DOMBES. SECONDE EDITION. 
 
 A Lyon, De l'Imprimerie de Robert Granjon. Mil. V? Lviii. 
 Small 8vo. Red satin, embroidered, c. 1558. 
 
 [BODL. 660.] 
 Measurements of sides : 6 in. X A,\ in. 
 
 T is not surprising that an old institution like 
 the Bodleian should be rich in examples of 
 embroidered bindings. There are some fifteen 
 examples of " the works of learned ladies," to 
 quote Dr. Rawlinson's humorous title upon 
 a volume of samplers. The collection is not a 
 large one, but it is choice, including nearly a 
 dozen fine specimens of needlework of the i6th 
 and 17th centuries. To the courtesy of the Rev. W. Dunn Macray 
 I am indebted for the following list of embroidered bookbindings. 
 The dates attached to each specimen can only be taken approximately. 
 
 I. Binding worked by Queen Elizabeth for Queen Catherine Parr. c. 1544. 
 
 (MS. Cherry 36.) On a groundwork of light blue silk knitted, a 
 
 braided cross and initials K. P. in silver thread, and at each corner 
 a heartsease. 
 
 
a5iig;k ' ttRWj P iJ>J-A.^f-4-jAkJ I I^^^^ 
 
 DIALOGUE DE LA VIE ET DE LA MORT. 
 
 In rose-coloured satitt, etiibroidercd ivHIi gold and sihcr thread. 
 
 Flaie XIV. 
 
PLATE XIV. 29 
 
 II. Ruby satin, embroidered with gold and silver thread. {Vide Plate XIV.) 
 c. 1559. (Bodl. 660.) 
 
 III. Black velvet, worked with silver thread by Queen Elizabeth, on a 
 New Testament, c. 1579. (e Musaeo 242.) 
 
 IV. Ruby velvet, embroidered with emblems for Queen Elizabeth. {Vide 
 Plate XVII.) c. 1583. (Douce Bib. Eng., 1583. b. i.) 
 
 V. White satin, elaborately embroidered in silks, and silver and gold thread. 
 On obverse, a shield, gules (?), a cross vair between four eagles 
 displayed or (?), crest. An eagle. Supporters. Moses and Aaron. 
 On the reverse, in the centre, a shield bearing, gules, a bend or, 
 between three crescents (two in chief gules, one in nombril point 
 arg.), embattled chief arg. At the four corners of the cover the 
 four evangelists seated. Some of the colours have faded, c. 161 7. 
 (Bib. Eng. 161 7. c. i.) 
 
 VI. Dark blue velvet, embroidered with silver thread, much worn, on a 
 volume containing a Prayer-book of 16 16 and Psalms of 1622. <:. 1623. 
 (C. P. 1616. f. I.) 
 
 VII. A very beautiful binding, in green velvet, embroidered with gold and 
 silver thread. In the centre, an elliptical panel, containing a portrait 
 of the Duke of Buckingham, worked in silk. Upon a presentation 
 copy of Bacon's Essays (1625), given by Lord Bacon to the Duke 
 of Buckingham. Presented to the Library by Lewis Roberts, a 
 London merchant. In 1631, one shilHng was paid for a green baize 
 cover for this binding. Owing to the cover then provided, the velvet 
 and silks have retained their brilliancy and colour. c. 1625. (Arch. 
 Bodl. D. 104.) 
 
 VIII. Tapestry much worn. c. 1627. (Bib. Eng. 1626. f 1.) 
 
 IX. Pink satin, faded white, raised design in silver thread, foliage in silk. 
 Upon a New Testament printed at Cambridge in 1628. c. 1629. 
 (N. T., Eng., 1628. f. I.) 
 
 X. Little Gidding (?), binding, on a Prayer-book, in silver thread and coloured 
 silks, embroidered in various tapestry stitches. {See Plate XXII.) 
 c. 1631. (C.P. 1630. e. I.) 
 
 XL White satin, embroidered with gold and silver thread, coloured silk and 
 spangles. Landscape and figures in centre, c. 1640. {See Plate XXIII.) 
 Upon a Bible. 8vo., London, 1639. (Arch. Bodl. D. subt. 75.) 
 
30 
 
 PLATE XIV. 
 
 XII. Small binding in white satin, with figures raised, garments composed of 
 loose pieces of silk tacked upon the groundwork, representing King 
 David, playing upon a harp, attired in a flowing wig and robe, behind 
 him a dog, a dragon-fly, etc. On the reverse, Abraham in the act 
 of sacrificing his son ; the Patriarch is attired in a large wig and 
 falling collar of the period of Charles II. This volume was purchased 
 from Thorpe, the bookseller, in whose catalogue for 1832 it appears 
 as No. 1 1 260, priced at ^5 5^., and described as "said to be bound 
 in a piece of a waistcoat of Charles I." c. 1660. (Douce Bibles, 
 N.T. Eng. 1625. g. I.) 
 
 XIII. This is a large binding, covered with a piece of needlework in tapestry- 
 
 stitch, representing two figures in the costume of the period of 
 Charles I. Apparently the binding has been repaired. The sides 
 are protected with a narrow strip of leather, gold-tooled and, dated 
 on the back. (4. A. 217.) 
 
 XIV. A small white satin binding embroidered in coloured silks and silver 
 
 thread. A blue and yellow corn-flower occupies the centre of an 
 elliptical panel, which nearly fills the side of the book, and is surrounded 
 by a number of silver cords. In the corners are purple (?) and blue 
 heartsease. The embroidery is faded and much worn. The sub- 
 stantial silver guards and clasps are torn off the obverse cover ; the 
 guard remains upOn the edges of the reverse. Upon a Bible 1633. 
 (Bib. Eng. 1633. f. 2.) 
 
 XV. A small white satin binding embroidered in silks and silver thread in a 
 manner similar to the binding represented in Plate XIV. Cf. also 
 Plate VI. In the centre of arabesque scrollwork a bird, in silver, with 
 wings outstretched hovers above a grassy mound, worked in yellow 
 and green silk. The embroidery is soiled and considerably the worse 
 for wear. Upon a Bible. (Bib. Eng. 1634. f. 1.) 
 
 The binding represented in Plate XIV. has been excellently 
 preserved ; the material and design are good. The rose-red satin 
 cover is embroidered over with graceful scrollwork of raised silver 
 edged with gold thread ; the parts in highest relief, being stuffed with 
 wool, form bold projections which add greatly to the effectiveness of 
 the design. Two ribbons are attached to each side of the cover in the 
 manner usually adopted at this period. In the South Kensington 
 Museum there is a binding similarly adorned; it is dated a.d. 1613, 
 and has been figured in " The Bookbinder," Vol. I., p. 143, and 
 elsewhere. 
 
PLATE XIV. 31 
 
 Although the embroidery is of a kind common in the i6th 
 century, this specimen is unusually beautiful, worthy in all respects 
 of the first year of the reign of the Maiden Queen, and worthy 
 of imitation by the maidens of the reign of Queen Victoria. 
 
 Louveau's book is beautifully printed in imitation of MS., and 
 contains an inscription on a fly-leaf in writing resembling that of 
 Queen Elizabeth. This binding probably is an earlier example of 
 embroidery than the similar specimen at South Kensington, and 
 there appears to be no reason for supposing that the work is much 
 later in date than the publication of the book, viz., 1558 : this 
 supposition is strengthened by the character of the handwriting 
 referred to above. 
 
PLATE XV. 
 
 HORE BEATE VIRGINIS MARIE: SECUNDU VSUM 
 SARUM: CU ILLIUS MIRACULIS: VNACU 
 FIGURIS APOCALIPSIS: THOBIE & JUDITH. 
 AC ETIAM MORTIS ACCIDENTIA NOUITER 
 ADDITA IMPRESSE FUERUT PARISIIS OPA AC 
 ARTE NICOLAI HYGMA. IMPENSIS HONESTJ 
 VIRI SYMONIS VOSTRE: COMORANTIS IBIDE 
 IN VICO NOUO. IN INTERSIGNIO SANCTI 
 JOHANNIS EUANGELISTE. 
 
 Large 8vo. Brown leather, gold-tooled and stamped, with 
 INITIALS N. V. Table of movable feasts, 1520-36. Probable 
 
 DATE C. 1565-70. [GOUGH MiSSAL 1 62.] 
 
 Measurements of sides : ()\ in. x 6 in. 
 
 HE golden barbaric splendour, the large-sized 
 centre and corner-pieces, and the style of the 
 tooling, all point to the conclusion that this 
 binding was made towards the close of the 
 1 6th century. The book bears evidence of 
 having been rebound, and the style of orna- 
 ment used upon the sides and back precludes 
 the idea that the present cover was placed 
 upon the book at the time of its publication. Obscurity involves the 
 history of this binding, but there are several points of interest to be 
 noted in the decoration. The leather used is fine in quality and 
 of a light brown colour; large elliptical stamps in the centre of the 
 sides are surrounded by delicate gold-tooling representing quivers 
 full of arrows, between which are sprinkled minute leaves and 
 flowers in gold. The quivers are repeated fourteen times on each 
 side and seventeen times on the back. The subjects of the two 
 centre blocks are: — on the obverse — the Almighty issuing from 
 
HORR EEATE VIRCINIS ilARlE. 
 
 /;/ brown Ica/Iier, gold-tooled. 
 
 Plate XV. 
 
PLATE XV. oo 
 
 clouds of glory composed of Hebrew characters, probably repre- 
 senting the following text in a contracted form and without 
 points : — 
 
 anao 
 
 nns t'-ixn b k'pd 
 
 THE WHOLE EARTH IS FILLED WITH 
 HIS GLORY. 
 
 Perhaps this is an unique instance of a Hebrew inscription on a 
 bookbinding block. 
 
 The Most High is represented as an old man holding in his right 
 hand an orb, while the left is raised in benediction. His head is 
 surrounded by a triangular nimbus. Beneath the figure a dove 
 hovers with outstretched wings. In the centre of the panel appears 
 the monogram, IH2 surmounted by a cross, circled with flame and 
 surrounded with rays of light. The lower portion of the design 
 represents the Annunciation. A border of the classic " egg and 
 tooth " ornament surrounds the stamp. On the reverse is a 
 representation of the Crucifixion on Calvary, a very common subject 
 for the adornment of devotional books. 
 
