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Sixteenth Century Bindings |
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Seventeenth Century Bindings |
Eighteenth Century Bindings |
Nineteenth Century Bindings |
CAESAR,
C. Julius
Commentarium ... de bello Galico libri VIII
Basle: 1521 [BD2-h.2]
This acorn panel may have been originally Netherlandish
in design but it certainly came later to England. It is one of
eleven such panels used by English binders in the early sixteenth
century. The design may have been derived from German playing
cards, one of whose suits was acorns.
CALVIN,
John
The institution of Christian religion
London: 1587 [BD1-d.3]
The cornucopia corners were copied from a French type which was
in use, probably at Paris, about 1570-80. There were at least two
very similar English variants. The initials IK appear on the
central oval and there is a semis of 'tear-drops'.
GESTA
Romanorum
Paris: 1515 [Al-f.15]
This binding of blind-stamped calf over boards has a design made
up of two rolls, one of a griffin, wivern and lion with the
initials GG, and the other a diaper of quatrefoils in lozenges.
It was executed in Cambridge between 1515 and 1530 by Garrett
Godfrey, a Dutchman, who was at work in Cambridge for about forty
years and died there in 1539.
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CARION,
John |
HIERONYMUS
de Villa Vitis
Panis quotidianus, de sanctis
Hagenau:1509 [BD7-e.26]
From the tools and other indications this binding appears to be
the work of the man whom Oldham calls the Lily binder, but
according to Oldham he was at work only from 1481 to 1504. At any
rate the binding appears to be contemporary with the book which
bears an inscription stating that in the early sixteenth century
it was the property of the monks of Newminster, a Cistercian
abbey in Northumberland.
VERGILIUS,
Poydorus
De rerum inuentoribus
Basle: 1536 [Ah-d.2]
The front cover is stamped with a Trinity pane and the back cover
bears an Image of Pity pane. Both have the initials GP with a key
and a pilgrim's staff. The two are clearly the work of the
same designer and were probably engraved in England. They are
attributed to Gerard Pilgrim, a Dutch binder, who worked in
Oxford from at least 1524 and died in 1536.
CLEMENT
Opera
Basle: 1536 [SM
1933]
Oldham records 143 examples of this wide roll depicting a
thistle, a bee, a bird, flowers and a hound, and the trademark of
the London stationer, John Reynes. Reynes obtained letters of
denization in 1510, worked in London, and died there in 1544. He
was probably not a binder but head of a binding firm.
BIBLE.
Latin.
Paris: 1510 [Da-i.35]
The front cover shows a curious armorial design known as the Arms
of Christ, charged with the symbols of the Passion and supported
by unicorns. The design was taken from a cut used by the Paris
printer Thielman Kerver. The back cover has a panel in two
sections, the upper showing the arms of Henry VIII supported by a
dragon and a whippet, with the pomegranate of Katherine of Aragon
below, and the lower shows the Tudor rose surrounded by a ribbon,
supported by two angels. These two panels, which are always used
together, are both signed with the initials of John Reynes, and
there is reason to believe that they were not used before 1522.
PLINY
Epistolarum libri decem ...
Paris: 1518 [BE2-g.1]
The panel on the front cover shows St. George killing the dragon
with Princess Cleodolinda in the background. On the border, at
the top, is a view of the walls and towers of the city of Selene;
below is a stag hunt with hunter and dog. On one side area lion
and a wivern and on the other a boar hunt. The panel on the back
cover shows the baptism of Christ. These two panels belonged to
John Reynes and were always used together.
REUCHILN,
Johann
De arte cabalistica
Hagenau: 1517 [Ah-y.11]
A binding design of two blind rolls similar to those on the Gesta
Romanorum. The animal roll includes the initials NS which
have been identified as those of Nicholas Spierinck, a binder
from Lille, who settled in Cambridge early in the sixteenth
century and remained there until his death in 1545 but ceased to
work as a binder about 1533. This binding was executed between
1517 and 1528.
