BOOK IV.

Chapter IV

gether until 1675, when it was dispersed by public sale. Bookbinding. Many fine specimens are to be seen in the Cracherode and Grenville collections in the British Museum. The Italian example of nearly similar date, which is figured on Plate IV of this Chapter, is also borrowed from the Cracherode collection.

Binding executed for

Diana of

Poitiers.

It was, doubtless, owing to the influence of Grollier's Henry II. and example, if not to his direct superintendence, that the bindings of many of the books of Henry II. as well as those of Diana of Poitiers, partake of like beauty, although they are often somewhat overladen with embellishments. In the Public Library at Caen, for example, there is preserved a remarkable copy of the very popular Cosmography' of Sebastian Munster, in its French version and of the edition of 1556. Dibdin has thus described it: "It contains two portraits of Henry II. (Henricus II. Galliarum Rex. Invictiss. PP.) and four of Holofernes (Olofarne') on each side of the binding. In the centre of the sides we recognise the lunar ornaments of Diane de Poitiers; on the back are five por traits of her, in gilt, each within the bands,—and, like all the other ornaments, much rubbed.... On the sides are two medallions of a winged figure (sic) blowing a trumpet, and standing upon a chariot drawn by four horses; there are also small fleurs-de-lis scattered be tween the ornaments of the sides." For Henry III, many books were bound in a peculiar style. The backs are smooth; a small compartment, at the head, contains the title of the book; another, at the tail, the motto

' Dibdin, Bibliographical Tour in France and Germany, i, 215.

BOOK IV.

Chapter IV.

SPES MEA DEUS, between fleurs-de-lis; the intermediate space being filled up with a central oval, containing the Bookbinding. royal arms, and with two or more quatrefoils, one of which usually contains a death's head, the emblem of the Order of Penitents' to which the King belonged.

Royal bindings

early Stuart

reigns.

The French bindings from the time of Grollier to that of Henry IV. far surpass the contemporary productions of English workmen. The sumptuous taste for embroidered velvet continued to prevail at Court and amongst the wealthy nobility. Richness of material and of colour and luxuriance of ornament abound; but there is little of artistic design. The Old Royal MS., of the Tudor and 2 B. vii, is a fine example of its kind. It is bound in thick boards covered with crimson velvet, embroidered with a flower pattern in coloured silks and gold twist; the bosses and clasps are gilt, and bear the royal arms. The volume appears to have been bound for Queen Mary. Another and still more costly specimen is to be seen in Queen Elizabeth's presentation copy of the famous treatise of Archbishop Parker, De antiquitate Ecclesia Britannica (of 1572). This volume is covered with green velvet embroidered in high relief. The sides represent a park inclosed with pales; containing trees, shrubs, and deer. The back is divided into five compartments, embellished with roses and other ornamental devices.

Her Scottish Successor caused many volumes to be bound in like manner; of which, perhaps, the finest example is a copy of the Acts of the Synod of Dort, in crimson velvet, embroidered with gold thread on a

BOOK IV.

Chapter IV.

ground work of yellow silk. The royal arms, initials, Bookbinding. and insignia appear on both sides. The rose and thistle alternate in the compartments of the back. The workmanship is superior to most of the contemporary examples. This book appears to have been bound about 1620. Its style is very different from that of the books which were bound for the same monarch before his accession to the English crown.

Scottish Binding. "Johnne

binder's Precept.

Oct. 1580."

In the General Register Office at Edinburgh is preGibsonis Buck- served a Royal-Bookbinder's bill, paid by James VI. in 1580. It contains fifty-nine different items; amongst which are "Opera Clementis Alexandrini, 8vo, gylt, price xs.; Gildea Epistola, 8vo, in parchment, iiis.; Aneuch is cine feist, 4to, xiid.; Predictiones memorabiles, Svo, in parchment, iiis.; Zanthig [Zanchius] De tribus Elohim, folio, gylt, xxs.; Harmonia Stan(i)hursti, folio, in vellene, xs.; Dictionarium in Latino, Græco et Gallico sermone, 4to, gylt, xxs.; Thesaurus Pauperum, 8vo, in vellene, vs.; Petronius Arbiter, 8vo, in parchment." There are other entries in the accounts of the Scottish Treasury of payments to the same artist in 1580, and subsequent years.

Prayer books and other works of devotion were, at this period, occasionally bound in solid gold or silver. Such was Queen Elizabeth's golden Manual; such her "Oone booke of the Gospells plated with silver," etc. Morocco bindings scarcely occur in the Royal Collection until the reign of James I. One of the best examples is to be seen in a copy, now in the British Museum, of the Hommes Illustres of Thevet (Paris, 1584);