 The corner ornaments are made up of two stamps. A quarter 
 section of an arabesque centre ornament is fitted into the angle 
 formed by the two arms of a stamp shaped like the letter L. The 
 latter rectangular stamp or stamps — for two stamps are used — is 
 crowded with pseudo-classical military trophies ; horns, trumpets, 
 bows, arrows, shields, swords, battle-axes, drums, and armour are 
 grouped in a confused manner similar to the ornament frequently 
 found on sword-hilts belonging to the latter half of the i6th century 
 or the commencement of the 17th century. Near the large drum 
 may be noticed a label or tablet ; upon it are engraved the letters 
 N. v.* 
 
 * A similar stamp on a binding in the British Museum, figured in Mr. Wheatley's valuable 
 work, contains the letters I. D. P., which have been conjecturally assigned to stand for "John Day, 
 Printer," but no sufficient proof has been discovered to justify this supposition, and the coincidence 
 of these three letters appearing upon the cover of a book printed by John Day in 157 1 cannot be 
 taken as proof that John Day bound, or caused the book to be bound and marked with his initials 
 and the initials of the name of his trade. The same corner-blocks, with the initials I. D. P. appear 
 upon a copy of Matthew of Westminster, printed at London by Thomas Marsh in a.d. 1570. A 
 search in some of the older libraries in England would probably bring to light more specimens 
 of this elaborate ornament, and perhaps solve the problem of its origin. 
 
 L 
 
PLATE XVI 
 
 CES PRESENTES HEURES A LUSAIGE DE ROME 
 FURET ACHEUEZ LE XVL lOUR DE SEP- 
 TEMBRE. LAN MIL CCCC. IIII. XX. ET XVIII. 
 POUR SIMON VOSTRE. LIBRAIRE DEMOURANT 
 A PARIS A LA RUE NEUUE NOSTRE DAME A 
 LYMAGE SAINCT JEHAN LEUANGELISTE. 
 
 Large 8vo. Printed on vellum by Philippe Pigouchet. 1498. 
 White calfskin, stamped and tooled. 
 
 [Douce 137.J 
 
 Measurements: sides, <^m. x 6 in. Central stamp, 2\in. x i\ in. Bands, 5. 
 
 igouchet's beautifully printed Book of Hours is 
 not in an original binding, but this deficiency- 
 is amply compensated for by the quality of the 
 present cover of delicate cream-coloured calfskin 
 relieved by equally delicate gold tooling. An 
 elliptical stamp in the centre increases the 
 richness of the general effect. The stamp is 
 surrounded by carefully-tooled wreaths of 
 foliage, with which the corner-pieces correspond ; in each of the 
 latter a cherub's head and outstretched wings form the centre from 
 which olive branches radiate. Similar ornaments occur on some of 
 the covers of De Thou's books, which are supposed to have been 
 bound by Clovis Eve, and upon a book bound for Henry HI., of 
 France, presumably by the same bookbinder, in 1581, now in the 
 British Museum. The remaining portion of the surface is pounced 
 with pinks and pansies ; pinks for friendship, pansies, " that's 
 for thoughts," as Ophelia has it. The six compartments on the 
 back are ornamented with the same floral badges and cherubs' 
 
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 ■•■A^AaWdaMBKMM* 
 
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 •'"• ■■^' ■■-■■>-■ 
 
 HEURES A LUSAIGE DE ROME. 
 
 Printed on vellum by Pliilippe Pigouchet, i-^pS. 
 While vellum, stamped and gold looled. 
 
 Plate XVI. 
 
PLATE XVI. 35 
 
 heads. Catherine dei Medici's monograms, double C.'s and M.'s 
 appear on either side of the central ornament. The elliptical stamps 
 represent, first, , that on the obverse— the Assumption of Our Lady; 
 second, that on the reverse— the Crucifixion, with the Blessed Virgin 
 and S. John standing beneath the Cross. The events here depicted 
 are very usual subjects for the adornment of the covers of devotional 
 books. The Crucifixion is perhaps the most common of all central 
 ornaments; especially was it used towards the middle of the i6th 
 century, and onwards. Compare the Cough Missal 162, Plate XV., 
 and an Old Testament and Psalms printed in Paris in 1586, now 
 in the British Museum. This latter volume was once the property 
 of Henry III. of France, as appears from the tooling on the back, 
 viz., the arms of France, the motto Spes Mea Deus, and death's 
 heads, the sign of Henry's grief and regard for the Princess of 
 Conde. Upon the side a stamp of the Crucifixion appears, in all 
 respects similar to that upon the binding represented in the 
 accompanying plate. 
 
 Catherine dei Medici died in 1588. Therefore this binding 
 cannot be later than that year. Clovis Eve's cherub and olive 
 branch corner-piece appears on a book bound about a.d. 1581, but 
 the metal stamp would last for many years, so that the date of a 
 particular binding thus ornamented cannot thereby be accurately 
 determined : judging from the style of the tooling, however, it seems 
 probable that the binding was thus ornamented towards the close of 
 the 1 6th century, perhaps shortly before Catherine dei Medici's death. 
 
PLATE XVII. 
 
 THE HOLY BIBLE. Lond: by Christopher Barker, 1583. 
 Large folio. A Binding in ruby velvet, embroidered in 
 
 COLOURED SILKS, GOLD AND SILVER THREAD, AND SEED PEARLS, 
 
 FOR Queen Elizabeth. 1583, [Douce Bibl. Eng. 1583. b. r.] 
 
 Measurements: sides, i6^g in. x 11^ in. Back, 16^ in. x si in. 
 
 ]N point of size this binding is the most important 
 of the class of embroidered bindings to which 
 it belongs, also it is of distinct importance 
 historically and chronologically. The velvet 
 covered boards protect a remarkably fine copy 
 of the folio edition of the English Bible 
 printed by Barker in 1583. All the initial 
 letters of the chapters are illuminated and the 
 wood-cuts delicately coloured by hand. From internal evidence it 
 appears that this Bible was a gift to Queen Elizabeth on New 
 Year's Day, 1584, and without doubt the binding is contemporary 
 with the book ; therefore it may be assigned to the latter half of the 
 year 1583. The excellent preservation of the delicate embroidery 
 'testifies to the care with which the volume has been kept, the colour 
 and pile of the ruby velvet are fresh and deep, only the raised 
 portions of the roses are a little worn, and these might easily be 
 repaired. The work of reparation is worth consideration, because it 
 is evident that the parts worn away have prevented the remainder 
 of the surface from coming in contact with other books or with 
 the desk or shelf upon which the book has been placed. This is a 
 work that might safely be entrusted to the hands of the ladies of 
 the Royal School of Art Needlework, South Kensington. A stitch 
 in time in this case might save ninety and nine. 
 

 ^1^^% 
 
 
 THE HOLY BIBLE. LONDON, CHRISTOPHER BARKER, 1 583. 
 
 Bound for Queen Elizabeth in ruby velvet, embroidered in coloured silks. 
 
 Plate XVII. 
 
PLATE XVII. 2,1 
 
 The extreme beauty of the design is suggestive of Persian 
 rather than of English art. Perhaps an Italian model based upon 
 an Oriental design served as a pattern for the ladies who embroidered 
 it. From the fully expanded rose in the centre graceful sprays of 
 rose branches, arranged to form a beautiful design, spread over the 
 sides of the book ; the four principal sprays terminate in fully-blown 
 flowers placed at the four corners ; two smaller roses spring from 
 straight stems occupying the centre of the panel; from branches 
 arranged so as to form a double trefoil, spring leaves, thorns and 
 flowers, no two of which are exactly alike ; there are tiny buds quite 
 enveloped in the mossy calyx, others show just a portion of the petals 
 beneath the calyx, then there is the half-expanded bud, and lastly 
 the fully-blown flower; but these last are not placed in one position, 
 some are represented sideways, and one is seen from the back. The 
 design is executed in silver and gold thread and coloured silks upon 
 ruby silk velvet, a narrow border surrounds the panel, and the back, 
 from which depends a silk book-marker heavily fringed at the end, 
 is adorned with embroidery similar to that upon the sides. 
 
 Seed pearls also are introduced among the gold and silver 
 thread, and the chief rose sprays spring from a small "T" shaped 
 ornament composed of small pearls. The photograph being much 
 reduced conveys but a slight idea of the importance of this 
 magnificent bookbinding. 
 
PLATE XVIII, 
 
 LA SECONDE SEMAINE OU ENFANCE DU MONDE, 
 DE G. SALUSTE SEIGNEUR DU BARTAS. 
 
 A Paris, a l'Olivier de P. l'Huillier, rue S. Iacques. (1584.) 
 8vo. Printed on vellum. Olive green morocco binding, 
 ornamented a la fanfare. Arms of President de Thou. 
 
 [Arch. Bodl. D. subt. 23.] 
 
 Measurements: sides, g^ in. x 6^ in. Back, 9^ in. x \\ in. 
 
 T is a significant fact that the Bodleian Library 
 possesses few examples of bookbindings executed 
 for great French amateurs of the i6th and 17th 
 centuries, but that those few are truly representa- 
 tive specimens, the best and finest of their kind. 
 A prolonged search has not disclosed a solitary 
 binding upon whose sides the familiar legend 
 10. GROLlERll ET AMICORUM is tooled. (There is 
 a binding beautifully ornamented in the Grolier style, but without 
 lettering [Douce G. 300]). The arms of the Comte de Hoym, whose 
 books were bound by Le Gascon, Boyer, and other celebrated artists, 
 appear but once. The equally famous arms of President de Thou 
 appear only on a single example in the Douce collection. The 
 beauty of that example may be seen in the accompanying plate. 
 The large and magnificent collection of De Thou's books at the 
 British Museum make a second collection in England unnecessary, 
 even were it possible to obtain one. The old historian's taste is 
 worthily represented here, and that is enough. At Paris the National 
 Library is said to possess but few masterpieces bearing the arms of 
 De Thou and his first wife ; others there are, but of less merit. 
 
LA SECONDE SEMAINE, DE SEIGNEUR DU BARTAS. 
 