HUNNIS,
William
Seven sobs of a sorrowful soule
London: 1589 [BD1-l.40]
A sixteenth century English trade binding, gold-blocked. These
gold-blocked panels were used during the reign of Queen Elizabeth
I and most of the seventeenth century, usually on small religious
works, such as this, which were produced cheaply but intended to
look expensive.
CHURCH OF ENGLAND
The booke of common prayer
London: 1589 [Dv-f.22]
The covers are stamped with the date 1591 and the arms of Queen
Elizabeth I. This is an example of the trade bindings of Bibles,
prayer books, etc., which were sold ready bound by the London
booksellers. These often included the royal arms - the equivalent
of the blind-stamped panels of the royal arms used in Henry
VIII's reign.
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GOMEZ,
Antonio |
BOYD, Zachary
The last battell of the soule in death
Edinburgh:
Andro Hart, 1629 [Bm9-l.27]
According to Dr. Mitchell, this binding is probably contemporary
Edinburgh work executed soon after the publication of the book.
It is the only known example of this style. The initials of the
original owner, C.G., are stamped on the covers, but he has not
been identified. This book was in Glasgow University Library in
1691.
During the Tudor and Stuart periods embroidered covers were very common, especially on devotional books. Most of them were made by professional embroiderers and set in place by bookbinders. The designs were taken from pattern books made especially for embroiderers. Canvas was used as a base material from the fourteenth century until the middle of the seventeenth century, but velvet was more common during the Tudor period and satin during the Stuart.
BIBLE
London: 1608 [Dp-i.2]
An all-over design of flowers and birds worked in coloured
threads, with a background of silver metal thread, on canvas.
Canvas covers were usually completely covered in embroidery since
the material was not decorative in itself. The edges of the book
are gauffered with an armorial design.
BIBLE
Psalms. The whole booke of Psalmes
London:
1632 [De-m.8]
White satin with raised embroidery in metal thread of gold,
silver and various colours in a floral design. Tiny circles of
metal are sewn on to make a kind of semis background. A wide red
ribbon is fastened to the front cover and wraps around the book
when not in use.
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BIBLE |
BIBLE
London: 1645 [Dk-i.18]
A binding done in tapestry stitch on canvas, with the background
in silver thread. The all-over design is of peonies and other
flowers and butterflies.
BIBLE
London: 1646 [Dk-i.16]
Embroidered binding of white satin over canvas with a vine worked
in coloured silks and silver thread in the centre of each cover,
surrounded by an oval made with wire thread. Pieces of metal are
used in the ovals at the corners; this was called
"lizzarding".
BIBLE
London: 1649 [Du-g.19]
Green satin with raised embroidery in silver gilt thread in a fan
pattern, with the initials MF on either side of the centrepiece.
This volume also has metal clasps of an unusually elegant design
and a fore-edge painting of flowers.
BIBLE
London: 1655 [Dk-i.15]
Pink satin with raised embroidery in white, blue and yellow. The
book originally had four pink ribbon ties. Both the design and
workmanship are rather crude, possibly the work of an amateur.
There is a contemporary inscription: "Dorothy Doiley Her Booke" and it may be that Dorothy Doiley made the cover herself.
BIBLE
London: 1632 [Dk-i.19]
A binding covered in blue velvet with ornamental metal clasps and
centre and corner pieces intended to protect the velvet. The
designs on the corner pieces show allegorical female figures
representing virtues, those on the clasps are of the four
Evangelists; the centre piece on the front cover is engraved with
a coat of arms and that on the back cover with a picture of
Christ speaking to the Pharisees.
ALLESTREE,
Richard
The government of the tongue
Oxford: 1675 [BD14-i.17]
YELVERTON, Sir Henry
A short discourse of the truth
London: 1662 [BD14-i.24]
Two contemporary bindings from shops which have not yet been
identified. Both have the drawer handle and tulip tools which are
typical of English bindings of the time. These elaborately tooled
bindings usually appear on devotional works which were probably
gifts for special occasions.
CROWNE, John
Calisto
London: 1675 [BD14-i.2]
This late seventeenth century London binding has the pansy tool
(three in centre) and the "very curious nondescript large
flower" (centre sides) mentioned by G.D. Hobson in English
bindings in the library of JR. Abbey (no. 46).