 In olive green morocco. With the arms of De Thou. 
 
 Plate Xrill. 
 
PLATE XVIII. 
 
 39 
 
 In studying De Thou's bindings it is necessary to remember 
 one or two dates, and for this purpose a slight biographical sketch 
 may be useful. 
 
 Jacques-Auguste de Thou was born at Paris, on the 8th of October, 
 1553. Henry II. was then on the throne. Christophe de Thou, father of 
 Jacques-Auguste, was the first President of the Pariiament of Paris, a friend 
 of Grolier (whose honour he had once saved), and a lover of fine editions in 
 handsome bindings; perhaps Groher had directed his taste in this direction: 
 however that may be, his son inherited the instinct of the bibhophile, and for 
 him were made the most wonderful bindings of the time. Jacques travelled in 
 his youth, and spent two years in Italy (1572-74). Abiding by the traditions 
 of his house, he loyally followed Henry III. in his exile from Paris, was 
 rewarded by a seat in the Council of State, and received an important mission 
 to raise men and money in Italy ; while at Venice, he heard of the king's 
 death, and hastened to meet Henry of Navarre, who gave him his friendship 
 and many honours, including the office of keeper of the Royal Library. In 
 this place it is unnecessary to dwell upon his " Historiae sui Temporis" and 
 his other works. In 1587, De Thou married Marie de Barbangon, daughter of 
 Le Sieur de Cani, and in 1603 he took for his second wife a daughter of the 
 house of La Chastre. In 1610 died King Henry IV., and De Thou lost his best 
 friend ; his own death was hastened by worry and neglect ; on the 7th of 
 May, 16 1 7, he expired. The President left his magnificent library to his son, 
 who, in turn, became President, and Baron de Meslay. Three years after the 
 death of a second Jacques-Auguste (that is in 1680), the library, which had 
 been steadily growing since its foundation by Christophe de Thou, more than 
 one hundred and seventy years before, was sold to the Marquis de Menars, 
 to the king, and others. In 1718, De Menars died, and his books passed to 
 Cardinal Armand Gaston de Rohan. In 1789 the collection was intact. 
 After the death of the Prince de Soubise, the library was again sold to various 
 purchasers : fortunately several thousand volumes found a resting place in the 
 British Museum. 
 
 M. Jerome Pichon gives precise details as to the kinds of bindings 
 affected by the President. " Morocco, dyed red, green and lemon— the last 
 more especially for books relating to the exact sciences; fawn-coloured calf 
 with gold lines— a solid and rich style of binding, afterwards adopted by the 
 President de Longueil, and also by Du Fay; and lastly, white vellum. In 
 this last class of bindings De Thou imitated the style of the Elzevirs, with 
 the difference that he had his arms stamped upon them, and had them 
 embellished with gold lines, in spite of the difficulty of working upon vellum." 
 
 We may fairiy assume that De Thou was one of the first collectors who 
 procured a variety of leathers for the use of his binder. The majority of De 
 
40 PLATE XVIII. 
 
 Thou's books were almost devoid of decoration, except a central escutcheon and 
 plain fillets in gold, prototypes of the later Bourbon bindings ; upon the minority, 
 however, appears magnificent tooling by master-hands, by Clovis Eve or even 
 Le Gascon. We can now find use for the dates given above. In his bachelor 
 days {c. 15 72-1 587), De Thou stamped upon his books his arms in silver, 
 viz. argent a chevron sable, three gadflies of the same, two in chief, one in 
 point. ''Crest: a cherub's head. His name, JAC. AUGUST. THUANUS, stamped 
 below the arms. Two branches of laurel surround the escutcheon. The arms 
 also were used without the crest, the laurel wreath or name ; sometimes other 
 modifications were used. The lily crest, assigned to De Thou by some recent 
 authors, I believe to be a fiction ; it is simply a renaissance ornament to the 
 shield, not a crest. During his first wife's lifetime, and afterwards (i 587-1 603), 
 two escutcheons were used, his own and that of his wife, the arms of 
 Barbanqon, gules, three lions crowned, argent. The initials, J. A. and M. 
 for Jacques Auguste, and Marie, were placed upon the lower escutcheons and 
 upon the back of the volume, where up to that time the initials, A. D. T. 
 (Auguste de Thou) had appeared. After the death of Marie (1601), her 
 husband paid a graceful tribute to her memory by placing her initials, inter- 
 laced with his own, upon the back of one of his books. After his second 
 marriage, in 1603, the arms, with numerous quarterings, of the La Chastre or De 
 Bourdeilles family, replaced those of the Barbanqon, the letter G. (Gasparde) 
 being substituted for M. (Marie). 
 
 To what master of the art of tooling can we assign the binding 
 lying before us ? Perhaps to Nicholas or Clovis Eve ; but it is 
 difficult to speak with certainty on this point. Notice the date at 
 which the book was printed (1584) and the date at which De Thou 
 ceased to use his arms alone (1587). May we not place the probable 
 date of binding c. 1585? This is the time when the Eves were 
 producing their finest fanfare work. Le Gascon, too, in his early 
 days is said to have produced work somewhat similar to this. In 
 the production of the ornament some eighteen or twenty special tools, 
 exclusive of gouges, wheels, and fillets, were used. Well may P^re 
 Jacob, in his " Traite des plus belles Biblioth^ques," inveigh against 
 the President for numerous books bound in morocco and gilded calf, 
 "another extravagance in this Parnassus of the Muses." 
 
 The origin of the style which we call fanfare has been 
 ascribed by a recent writer to the reaction against the gloomy 
 bindings of Henry IIP, with their skulls, tears, and mottoes. The 
 
PLATE XVIII. 41 
 
 style itself was to a certain extent copied from Oriental ornament and 
 developed from the Grolieresque. The name la Fanfare is quite an 
 arbitrary term. Fanfare is the title of a book which a great 
 collector, Charles Nodier, is said to have had bound in imitation of 
 one of De Thou's bindings in this style. The flourishing name 
 suited the flourishing ornament, and has become its natural appellation. 
 As if to give credit to the name, a trumpet is tooled on the sides 
 of this binding. 
 
 M 
 
PLATE XIX. 
 
 A CONFUTATION OF ASTROLOGICALL Dv^MON- 
 OLOGIE, OR THE DIUELL'S SCHOLE, IN 
 DEFENCE OF A TREATISE INTITULED 
 AGAINST lUDICIARIE ASTROLOGIE, & 
 OPPUGNED IN THE NAME OF SYR CHRIS- 
 TOPHER HEYDON, KNIGHT. BY lOHN 
 CHAMBER, PREBEND OF WINDESORE, & 
 FELLOWE OF EATON. 
 
 Folio. MS. on paper, dedicated to King James I. c. 1603. 
 Light brown leather tooled and stamped : Boleyn family 
 
 BADGE IN CENTRE. [MS. SavILE 42.] 
 
 Measurements : sides, 1 2 in. x 8 in. 
 
 N the year 1619 Sir Henry Savile, Knight, Warden 
 of Merton College, founded and endowed two 
 Professorships at Oxford, one in geometry, 
 the other in astronomy, and about the same 
 time bestowed upon the University a library 
 composed chiefly of works on mathematics and 
 astronomy. The collection comprises about 
 168 volumes of MSS. and nearly 1,200 printed 
 books ; since its foundation it has been lodged in the Bodleian 
 as a distinct collection in a room set apart specially for its reception. 
 The MS. which we are now considering was written by John 
 Chamber, Prebend of Windsor and Fellow of Eton, probably about 
 the year 1600. Twenty years later (1620) it came with the 
 Savile MSS. to the Bodleian, and has remained there since that 
 time. Upon examination, it becomes evident that the dedication to 
 James I. is a later insertion; ^therefore, I am inclined to think that 
 
Plate XIX. 
 
 CONFUTATION OF ASTROLOGICALL DAEMONOLOGIE. 
 
 In light broum calf. Arms of the Bokyn family. 
 
PLATE XIX. 
 
 43 
 
 the book was written before the accession of that monarch, and 
 judging from the Boleyn family badge being stamped upon the sides 
 of the binding, that the author intended to present his book to 
 Queen Elizabeth, who dying just then, he altered the dedication but 
 not the binding. 
 
 Four small tools, two larger stamps for the centre ornament and 
 corners, and the Boleyn falcon were used in the adornment of this 
 beautiful binding. The frame surrounding the badge is a fine 
 example of Elizabethan ornament; at each of the four points is 
 a spray of oak leaves and acorns. The remaining space in the panel 
 is sprinkled with gold flowerlets of five petals ; the outer border is 
 ornamented with a pattern produced by the repetition of a single 
 tool. The graceful arabesque ornament upon the back is also formed 
 by a single tool. Formerly four pink ribbons, two on each side, 
 secured the cover ; now only one ribbon remains. The falcon badge 
 as here represented appears to have been assumed by Ann Boleyn 
 at her coronation, and afterwards was much affected by her daughter. 
 Queen Elizabeth. The same badge occurs on a binding made for 
 that queen (now in the British Museum), upon "Justinus Trogi 
 Pompeii Historiarum Philippicarum Epitoma;" Parisiis, 1581, 8vo. 
 This stamp and the oak branch both appear upon the British 
 Museum book, but the rest of the elaborate tooling, so noticeable 
 upon the Savile MS., is absent. Upon the iron railing surrounding 
 Elizabeth's tomb in Westminster Abbey the falcon badge is 
 conspicuous. A contemporary chronicler relates that among the 
 solemnities exhibited at Ann Boleyn's coronation was a pageant at 
 Leadenhall : — 
 
 " Wherein was set a goodly roote of golde, set on a little 
 mountain, environed with red roses and white, then came 
 down a faulcon, all white, and set upon the roote, and incon- 
 tinently came down an angel with great melodie, and set a 
 close crown of golde on the faulcon's head." 
 
 In our example the roses spring from the golden root, and the 
 falcon holds a sceptre in its right claw; the bird is represented 
 
44 PLATE XIX. 
 
 looking towards the left. In all probability this binding was 
 produced by an English workman ; the tooling does not display the 
 precise regularity noticeable in the best French work ; but the boldness 
 of the design, and a certain robust honesty in both forwarding and 
 finishing, which, to borrow a phrase, "wears an air of infinite respect- 
 ability, not devoid of elegance," compensate for the want of regularity. 
 We may notice that the author of the MS., John Chamber, lived 
 at Windsor and Eton ; possibly this may furnish a clue to the 
 identification of the bookbinder, who is as likely to have been an 
 Etonian as a Londoner. 
 
 During the Provostship of Sir Henry Savile, 1596-1622, great 
 improvements were made in the Library of Eton College, and in 
 consequence both printers and bookbinders appear to have taken up 
 an abode in the quiet little town upon the banks of the Thames. 
 When Sir Thomas Bodley had furnished his library at Oxford, 
 Savile despatched a carpenter to Oxford and introduced improve- 
 ments from thence into the Eton Library. Further, the growth of 
 the library at this time is attested by the number of entries in the 
 Audit Books. Under the head of "Librarie" for the years 1603-22, 
 there is frequent record of sums paid for binding, for " ryvitinge of 
 chaines," and for repairs. Savile's own magnificent edition of 
 Chrysostom, in eight folio volumes— the first work of learning on a 
 great scale published in England — issued from the Eton press, 
 established by Sir Henry in the house at present occupied by the 
 Head Master, was, in all probability, bound at Eton; as appears 
 from the following entry "for Byndinge Chrysostom given by Mr. 
 ye Provost." This Eton binder must have been a man of rare skill 
 and taste, if we may judge from this and similar examples which 
 have descended to our time.* 
 
 In his day John Chamber was an ecclesiastic of note. He was 
 born at Swillington, in Yorkshire, in May, 1546, educated at 
 Merton College, Oxford, and took his degree in 1569. He died at 
 
 * "The Library." Vol. Ill, p. 55. "Notes on the Libraries at Windsor Castle and Eton 
 Colleges j" by F. St. J. Thackery, F.S.A. 
 
PLATE XIX. 45 
 
 Windsor on August ist, 1604. By his will he founded two post- 
 masterships at Merton. Chamber was the author of four books, 
 three of which have been printed; the fourth, the MS., the binding 
 of which is here represented, has not been printed. In 1601 
 Chamber published "A Treatise against Judicial Astrology." To 
 which Sir Christopher Haydon replied in his " Defence of Judicial 
 Astrology." Camb. 1603. To Haydon's reply Chamber wrote an 
 answer — the Savile MS. The dedication to James I. is dated 
 2 Feb., 1603-4, somewhat less than a year after the queen's death. 
 George Carleton, Bishop of Chichester, a sincere friend of Chamber, 
 defended him from Haydon's attack in his " Madnesse of Astrologers," 
 1624. Probably Chamber's somewhat sudden death in the autumn of 
 1604 prevented the book from being printed. 
 
PLATE XX. 
 
 MVNIFICENTISSIMIS ATQVE OPTIMIS CVIVSVIS 
 ORDINIS, DIGNITATIS, SEXVS, QVI BIBLIO- 
 THECAM HANC LIBRIS, AVT PECVNIIS 
 NVMERATIS AD LIBROS COEMENDOS, ALIOVE 
 QVOVIS GENERE AMPLIARVNT, THOMAS 
 BODLEIVS EQVES AVRATVS, HONORARIVM 
 HOC VOLVMEN, IN QVOD HVIVSCEMODI 
 DONATIONES, SIMVLQVE NOMINA DONAN- 
 TIVM SINGILLATIM REFERVNTVR, PIETATIS, 
 MEMORI^, VIRTVTISQVE CAVSA DEDIT, 
 DEDICAVIT. 
 
 Sir Thomas Bodley's Register of Donations. Binding black 
 morocco, silver gilt clasps, corners and centre-piece. 
 Arms enamel on silver. 1604, a.d. Large folio. 
 
 LTHOUGH the volume we are now considering 
 was not printed and bound till 1604, Bodley 
 wrote to the Vice-Chancellor on June 25, 1600, 
 mentioning that, the Library buildings being 
 nearly completed, he had begun to busy himself 
 in the gathering of books, and that he had 
 provided a Register for the enrolment of the 
 names of all benefactors, with particulars of 
 
 their gifts, etc. It may be presumed that the present Register was 
 
 printed from the MS. Register of 1600. 
 
 The volume contains 428 numbered pages of vellum in addition 
 to an index. The pages are ruled in double columns and the printed 
 

 REGISTER OF DONATIONS BY SIR THOMAS EODLEY. 
 
 In black morocco, silver-gilt corners and clasps. 
 
 Plate XX. 
 
PLATE XX. .y 
 
 portion extends to page 91, half way down the first column. The first 
 entry records that 
 
 "Thomas Sackville Baro de Buckhurst, Summus Anglise 
 Thesaurarius & Oxoniensis Academiae CanceMarius, donauit 
 C. libras monetae Anglicanae, quibus empti funt hi libri, etc." 
 
 Thomas Sackville {afterwards Earl of Dorset), baron of 
 BuckJmrst, Treasurer of Eiigland and Chancellor of the 
 University of Oxford, gave £100 with which the folloimng 
 books were purchased, etc 
 
 The last printed entry records a donation by Robert Barker, 
 the King's Printer, in 1604; the last item in Barker's donation is 
 in MS., and from this point to the end the Register is continued in 
 MS. In several instances the donors' coats of arms are beautifully 
 illuminated in their proper colours, e.g., 
 
 The arms of Sir Kenelm Digby, 1634, p. 295. 
 The arms of Archbishop Laud, 1635 and 1639, pp. 319 and 342. 
 The arms of Philip Herbert, Earl of Pembroke, 1649, P- 367. 
 The arms of Dr. Griffin Higges, 1660, p. 393. 
 
 The last entry in the first Register is dated 1688. The second 
 volume extends from 1693 to 1795, the entries end in the middle 
 of the volume on page 216. This is explained by the fact that at 
 the commencement of the year 1796 the Register ceased to be used, 
 and the gifts of donors began to be published in the annual printed 
 statements Volume II. is embellished with numerous drawings in 
 indian-ink, some of them very curious. 
 
 Quite recently the binding of Volume I. has been repaired and 
 re-backed, but the original metal ornaments were carefully preserved 
 and the old style of leather work followed. Black morocco slightly 
 tooled covers boards of great thickness, heavy pierced corner-pieces 
 of silver engraved and thickly gilt protect the leather from friction, 
 and a small frame of the same precious metal surrounds an enamelled 
 silver coat of arms in the centre of the sides. The enamel is in 
 shape elliptical, a wreath of green transparent enamel, studded with 
 
48 PLATE XX. 
 
 four flowers of blue enamel, encircles the shield ; the small space 
 between the wreath and shield is gilded, and over the shield appears 
 the motto QVARTA PERENNIS (ERIT). The arms are those of Sir 
 Thomas Bodley,* viz. (i and 4). Argent, five martlets saltireways, sable, 
 on a chief of the same three ducal crowns, or, with a crescent for 
 difference (Bodley) (2 and 3). Argent two bars wavy, sable, between 
 three billets of the second (Hone). The silver ornaments of the 
 under cover resemble those on the side already described. The two 
 clasps are engraved on the under side with the date "Anno 1604." 
 
 Sir Thomas Bodley 's munificence and good taste prompted him 
 to have the Donation Register of his great foundation bound in a 
 manner worthy both of the library, and of the donors of whose 
 generosity it was destined to preserve a record. The bookbinder 
 produced a noble binding, and a monument of Jacobean art ; the 
 ornament, suggested by an antique model, bears the distinctive stamp 
 of the 17th century. In the binding of the second volume of the 
 Register a decline in art is evident ; although an obvious imitation 
 of the first volume, the material used is less costly, and the design 
 inferior to that employed in 1604. Brass takes the place of silver 
 in clasps, corners, and central boss, and engraved silver takes the 
 place of enamel for the coat of arms. Instead of the Bodley coat 
 we have that of the University, supported by two robust angels 
 standing on the ground and encompassed by clouds. In the distance 
 are the Bodleian and Sheldonian Theatre. Both volumes originally 
 were chained. An old writert mentions the Register, "aureis 
 umbilicis fibulisque fulgidum," always lying " eminentissimo loco," 
 a prominent object of notice to all who entered the Library. In the 
 time of the late librarian, Mr. Coxe, the Register lay upon a table 
 opposite Bodley's bust at the entrance to Duke Humfrey's Library, 
 it now reposes close by on the north side of the Librarian's Table, 
 and a case devoted to bookbindings recently occupied its former 
 resting place. 
 
 ■'■ The augmentation— on a chief three ducal crowns, from the University arms — was granted to 
 Bodley as an acknowledgment of his great benefaction. 
 
 t Wake, "Rex Platonicus," p. 120 
 
PLATE XX. 
 
 49 
 
 Quite lately the two exhibition cases containing examples of 
 bookbinding have been moved into the centre of the Library, on each 
 side of the Librarian's table, where the light is better than at the 
 entrance of Duke Humfrey's Library. In the case on the south 
 side the European bindings are displayed. From this case many of 
 the examples described in this book have been selected. In the case 
 to the north will be found several fine Oriental bindings which, by 
 reason of their brilliant and varied colours, cannot be photographed 
 satisfactorily. These, however, have been noticed in the introduction 
 to this volume. 
 
 N 
 
PLATE XXI 
 
 ROYAL BINDING. ENGLISH (?) TEMP. JAMES L 
 
 {c. 1620.) 
 
 Brown leather, gold-tooled and stamped. Arms and initials 
 
 OF King James I. 
 