A
parte of a register contayninge sundrie memorable matters
[Middelburg: 1593] [Bh5-g.14]
Andro Hart, an Edinburgh printer and bookseller, was also a
bookbinder, and this is probably a specimen of his work. An
ownership inscription on the flyeaf shows that it belonged to
Walter Stirling in 1612 so it must have been bound before then.
The design of hearts in the gauffering may be a punning reference
to Andro Hart.
STRUTHER,
William
Christian observations
Edinburgh: Heires of Andro Hart, 1629 [BD14-i.31]
This has the same centre stamp as A parte of a register.
In view of this and the fact that they cover books printed by the
Andro Hart press, it seems likely that they are from the same
bindery. Andro Hart died in 1621 or 1622 but the business,
presumably including the bindery, was carried on by his heirs.
SPELMAN,
Sir Henry
A tract of the rights and respect due unto
churches
London: 1616 [Ag-d.73]
Blind tooled binding with a roll of hearts and flowers
incorporating the binder's initials IA. According to Oldham,
this is an Oxford binding contemporary with the book.
CHURCH
OF ENGLAND
The book of common prayer
London: 1678 [Ds-f.3]
This binding in a cottage roof design, picked out with black
paint, is identifiable by the tools used as almost certainly the
work of the Samuel Mearne bindery. Mearne hed the office of
Bookbinder to the King from the Restoration in 1660 until his
death in 1683.
Cottage roof designs, so called from the slanting lines at top
and bottom of the panel, are very characteristic of English
binding in the last quarter of the seventeenth century and first
quarter of the eighteenth century, but they continued in use
until late in that century and they are not absolutely peculiar
to England.
(Other examples of cottage roof design bindings are located at: Dx-a.14, Dv-h.14, Dw-i.8, SM 1951, Df-e.29, BD14-i.33, BD14-i.40).
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ALLESTREE,
Richard |
Royal inventory of pictures, statues, etc
MS. Early eighteenth century [U.3.11]
This elaborate but rather inexpertly executed binding is the work
of another of the Queens' binders - just which one is
uncertain. It was evidently not made for the manuscript it covers
which is later in date.
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CALVIN, John
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BIBLE
(Latin)
Hanau: 1603 [Ds-c.2]
This book was bound for William III and bears his cipher. In English
bindings in the Library of J.R. Abbey (p84), G.D. Hobson
describes another copy of this same edition of the Bible in a
binding very similar to this except for the spine , and says:
"This is the only known binding with the cipher of William
III which bears the tool of the dove and olive branch."
Since the present copy also bears the tool of the dove and olive
branch it must be listed as a second example. Hobson suggests
that the use of this tool shows that the binding is a little
later than the Treaty of Ryswick which was concluded on 10th
September, 1698.
BIBLE
Oxford: 1783 [Dw-d.13]
A binding made for the 'Bible Trade' in contemporary red morocco
with a wide gilt border of urns and floral stems. In the centre
is an onlay of green morocco gold-tooled with the sacred
monogram, a cross, cherubs' heads, starts and flowers: this is
surrounded by an outer onlay of blue morocco, also tooled with
cherubs' heads.
CICERO, Marcus Tullius
Epistolarum familiarum libri XVI
Venice: 1470 [Be.1.5]
APULEIUS, Madaurensis
Opera
Rome: 1469 [Be.1.14]
These books were bound by Christopher Chapman, fl.1704-56,
bookbinder in Duck Lane, London, 1720-31, later in Paternoster
Row. He was one of two binders (the other being Thomas Elliot)
employed by Robert Harley, 1st Earl of Oxford, and his son
Edward, the 2nd Earl, who were both very famous book collectors.
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HOMER |
REDDIE, James
Disputatio juridica
Edinburgh: 1797 [Mu20-f.15]
A Scottish rococo binding with some historiated tools and some in
the Chippendale style.