 [Douce Scrapbooks.J 
 
 Measurements: 13I- in. X '&\ in. 
 
 s an example of ornamental bookbinding the 
 specimen before us is in every way worthy of 
 the reputation of James I. as a bibliophile ; it 
 is a right royal binding, well finished, with a 
 lavish expenditure of gold-tooling applied with 
 regularity and precision, denoting an exceedingly 
 skilful workman. Who that workman was it 
 is difficult to determine. Gibson was employed 
 by King James, we know, but his work has not been sufficiently 
 identified to warrant us in claiming this binding as Gibsonian.* 
 
 The royal arms occupy the centre of the side, supported by the 
 lion and unicorn ; the shield is surrounded by the garter and ensigned 
 by a royal crown, and beneath, on a label, is the motto, DIEV - ET - 
 MON • DROIT; two thistles spring from the label, and above the shield 
 are the initials l.R. The corner-pieces, unusually large and bold in 
 design, measuring 3 in. x 4 in., are beautifully stamped. The outer 
 border, i in. wide, is a marvel of tooling, roses and thistles alternate 
 in each bend of a flowing ribbon ornament, and at the corners the 
 fleur-de-lys, rose, thistle, and harp, each ensigned by a crown, 
 complete the design. The field surrounding the arms is sprinkled 
 over with minute leaves, tooled with great regularity, resembling 
 some of the best French work of an earlier period. 
 
 * Andrew Hart, another Scottish binder, bound books for the king in 1602. 
 
BINDING FROM THE LIBRARY OF KING JAMES I. 
 
 Brcivn calf, siaiitped and gilt. 
 
 Flaie XXL 
 
PLATE XXI. 51 
 
 Another beautiful Jacobean binding covers the volume of the 
 works of James I. edited by Bishop Montague, and printed by 
 Robert Barker and John Bill at London in 1616. It was presented 
 to the Bodleian by the king in 1620. The binding is of green 
 morocco, delicately tooled (B. 14. 17 Theol.). The University of 
 Oxford received the book with pomp and solemnity dear to the 
 heart of the Scottish king, while Cambridge merely acknowledged 
 the gift, and thereby gave some offence. A third example of James I. 
 binding may be seen upon a copy of the play of the Creation, 
 written by John Jordan in 161 1 [MS. Bodl. 219]. This binding is 
 of parchment, on the centre of the sides a royal crown and the initials 
 I.K. are tooled in gold. In the Douce Scrapbook may be found two 
 or three additional varieties of the armorial bookbinding of this 
 reign. One, a small folio, rather plain, in the centre the royal arms, 
 within a garter, crowned, but without supporters ; at the corners 
 triangular stamps of unusual design. Then there is a small duodecimo 
 binding with the royal arms in a circular garter, ensigned with a 
 crown, small "blocked" corner-pieces, and a few gold dots sprinkled 
 over the remainder of the surface. A scrap of leather in the same 
 collection is stamped with a large shield bearing the royal arms 
 and differenced with the label of the eldest son. Prince Henry ; the 
 shield is set in a border of conventional ornament, of which thistles 
 form part. There is a small MS. book of hours of the early 15th 
 century [Auct. D. infra 2. 13], exquisitely illuminated in camaieu 
 gris, representing among other subjects the martyrdom of St. Thomas 
 Becket. The binding is of old stamped leather, with silver-gilt and 
 enamelled clasps. This volume also belonged to Prince Henry, by 
 whom it was given to Richard Connock, his auditor and solicitor. 
 In the year 1615 Connock presented the book to the Bodleian, " not 
 for the religion it contained, but for the pictures and former royal 
 owner's sake." The gift is omitted in the Benefaction-Register 
 because it was a rule not to record donations of single volumes. 
 At one time the book was owned by Queen Mary I., and on one 
 of the leaves occurs the following inscription in the queen's hand- 
 writing, addressed to one of the maids-of-honour : — 
 
 " Geate you such riches as when the shype is broken, may 
 
t2 PLATE XXI. 
 
 swyme away wythe the master. For dyverse chances take 
 away the goods of fortune; but the goods of the soule whyche 
 bee only the trewe goods, nyther fyer nor water can take 
 away. If you take labour and payne to doo a vertuous thyng, 
 the labour goeth away, and the vertue remayneth. If through 
 pleasure you do any vicious thynge, the pleasure goeth away 
 and the vice remaynethe. Good madame, for my sake, remembre 
 thys.— Your lovyng mystres, Marye Princesse." 
 
 Mr. Macray ("Annals," p. 42) remarks that this inscription was first 
 published by Hearne at the end of Titi Livii Forjulien. Vita Hen. V., 
 p. 228; and later, in Bliss's "Reliquiae Hearnianae," i. 105. Mr. Coxe 
 noted 'that the latter part is taken directly and literally from 
 Musonius, while indirectly it comes from an oration of Cato. 
 George Herbert expresses the same idea at the end of his " Church 
 Porch " :— 
 
 " If thou do ill, the joy fades, not the pains ; 
 If well, the pain doth fade, the joy remains." 
 
 This sentiment, too, may be traced to a similar classical source. It 
 was the practice of the Princess Mary to write similar sentences 
 in her friends' books. Several books containing like inscriptions 
 were exhibited at the recent Tudor Exhibition. In the cases set 
 apart for the display of bookbindings at the British Museum several 
 fine specimens bearing the arms of James I. may be seen. Some of 
 these have been photographed for Mr. Wheatley's book on the British 
 Museum Bookbindings, and in the frontispiece to a scarce little book 
 entitled " Books of the Ancients," another fine binding, which once 
 belonged to James I., occupies a conspicuous position. John Hannett 
 a/ias Arnett, the author of the book just referred to, was the first 
 Englishman to write a systematic treatise on bookbinding. He 
 published his book in 1837, fifty-four years ago, and he is still (1891) 
 living, full of years and honours, at his Warwickshire retreat at 
 Henley-in-Arden. Mr. Hannett devotes several pages to James I. 
 bookbindings, and quotes from the publications of the Bannatyne 
 Club.* " A document found by Mr. Thompson of the Record Oflfice, 
 
 * The Library of Mary Queen of Scots, and James VL Thompson. 
 
PLATE XXI. 
 
 53 
 
 Edinburgh, not only gives an account of James's books, but also 
 many notices of the sums paid to, and transactions with booksellers, 
 printers, and binders. * * We have seen that there was the 'king's 
 bookbinder' in the time of Henry VIII., and here we have an 
 appointment of John Gibson, under the privy seal, dated at Dalkeith, 
 29th July, 1 58 1, to the like office under James VI." 
 
 The following extract throws so much light on the sort of 
 bindings, and the prices paid by the king in the northern capital 
 about the year 1580, that a quotation needs no apology: — 
 
 " JOHNE GiBSONIS BuiKBINDERS PrECEPT. 
 
 Zantig (Zanchius) de tribus elohim fol. gylt, pryce . xx.s. 
 
 Harmonia Stanhursti fo. in vellene, pryce . . x.s. 
 Dictionarium in latino grasco et gallico sermone 
 
 4° gylt, pryce xx.s. 
 
 Budaeus de contemptu rerum fortuitarum 4° in vellene vj.s. viijd. 
 
 Commentaria in Suetonium 8° gylt, pryce . . x.s. 
 
 Thesaurus pauperum 8° In vellene .... v.s. 
 
 Petronius Arbiter 8° In parchment .... iij.s. 
 
 Orationes clarorum virorum 16° gylt, pryce . . x.s. 
 P. YowNG. Summa of this compt is xvij. li. iiij.s. iiij.d." 
 
 Mr. Hannett adds: — "Whether Gibson came to England with James 
 cannot be determined, or if any of the specimens we have before 
 described are to be attributed to him, must alike remain in doubt. 
 The sums paid him were for such work as was at the time adopted 
 for the general bindings of the possessors of libraries at that period ; 
 gylt price referring to a superior binding in leather, perhaps morocco, 
 as it is seen that about double the price of that paid for uellene is 
 charged. Vellum graced the general class of reading books, and 
 parchment afforded a protection for the least valued." * 
 
 James's delight in books may be gathered from a speech he 
 delivered on the occasion of his visit to the Bodleian. " If," said 
 he, " I were not a king, I would desire to have no other prison, and 
 to be chained together with so many good authors." 
 
 * " Books of the Ancients," by John Andrews Amett. 
 
PLATE XXII. 
 
 THE BOOKE OF COMMON PRAYER. 
 
 LoND. : R. Barker, 1630. 
 
 THE PSALTER, OR PSALMES OF DAVID. 
 
 LoND. : R. Barker and J. Bill. 1630. 
 
 THE NEW TESTAMENT. 
 
 LoND. : R. Barker and the Assignes of J. Bill. 1631. 
 
 THE WHOLE BOOKE OF PSALMS: 
 
 Collected into English meeter, by Thomas Sternhold, John Hopkins, 
 and others. Lond. : for the Co. of Stationers. 1630. 
 
 4T0. Embroidered binding: coloured silk and silver and gold 
 THREAD. Attributed to the sisters of Little Gidding, c. 1631. 
 
 [C. P. 1630. e. I.] 
 Measurements: sides, 8 in. x 5| in.; back, 8 in. x 23 in. 
 
 N one of the most unsettled periods of English 
 history, that is to say from 1624 to 1640, 
 many beautiful and remarkable specimens of 
 bookbinding were produced by the members 
 of a small religious community in the rural 
 village of Little Gidding in Huntingdonshire. 
 
 In the year 1624 Nicholas Ferrar, a man 
 of culture and deep piety, retired to a 
 pleasant mansion-house at Gidding, where he dwelt for many years, 
 having formed a community of his relations, chiefly ladies, observing 
 hours of prayer and engaging in many useful labours. Ferrar 
 "entertained an ingenious bookbinder" — I quote the words of an 
 old biographer — " who taught the family, females as well as males, 
 the whole art and skill of bookbinding, gilding, lettering, and what 
 they called pasting-printing by the use of the rolling press." 
 
NEW TESTAMENT. 
 
 BOOKE OF COMMON PRAYER, PSALTER AND NE 
 
 Bound in canvas., embroidered with coloured silk 
 
 Plate XXII. 
 
PLATE XXII. 
 
 55 
 
 In our days the name of Mary Collett, Nicholas Ferrar's niece, 
 is familiar to most people through the pages of " John Inglesant." 
 Mary Collett was skilful in the use of the needle, and is said 
 to have employed much time in embroidering book-covers. It 
 seems probable that the Little Gidding books were first bound in 
 leather, tooled in the usual manner, and then, if intended to be 
 given to distinguished people or valued friends, Mary and her 
 cousins busied themselves in making coverings of rich embroidery 
 to protect the leather bindings. Some of these extra-covers were of 
 velvet ornamented with gold stamping. The British Museum copy of 
 "A History of the Israelites," dated 1639, is bound in dark green 
 morocco, with gilt line-tooling on the sides ; on the back the letters 
 C. R. are stamped in gold. This volume may be a duplicate copy 
 of the book presented to Charles I. by the family at Gidding, or it 
 may be the identical volume shorn of its outer cover which is 
 described as being of velvet, most richly gilt ; another Gidding 
 binding at the British Museum {vide "Bookbinder," vol. ii., p. 149) 
 is elaborately tooled on leather, but no embroidery appears about it. 
 It is erroneously stated in Wordsworth's Ecclesiastical Biography 
 that a copy of Ferrar's "Whole Law of God," bound in green velvet 
 by the nuns (by the way, they were not nuns) of Gidding, was given 
 to the University Library (Bodleian) by Archbishop Laud. Mr. 
 Macray corrects this mistake; the book in question was given by 
 Laud, not to the Bodleian, but to the library of his own college, 
 St. John's, where it is preserved with great care to this day. 
 
 The binding represented in our illustration came to the Bodleian 
 by purchase in 1866, costing ;^io. The statement that this is a 
 genuine piece of Little Gidding binding must be received with 
 caution ; it is unlike any of the famous examples, both in material 
 and style of ornament, but it seems to agree with Fuller's account, 
 that the sisters' needles were employed in learned and pious work to 
 bind Bibles. 
 
 The embroidery is worked upon canvas in two stitches, the 
 ground-work in chain-stitch in silver thread, the design in tent- 
 
t6 PLATE XXII. 
 
 Stitch in coloured silks. Both sides are alike. In the centre a red 
 rose surrounded by an elliptical border or twisted wreath in gold and 
 blue. Two green branches springing from the rose end in rosebuds, 
 and form a perch for two birds decked in faded plumage of blue 
 and yellow. From branches of shaded green spring four flowers, 
 occupying the four corners of the sides; at the top, honeysuckle 
 and blue cornflower ; at the bottom, a pink and a daffodil. Then 
 comes an inner border of green leaves and scarlet berries, and an 
 outer border of silver and blue. The back is divided by bands into 
 four compartments, each containing a flower. The covers are secured 
 by means of green silk ribbons fringed with silver in a truly 
 royal fashion. Time and exposure to light and air have caused 
 the once bright colours of the silks to fade and the silver to 
 oxidise; in other respects the binding is in excellent condition. 
 Within, written upon a fly-leaf, is the following note, which is 
 sufficiently interesting and pertinent to warrant its insertion here : — 
 
 " Q. If this Vol. was not thus elegantly covered in Little Gidding 
 Nunnery, as it was called. Fuller in his English Worthies gives this Account 
 of it ; 
 
 "We must not forget the House and Chappel in little Godding (the 
 "inheritance of Master Ferrer) which lately made a great Noise ^ all over 
 " England. Here three Numerous female families (all from one Grand-mother) 
 "lived together in a strict Discipline of Devotion. They rise at midnight to 
 " Prayers and other People most complained thereof, whose heads I dare say 
 " never ak't (sic) for want of sleep. Sure I am, strangers by them were entertained, 
 "poor people were relieved, their Children instructed to read, whilest their own 
 " Needles were employed in learned and pious work to binde Bibles : Whereof 
 "one most exactly done was presented to King Charles. But their Society was 
 "beheld by some as an Embrio Nimnery suspecting that there was a Pope 
 " loane therein, which causeless Cavill afterwards confuted it selfe, when all the 
 "younger of those Virgins, practised the Precept of St. Paul, i Tim. i. 5. 14. 
 "to marry, bear Children and guide their House." Fuller's English Worthies, 
 Huntingtonshire ? p. 48. For an Account of the said reputed Nunnery vid : 
 Thorn : Caii Vind : Ant : Acad : Oxofi. V. 2 P. 693. f. T. Hearne. 
 
 In the ist. Vol. of T. Hearne's, Peter of Langtofts Chron : P. cxxv, &c. is 
 the Pamphlet about this reputed Nunnery humbly recommended to the wise 
 Consideration of Parliament. It was printed for Tho? Underbill, m.d cxli." 
 
 * In the beginning of the Long ParHaraent. 
 
PLATE XXII. 57 
 
 After this lengthy note follows a MS. meditation with this 
 footnote added: — "This is not unlike the Hand-writing of K. 
 Ch. I." 
 
 It is upon the foregoing evidence that this binding is ascribed 
 to the "nuns" of Little Gidding. How much probability there is 
 in the supposition it would be hard to determine. 
 
 The binding on " The Whole Law of God," now preserved 
 in the curious library of St. John's College, is in green velvet, 
 ornamented with gold stamping in the usual Little Gidding manner. 
 The whole subject of Little Gidding binding has received attention 
 at the hands of a painstaking modern bibliographer who has published 
 the result of his researches quite recently. 
 
 () 
 
PLATE XXIII. 
 
 THE BOOK OF COMMON PRAYER. 
 
 LoND. : by R. Barker and the Assignes of John Bill. 1639. 
 
 THE HOLY BIBLE. 
 
 LoND. : by R. Barker, and the Assignes of John Bill. 1640. 
 
 THE WHOLE BOOK OF PSALMES: 
 
 Collected into English Meeter, by T. Sternhold, I. Hopkins, and others. 
 LoND. : by R. Bishop, for the Company of Stationers. 1640. 
 
 8vo. White satin, embroidered in gold and silver thread, and 
 
 SILKS OF VARIOUS COLOURS. C. 164O. 
 
 [Arch. Bodl. D. subt. 75.] 
 Measurements : sides, y^ in. x 6 in. ; back, 7^ in. x 2 in. 
 
 HE exquisite beauty of this piece of needlework 
 must be seen to be adequately appreciated; 
 the colouring is so brilliant and the shading 
 so delicate that no photographic reproduction 
 can convey a complete idea of the original. 
 
 Upon a ground of white satin of wonderful 
 texture are worked ornaments of the most 
 elaborate description ; large oval panels, emblematical of Peace and 
 Plenty, occupy the centre of each side ; the panels are framed in 
 raised gold and silver embroidery, and at the corners of the sides 
 and upon the back of the binding are birds, fruits, flowers, and 
 insects worked in the finest shaded floss-silk. The poet John 
 Taylor may have had a binding thus ornamented before him when 
 he wrote : — 
 
 " Flowers, Plants, and Fishes, Beasts, Birds, Flyes, and Bees ; 
 Hills, Dales, Plaines, Pastures, Skies, Seas, Rivers, Trees : 
 There's nothing neere at hand, or farthest sought, 
 But with the needle may be shap'd and wrought." 
 

 BOOK OF COMMON PRAYER AND HOLY BIBLE. 
 
 Bound in white satin, embroidered with coloured silks. 
 
 Plate XXIII. 
 
PLATE XXIII. 
 
 59 
 
 The landscape is the same in both panels, but the colouring and 
 the figures differ. Upon the verdant bank of a river a female 
 figure representing Plenty sits holding a cornucopia in her hand ; 
 two robust ducks are seen swimming down the stream, while, in 
 the distance, a bridge of four arches leads across the water to a city, 
 whose towers are backed by steep blue hills. The pose, the drawing, 
 and the colouring of the figure are admirable. Upon the obverse, 
 Peace is represented holding in her hand a palm-branch. Upon 
 the back of the binding, which is divided into five compartments by 
 bands of gold and silver thread, single flowers are embroidered in 
 silk, outlined with fine silver thread. Taken as a whole, perhaps, 
 this is the most gorgeous specimen of 17th century embroidery 
 upon a book-cover to be found either at the Bodleian or elsewhere. 
 The needlework attests the consummate skill of the needlewoman ; 
 indeed, were there the slightest scrap of evidence to justify the 
 supposition, I should be disposed to think that the handiwork of 
 one of the ladies of Little Gidding might be seen here. But there 
 cannot be any doubt that the designs were favourites with ladies 
 in the middle of the 17th century; the pictures of Peace and 
 Plenty are not peculiar to this binding. In the British Museum, 
 upon a small i2mo volume, may be seen the same designs, reduced 
 to suit the size of the book, and I have seen something very like 
 them upon the doors of a small embroidered cabinet. The chief 
 charm of the example here given lies in the exceedingly rich colouring, 
 resembling old stained glass in tone. Few specimens of embroidery 
 of the same age can compare with this as regards preservation. 
 The book must have been carefully kept by the former owners; 
 now it is preserved in a glass case. 
 
PLATE XXIV. 
 
 INCIPIT RACONALE DIUINOI4- OFFICIO^. 
 
 [Colophon.] Presens raconalis d'ino? codex 0FFIC09 venustate 
 cAPiTALiu decoratus- rubricationibus'B distinctus- Artifi- 
 
 CIOSA ADINUETIONE IMPRIMENDI AC CARACTERIZANDI : ABS^ 
 CALAMI EXARATION SIC EFFIGIATUS- Et AD EUSEBIAM DEI 
 INDUSTRIE EST 3SUMATUS PeR JoHANNE FUST CIUE MaGUTINU]- 
 
 Et petru Gernszheym- Clericum dioces' eiusdem- Anno 
 
 DNI MiLLESIMO QUADRINGENTESIMO QUIQUAGESIMONONO- SeX 
 
 die octobris- 
 
 Folio. Printed on vellum. Red morocco, inlaid calf, stamped 
 
 and tooled. 
 
 [AUCT. IV. Q. I. 3.] 
 
 Measurements : 1 6^ in. x 1 1 m. 
 
 |EFORE the annual increase of books at the Bodleian 
 assumed the present enormous proportions, 
 considerable sums of money were frequently- 
 lavished upon the bindings of particular volumes. 
 Those were the days of gorgeous apparel, of 
 solidity and strength. In the present century, 
 and under straitened circumstances, cloth, 
 buckram, and half-morocco bindings, sober and 
 serviceable, take the place of richly gilt and inlaid leather. But 
 although the old order has changed, so far as mere ornament is 
 concerned, the modern bookbinding executed for the Bodleian is both 
 conscientious and durable; in the case of ancient MSS. it is often 
 costly, and rebinding is always done in a conservative spirit. 
 
RACIONALE DIVINORUM OFFICIORUM, ETC. 
 