A
Collection of anthems. As they are now performed in the Cathedral
in Lincoln
Lincoln: 1775
Additional anthems
Lincoln: 1790
Bond's anthems
Lincoln: 1794 [Dn-f.3]
This volume was evidently bound for use in the Cathedral as it
has a red leather label on the front cover with the word Dean
stamped in gold on it. The binding is almost certainly the work
of John Drury of Lincoln who printed the latter two works and who
was a bookbinder as well as a printer.
HORACE
Opera
Edinburgh: 1731 [BD2-k.8]
An Edinburgh trade binding of rather unusual design. The central
ornament is found on another book issued by the same publisher in
1730.
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DURAND, Guillaume |
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SIMSON,
Robert |
HANWAY,
Jonas
An account of the Society for the
encouragement of the British troops
London: 1760 [Bl9-g.13]
Jonas Hanway is usually remembered either as a philanthropist or
as the first gentleman to carry an umbrella in London, but he was
also a designer of bookbindings which are little known perhaps
because they are comparatively rare. This volume in mottled calf
has a red leather label on the back cover: "For the University
of Glasgow" and on the front cover a large ornament of
crossed sabres bearing the royal motto "Dieu et mon Droit" and
a ribbon inscribed "In memory of Thonhausen, Quebec &c
1759". Copies in similar bindings were presented to the
Universities of Oxford and Cambridge and to Sir George Pocock.
TOLAND,
John
The life of John Milton
London: 1761 [Bm1-h.19]
NEVILLE, Henry
Plato redivivus
London: 1763 [Bl9-k.23]
These bindings were executed for Thomas Hollis, 1720-74, a lover
of liberty, who spent much time and money on the propagation of
his principles by gifts to libraries of books specially bound by
one Matthewman and stamped with symbols appropriate to their
contents. These emblematic tools were made for him by Thomas
Pingo, the medallist, chief engraver to the Mint; Cipriani
probably designed some of them.
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FOUQUET,
C.L.A. |
LYTTELTON, George
Dialogues of the Dead (2nd edition)
London: 1760 [BD14-i.6]
This binding has the same border and some of the same tools on
the spine as the previous item, so presumably it is also by
Richard Montagu. The book is from the library of David Garrick
and bears his bookplate.
BIBLE
Edinburgh: 1716 [Dx-i.25]
This binding is probably Irish since it has a peacock roll
similar to that illustrated in Craig, plate 52, and Hobson,
Bindings
in Cambridge Libraries
(pl. LXIX, no. 3). A similar binding
on another copy of the same edition of the Bible was sold at
Sotheby's on 4th February 1953; it had inlays of black and
white leather and was described as Irish.
ERASMUS
Colloquia familiaria
Dublin: 1731 [BG44-i.25]
A contemporary Dublin binding, with a W-roll on the covers.
CICERO
Opera Vol. VIII
Glasgow: 1769 [Mu48-e.8]
This is one of a set of twenty uniformly bound volumes. They are certainly Irish
bindings for the decoration on the covers is made up of the W-roll and the vase
or mirror tool, both used by Irish eighteenth-century binders. Dr. Craig,
writing of the binding of a book published in 1767 (plate 45) says: "The
occurrence of the W-roll is surprising at so late a date."
ANCOURT, ---------d', Abbé
The lady's preceptor
Dublin: 1760 [BD14-i.38]
Irish binding in dark red morocco with white leather inlay. Some
of the tools used seem to be the same as those used on the
bindings illustrated in Craig's Irish bookbindings (plates 35 and 37), of which he says: "A number of tools ... were used by
Parliamentary Binder B ... The embossed leaf-tools seem to indicate French
influence."
AESOP
Select fables
Birmingham: Baskerville, 1761 [BD14-i.18]
This Irish binding features the plumed trophy tool in its later
version which appeared from 1763 onwards (see Craig, p. 8,10).
Irish bindings were often placed on imported books and
Baskerville's publications seem to have been particularly
popular.
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BIBLE |
MacBRIDE, David
Experimental essays
London: 1764 [Bm1-h.2]
This binding has a white leather onlay with ostrich feather tools
as shown in Craig, plate 41, together with the plumed trophy
tools. The wave border and birds with sprays in their beaks are
also frequently found on Irish bindings. The volume has a
presentation inscription to Glasgow University Library from the
author, an Irish surgeon who had studied at Edinburgh.
AESCHINES
In Ctesiphontem
DEMOSTHENES
De corona
Edited by Joseph Stock
Dublin: 1769 2 vols [N.7.11,12]
Irish binding with a wave border. The book is a presentation copy
from the editor, who was Bishop of Killala and afterwards of
Waterford and Lismore, to Dr. Anthony Askew, a well-known book
collector who attempted to secure a complete series of all the
Greek classics ever published.
The Letters of Junius
London: 1775 [RB
2998-9]
Since it has a lozenge-shaped white leather inlay, this binding
is probably Irish, but the tools strongly resemble those used on
a number of Scottish bindings of the period, and the possibility
that it is a Scottish imitation of an Irish binding cannot be
ruled out.
EATON, Richard
The book of rates
Dublin: 1765 [BD14-i.9]
Craig, plate 42, shows a copy of this book in a very
similar binding. He comments: "The outer roll used is of a
type frequent on Irish bindings. Though the tooling is not of first-rate
precision, this binding is shown as an example of the most exuberant Irish
style, on a small volume." On the covers
of this copy there are dark blue name-panels lettered in gold:
"His
Excellency John Ponsonby". Ponsonby was Speaker of the
Irish House of Commons, 1756-1771.
O' FLAHERTY, Roderic
Ogygia
Dublin: printed by W. M'Kenzie, 1793 2
vols [Mu8-e.12,13]
These volumes were almost certainly bound as well as printed by
William M'Kenzie or McKenzie, who was a bookseller, printer
and binder in Dublin from 1784 to 1817. They are typical of his
style, being in tree calf with red and black lettering-pieces,
green edges, and splash-marbled endpapers.
WARING,
Edward
Miscellanea analytica
Cambridge: 1762 [Cz.1.14]
A binding by Ed. Moor who worked in Cambridge between 1740 and
1769. His work is in the Harleian style but both materials and
execution are superior to those of Chapman and Elliot and his
bindings are among the most attractive of the mid eighteenth
century.
BIBLE
Psalms. The whole book of Psalms
Oxford: 1679 [Dg-a.1]
Dr. Philip Bliss, 1787-1857, antiquary and book collector,
under-librarian of the Bodleian, stated that this binding was by
Roger Payne, who has been described by Mr. Nixon as
"the most
interesting and most influential of English eighteenth-century
binders".
ALBERTUS, Magnus
Liber aggregationis
[London: c. 1480-86] [Ah-a.29]
This book is described as "Bound by Roger Payne" in a
pencil note on a fly-leaf, and the binding is ascribed to him in
the Syston Park Sale Catalogue (1884, no. 53). It is in dark green
straight-grained morocco, blind-tooled, with brown endpapers,
green morocco inner joints, gilt and gauffered edges. The book
belonged to William Herbert, 1718-1795, the bibliographer, and
was later in the White Knights Library near Reading (George
Spencer Churchill, 5th Duke of Marlborough, 1766-1840) and the
Syston Park Library (Sir John Hayford Thorold, 1773-1831).
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LA
FONTAINE, Jean de |
BIBLE
Edinburgh: Alexander Kincaid, 1772 [BDA1-a.2]
This is a typical example of the work of James Scott of
Edinburgh, who was active from about 1773 to 1783. It is a
presentation copy from the printer to Lady Janet Dundas and is
very similar to bindings on another copy of this edition of
The
Bible and a Book of Common Prayer printed by Kincaid in
1768, both in the Newbattle Collection in the National Library of
Scotland, and both presented to William Kerr (commonly called
Earl of Ancram), by his grandmother Jane, Marchioness of
Lothian, in 1777.