 In 7-osc-colnnred mnrocco. 
 
 riale XXIV 
 
PLATE XXIV. 6 1 
 
 The ornament much affected upon the costly bindings of the 
 end of last century, and the beginning of the present century, is a 
 debased variety of the Louis Quatorze style. A meaningless 
 assemblage of scrolls, flowers and crumpled conventional shellwork, 
 wrought into all sorts of irregular and indescribable forms without 
 expression, and without individuality, rightly called rococo, that is 
 rockwork-like, rocaille. But although this ornament belongs to a 
 time when the true principles of art were not well understood, and 
 art itself was at its lowest decadence, it is remarkable that the 
 tooling is usually beautiful, and the general effect rich and varied. 
 This, of course, is due to the skill of the bookbinders, who, in some 
 slight degree, followed the traditions of French binders of an earlier 
 and a better time. 
 
 Very little need be said of the fine example of i8th century 
 binding represented in the illustration. In style it is rococo, and 
 therefore speaks for itself, the tooling and inlaying, however, are 
 very creditable, and the general effect is rich. The material used is 
 rose-coloured morocco inlaid with broad lines of black, forming a 
 geometrical pattern, the edges of which are fringed with delicate 
 lace-like tooling. The outer compartments are covered with a fine 
 lattice-work in gold. The four inner compartments are unadorned 
 except by a small gold star of many rays in the centre of each. In 
 the central compartment appears the well-known elliptical stamp of the 
 Bodleian, bearing the University shield and the legend, " Bibliotheca 
 Bodleiana." The leading motif of the design is good, and resembles 
 some of the best French work of the period. 
 
 
3nbey of flamee of persona, etc. 
 
 The Roman Numerals refer to the Introduction. 
 
 The Arabic Figures refer to the Descriptions. 
 
 
 
 PAGE 
 
 ABBAS, Shah . 
 
 abel-r£musat . 
 
 
 xliii 
 2 
 
 ABINGDON, Earl of 
 
 
 XXX 
 
 ABITOT, (Abtot) Urso . 
 
 
 27 
 
 ALDUS MANUTIUS 
 
 
 XX 
 
 ALEXANDER DE ALES 
 
 
 xxiii 
 
 'AlI Shah 
 
 
 . xliii 
 
 ARISTOTLE . 
 
 
 xiv, xxiii, xxiv 
 
 ARAGON, Catherine of 
 
 
 . xxxii, xxxiv 
 
 ARRETINUS, Leonardus 
 
 
 xxiv 
 
 ARUNDEL, Earl of 
 
 
 27 
 
 ATKYNS, Richard . 
 
 
 xxvi 
 
 AUGUSTINE, St. . 
 
 
 xvii 
 
 BACO.v, Francis, Lord St. 
 
 Albans 
 
 29 
 
 BACON, Nicholas . 
 
 
 XX 
 
 BADIER, Florimond 
 
 
 xl 
 
 BADIUS, JossE, of Assche 
 
 
 . xxxii 
 
 BALLARD 
 
 
 xiv 
 
 BARBANfON, Marie 
 
 
 39 
 
 BARBARA, St. 
 
 
 xxxi 
 
 BARKER, C. . 
 
 
 . 36 
 
 BARKER, Robert . 
 
 
 5'. 54, 58 
 
 BARLOW, Bishop . 
 
 
 xiv, xxxii 
 
 BARNES, Joseph 
 
 
 xxix 
 
 BARTAS, Du . . . 
 
 
 38 
 
 BEAUCHAMP . 
 
 
 27 
 
 BEAUCHAMP, Sir R. . 
 
 
 27 
 
 BECKET, St. Thomas 
 
 
 51 
 
 BERKENHOUT 
 
 
 15 
 
 BERTHELET, Thomas . 
 
 
 . 16, 17 
 
 BERTIE, James, Earl of A 
 BEZA .... 
 BILL, John 
 BISHOP, R. . . . 
 
 JINGDON 
 
 XXX 
 
 xiii 
 
 SI, 54. 58, xiii 
 
 . . 58 
 
 . xvii, xxvii 
 
 46, 48, xii, xiii 
 
 • 42, 43 
 
 BLADES, W. . . . 
 BODLEY, Sir Thomas . 
 BOLEYN, Family Badge . 
 
 '7, 44, 
 
 BOLEYN, Family Arms . 
 BOLEYN, Ann, Arms of 
 
 
 . xxxiii 
 . xxxiii 
 
 BOLEYN, Ann (supposed initials of) 
 BOOKBINDER'S INITIALS, A. H. 
 BOOKBINDER'S INITIALS, (p 
 BOOKBINDER'S INITIALS, n.Ij. . 
 
 . XXXV 
 XXXV 
 
 . X xxvii 
 . xxxii 
 
 BOOKBINDER'S INITIALS, 
 
 H.N. . 
 
 . xxxiii 
 
 PAGE 
 
 BOOKBINDERS' INITIALS, I. R., N. H., B.V., 
 
 0. F., L R., M. D. . 
 
 
 . xxxvu 
 
 BOVLE, Andri 
 
 . xxxvii 
 
 BOYER 
 
 . 38, xl 
 
 BROOKE, Margaret .... 
 
 XXX 
 
 BROTHERTON, Thomas, E\rl of Norfolk 
 
 xxxiii 
 
 BUCKHURST, Lord .... 
 
 47 
 
 BUCKINGHAM, Duke of . . . 
 
 29 
 
 BURY, Richard de 
 
 xi 
 
 BUTLER, William M. D. ... 
 
 9 
 
 BUTLER, Arms of ^ 
 
 . xxxiii 
 
 CALDERIUS, Reginaldus, of Paris 
 
 19 
 
 CALVIN 
 
 xiii 
 
 CAMDEN, Sir ^V 
 
 27 
 
 CANI, Le Sieur de 
 
 39 
 
 CARLETON, G., Bishop of Chichester . 
 
 45 
 
 CASI, Johannis . . 
 
 xxix 
 
 CASLEY, David 
 
 XV 
 
 CAXTON, W. . . . xvii, xxi, xxii, xxvii, xxxi 
 
 CECIL, "Wm., Lord Burleigh 
 
 27 
 
 CHAMBER, John 42 
 
 44,45 
 
 CHASTRE, La . 
 
 
 39 
 
 CHARLES L . . . 
 
 
 30, Si 
 
 CHAUCER, G. . 
 
 
 xiv, XX 
 
 CHESNE, Du . 
 
 
 XXX 
 
 CHEVALIER, Pierre 
 
 
 xxxix 
 
 CLARENDON, Family . 
 
 
 xiv 
 
 COBHAM, Thomas, Bishop of 
 
 Worcester 
 
 X, xi 
 
 COLBERT 
 
 
 xxxix 
 
 COLLETT, Mary . 
 
 
 ss 
 
 CONd6, Princess of 
 
 
 35 
 
 CONNOCK, R. . 
 
 
 51 
 
 COPE, Dr. J. . . . 
 
 
 xiii 
 
 CORSELLIS 
 
 
 xxvi 
 
 COTTON, Sir Robert 
 
 
 9 
 
 COXE, The Rev. H. 0. . 
 
 
 48, 52 
 
 CROMWELL, Oliver 
 
 
 xiv 
 
 DAVID, King . 
 
 
 xxxii 
 
 DAY, John 
 
 
 33 
 
 DE ALES, Alexander 
 
 
 xxiii 
 
 DE BURY, Richard 
 
 
 xi 
 
 DE HOYM, Comte . 
 
 38, xxxix, xl 
 
 DE LA MOTTHE, Georges 
 
 
 xli 
 
 DE LIEBECK, Ruodolfus 
 
 
 xiv 
 
INDEX OF NAMES OF PERSONS, ETC. 
 
 63 
 
 PAGE 
 
 39 
 
 34. 38, 39. 40. 41. "1 
 
 . xxviii 
 
 18, 19, 25 
 
 ix, xxxix, xl 
 
 • 3, 7 
 
 47. xiv 
 
 xiv 
 
 'S 
 
 2, 20, xiv, xxxix 
 
 26, 27, XX, xxix 
 
 38 
 
 34. 35 
 
 DE THOU, C 
 
 DE THOU, J. A. . 
 DEDICUS, Johannes 
 DIANNE DE POYTIERS 
 DIBDIN, Dr. T. F. . 
 DIDRON, M. . . . 
 DIGBY, Sir Kknelm 
 DIGBY, Sir Kenelm, Arms of 
 DORNE, John (Bookseller) . 
 DOUCE, Francis 
 DUDLEY, Robert {see Leicester 
 DU BARTAS .... 
 DU CHESNE .... 
 DU FAY . . . . ■ 
 DU HAMEEL, Alart 
 EBNER, ^V. H. Eschenbach . 
 
 EDWARD IV 
 
 EDWARD IV., Arms on a Bookbinding 
 
 EDWARD VI 26, XX 
 
 ELIZABETH, Queen . . 26, 28, 29, 31, 36, 43, 
 
 xii, xiii, xvii, xx 
 ELIZABETH, Queen, " A Hymn TO " . . xli 
 EMBROIDERED BINDINGS, List of 
 ENGOLESME, Arms of 
 EVE, Clovis 
 EVE, Nicholas . 
 FAIRFAX, Sir Thomas 
 FAY, Du . 
 FERRAR, Nicholas . 
 FINCH, Eleonora . 
 FINCH, Sir Wm. 
 FITZALAN, Henry, Earl 
 FITZHUGH, Lady . 
 FOSS and PAYNE . 
 FRANCIS I. 
 FRELLON, Joannes . 
 FRIZON, Pierre 
 FULLER, Thos. 
 FUST, Johannes 
 GASCON, Le . 
 
 GASTON DE ROHAN, Cardinal 
 GAZCAN, Jacques. (1547) 
 
 GEORGE II 
 
 GEORGE, St., Arms of . 
 GERNSZHEYM, P. . . 
 GIDDING, Little . 
 GIBSON, John .... 
 GODFRAY, Thomas 
 GODFREY, Garret van Graten 
 GODWYN . 
 GOUGH . 
 GRANJON, Robert 
 GREGORY, St. . 
 GRENE, Johannes 
 
 of Arundel 
 
 54, 
 
 29. 54, 55 
 
 XXX 
 
 39 
 
 n 
 
 6 
 
 xxvii 
 
 xxxii 
 
 28 
 
 xxxiii 
 
 , 40, xl 
 
 40, xl 
 
 xiv 
 
 39 
 
 55. 56 
 
 21 
 
 21 
 
 27 
 
 xvi 
 
 7 
 
 12 
 
 xxxvi 
 
 xl 
 
 55 
 60 
 
 38, 40, xl 
 
 39 
 18 
 
 XV 
 
 xxxiv 
 
 60 
 
 56.59 
 
 50. 53 
 
 xxxvii 
 
 xxxvii 
 
 xiv 
 
 xiv 
 
 28 
 
 xxxi 
 
 xxiii 
 
 GROLIER, Jean 
 GROSSETESTE, Robert . 
 GRYPHIUS, Sebastianus . 
 GUYENNE, Arms of 
 GYMNICUS 
 HALL, Thomas 
 HAMEEL, Alart Du 
 HART, Andrew 
 HEARNE, T. . . . 
 HEBREW INSCRIPTION 
 HENRY II. OF France . 
 HENRY III. OF France . 
 HENRY IV. OF England 
 HENRY IV. OF France . 
 HENRY VII. . 
 HENRY VIII. . 
 
 xi, xvii, XX, xxix, xxxii, xxxiii 
 HENRY, Prince of Wales 
 HERBERT, George . 
 HERBERT, Philip, Earl of Pembroke 
 HAYDON, Sir Christopher 
 HIGGES, Dr. Griffin 
 HIGMA, Nicholas 
 HOLBEIN 
 HONE, Arms of 
 HOPKINS, J. . 
 HOWARD, Kateryn 
 HOYM, Comte De 
 HUMFREY, Duke of 
 HUNTE, Thomas 
 HUTCHINS, Hugh 
 JACOBI, Henry 
 JACOB, PJ:re . 
 JAMES L . 
 JEROME, St. . 
 JEROME PICHON 
 JOHN BAPTIST, St. 
 JOHNSON, J. . 
 JORDAN, John 
 JUNIUS . 
 KHAKAn (Poet) 
 
 KEMP, Thomas, Bishop ok London 
 KYRFOTH, Carolus 
 LANCASTER, Earls of. Arms of 
 LANGTOFT, Peter . 
 LAUD, Archbishop . 
 LAUD, Archbishop, Arms of . 
 LAURENTIUS, Pope 
 LEE Sir Henry 
 LE GASCON .... 
 LEICESTER, Earl of 
 LELAND, John 
 LENONCOURT, Cardinal de . 
 LEYLAND, John 
 
 Gloucester 
 
 17. 42. 45. 50. 5 
 
 PAGE 
 20, 21, 24, 39, XX 
 X 
 
 xxviii 
 
 xxxiii 
 
 xxviii 
 
 xxviii 
 
 II 
 
 50 
 
 56 
 
 33 
 
 18, 19. 25, 39 
 
 34. 35. 39. 40 
 xi 
 
 39 
 
 . xxxiii 
 
 16, 17, 53, 
 
 XXXV, xxxviii 
 
 51 
 
 52 
 
 47. xiv 
 
 42, 45 
 
 47 
 
 12, 32 
 
 13 
 
 52 
 
 . 54. 58 
 
 17 
 
 38, xxxix, xl 
 
 48, xi, XV 
 
 xxi, xxii, xxvi 
 
 XXX 
 
 . xxxiv 
 
 40 
 
 53, xiii, xviii 
 
 xxiv 
 
 39 
 . xxxii 
 
 15 
 
 51, xviii 
 
 xiv 
 
 xliii 
 
 xii 
 
 xxviii, xxix 
 
 . xxxiii 
 
 • 56 
 
 47. 55. xiv 
 
 xliv 
 
 xxiv 
 
 XXX 
 
 38, 40, xl 
 27, XX, xxix 
 
 17 
 18 
 
 17 
 
64 
 
 INDEX OF NAMES OF PERSONS, ETC. 
 
 
 PAGE 
 
 
 page 
 
 
 ■ 
 
 RINGHIERE, Innocent . 
 
 28 
 
 LIEBiiCK, RUDOLFUS DE . 
 
 . 
 
 
 
 LONGWEIL, President d 
 
 E .... 39 
 
 ROBERTS, Lewis .... 
 
 29 
 
 LOUIS XIV. . 
 
 • 6l, xl 
 
 ROCHFORD, Arms of . . . 
 
 . xxxiii 
 
 28 
 
 ROOD, Theodoric . . . xxi, 
 
 xxii, xiii, xxvi 
 
 LOUVEAU, Jehan . 
 
 
 
 
 MACE, R. . . . 
 
 . xxxvii 
 
 RUDSTONE, Elizabeth . 
 
 21 
 
 MAIOLI, Thomas 
 
 XX 
 
 RUDSTONE, Sir John . 
 
 21 
 
 MALONE 
 
 xiv 
 
 SACKVILLE, Thos., Baron of Buckhurst . 47 
 
 
 SADLER, Dame Anne 
 
 9 
 
 MARSH, Archbishop 
 
 XIV 
 
 
 
 MARSH, Thomas 
 
 33 
 
 SADLER, Ralph, of Stonden 
 
 9 
 
 MARSHALL . 
 MARTIN, Jan . 
 MARY L . 
 
 xiv 
 
 SAVILE, Sir He>jry 
 
 . 42, 44. 45 
 
 18 
 
 SCHOENLEBEN, Conrad 
 
 7 
 
 • 26, 51 
 
 SCOLAR, John .... 
 
 xxi, xxviii 
 
 MATTHEW OF Westminsi 
 
 PER . . ■ . 33 
 
 SCRIVENER, Mr 
 
 7 
 
 MAYNARD, Serjeant 
 
 xxxi 
 
 SELDEN, John .... 
 
 xiv 
 
 MEDICI, C. DEI 
 M^NARS, Marquis de 
 
 35 
 39 
 
 SHAH ABBAS 
 
 shAh alI 
 
 xliii 
 xliii 
 
 MESLEY, Baron de 
 
 39 
 
 SHAH, Muhammad .... 
 
 xliii 
 
 MONTAGUE, Bishop 
 
 51 
 
 SOUBISE, Prince . 
 
 39 
 
 MOTTHE, Georges de la 
 
 xli 
 
 SPIERINCK, Nicholas . 
 
 . xxxvii 
 
 MUHAMMAD, Shah 
 
 xliii 
 
 STANBRIDGE, J. . . 
 
 15 
 
 MURR, Dr. 
 
 7 
 
 STEPHANUS, R. . . 
 
 26 
 
 NADJEF, A Persian Arti 
 
 ST . . . • xliii 
 
 STERNHOLD, t 
 
 ■ 54. 58 
 
 NICHOLAS, St. 
 
 xxxii 
 
 TAYLOR, J 
 
 . 58 
 
 NODIER, Charles . 
 
 41 
 
 TERENCE 
 
 xxiii 
 
 NORFOLK, Earl of 
 
 . xxxiii 
 
 TPIOU, Christophe de . . . 
 
 39 
 
 NORINS, Jehan 
 
 . xxxvii 
 
 THOU, J.-A. de . . . 34, 38 
 
 39, 40, 41, xl 
 
 NOTARY, Julian . 
 
 . xxxiv 
 
 TIMUR 
 
 xliii 
 
 PARKER, Archbishop 
 
 XX 
 
 TORY, Geoffroy .... 
 
 24 
 
 PARR, Catherine, QUEE^ 
 
 J .... 28 
 
 TREVERIS, Peter .... 
 
 15, xxix 
 
 PAYNE, Roger 
 
 XXX 
 
 VALENIS, Joannes .... 
 
 xxxi 
 
 PAYXE, Mr. (Booksellee 
 
 ) . . . 2, xxxix 
 
 VALENTINE, Florent, of Rouen . 
 
 19 
 
 PAYNE and FOSS (Book; 
 
 ELLERS) ... 7 
 
 VITRUVE, Marc .... 
 
 18 
 
 PEMBROKE, Marchionee 
 
 s OF (Ann Boleyn) . xxxiii 
 
 VOSTRE, Simon .... 
 
 12, 32. 34 
 
 PEMBROKE, Earl of 
 
 47> xiv 
 
 WALTON, Isaac 
 
 21 
 
 PETER, St. 
 
 . xxxii 
 
 WARWICK, Earl of . . . 
 
 27 
 
 PHILIP, King of Spain 
 
 xl 
 
 WARWICK, Ambrose Earl of . 
 
 27 
 
 PICHON, M. jiROME 
 
 39 
 
 WHITINTON, Robert . 
 
 . 14, 15, xxix 
 
 PIERCE, Tho. . 
 
 XXX 
 
 WILLIS, Browne . . 
 
 xiv 
 
 PIGOUCHET, Philippe 
 
 34 
 
 WOLSEY, Cardinal . 
 
 • 14. 15 
 
 POYTIERS, Dianne de 
 
 • 18, 19, 25 
 
 WOOD, Anthony A. . . . . 
 
 xxix 
 
 RASTELL, John 
 
 , xxxvi 
 
 WORDE, Wynkyn de . . . 
 
 15 
 
 RAWLINSON, Dr. . 
 
 28, xiv 
 
 WOTTON, Thomas, Esquire (wrongly 
 
 CALLED 
 
 REGNAULT, F. 
 
 xxxi 
 
 "Sir") 20 
 
 21, 22, 23, 27 
 
 REYNES, John 
 
 xxix, xxxiv, xxxvii 
 
 WOTTON, Sir Henry 
 
 21 
 
 RICHARD III. . 
 
 xvi 
 
 WYBARUN, Thomas. 
 
 XV 
 
 RICHEBOYS, GiLLES (Sei 
 
 JS) . . . .24 
 
 XIPHILINU, Joannes 
 
 26 
 
 RICHER, lEAN 
 
 . xxxix 
 
 YOWNG, P 
 
 53 
 
 LONDON: printed BY WILLIAM CLOWES AND SONS, LIMITED, STAMFORD STREET AND CHARING CROSS. 
 
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