"James Scott was a revolutionary who did for bindings
something of what Robert Adam did for buildings. He launched his
new-fangled ornaments and designs in Edinburgh, where the
traditional styles were still flourishing, and he broke violently
away from the earlier forms. He abandoned the charming old gilt
and coloured end-papers, and was original even in his treatment
of the edges of his books. He may not have been a great
craftsman, but he was certainly a man of enterprise and vision."
- G.D. Hobson
BIBLE
London: 1675
The Psalms of David in metre
Edinburgh: 1772 [Dv-i.6]
This binding has the same tools of a column with trophies
surmounted by a head in a laurel wreath and an angel blowing a
trumpet which appear on the Scott binding illustrated in Ramage,
Bookbinders
of the United Kingdom (plate XIII).
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ADDISON,
Joseph |
BOYD, Robert
Judicial proceedings before the High Court
of Admiralty of Scotland
Edinburgh: 1779 [BDA1-a.1]
This volume has a presentation inscription from the author to the
Principal and Professors of the University of Glasgow, dated 22nd
October 1785, and is inscribed on the title-page:
"Bound by
Willm Scott Edinr 1785". William Scott was a relative of
James Scott and was probably his successor. His name appears in
the list of subscribers to Burns' Poems
(1787). Two of
the tools on this binding, the cluster of instruments and the
angel blowing a trumpet (on the spine) were used by James Scott.
CUNINGHAME, William
Tentamen medicum inaugurale de cynache
tracheali
Glasgow: Andrew Foulis, 1790 [Mu55-f.19]
This was a presentation copy to Dr. John Mackie (1748-1831) and
bears the author's inscription. The curious octopus-like tool on
the cover, or one very like it, was used by James Scott of
Edinburgh, but the binding is too late to be his work. It is,
however, contemporary Scottish binding, almost certainly executed
in Edinburgh or Glasgow.
The herringbone design, consisting of a vertical fillet with horizontal ornaments placed symmetrically like ribs, was one of the two distinctive styles evolved by Scottish binders in the eighteenth century, and was the more popular of the two. It probably arose from a desire to fill the central panel which had become so common a feature of late seventeenth-century bindings.
BIBLE
London: 1695 [Dx-b.2]
The herringbone is made up of floral sprays, with a tulip at top
and bottom within a panel of wavy lines with another row of
flower tools including thistles, daisies and tulips.
CHURCH OF ENGLAND
Book of Common Prayer
Edinburgh: 1744 [Mu38-i.4]
The initals AG are stamped on either side of the centre of the
herringbone which is made up of leaves. Pyramids with the letter
G in the centre (possibly standing for Grand Lodge) appear on
either side of the panel and there are masonic symbols at the
head and foot of the panel.
BIBLE
Psalms. The Psalms of David in metre
Glasgow: 1757 [Mu33-h.18]
The crude workmanship and simple design suggest that this was
probably a trade binding and was most likely executed in Glasgow
where it was "printed by William Duncan sen. and sold at his
shop in Gibson's Land, Salt-mercat". The volume was in the
Hamilton Bruce collection.
BIBLE
London: 1678 [Ds-f.2]
Dark blue morocco brilliantly gold tooled with a herringbone of
leafy sprays surrounded by a roll. At the middle of each side of
the panel is a pyramid of "scale" tools and at each
corner a stiffly branching tree connects the panel frame with the
border roll.
ROW, John
Hebraeae linguae institutiones
Glasgow: 1644 [Mu36-h.32]
The herringbone on this simple binding is made up of
"turnip" shaped tools, one of the most popular tools in
use in eighteenth-century Scotland. The volume has the early
eighteenth -century bookplate of the Hon. John Hay of Lawfield,
for whom it may have been bound.
STEUART, Walter
Collections and observations methodiz'd
Edinburgh: 1709 [S.M.
1160]
A rather unusual design, with a herringbone of turnip tools
crossed by a horizontal line of the same tools, set within a
panel outlined on either side by semi-circles and sweet sultans.
The tools are all of a kind used in England in the seventeenth
century.
BIBLE
Edinburgh: 1727 [Db-d.16]
On either side of the panels there are 'half-pears', a type of
design which seems to be peculiarly Scottish. The six pyramids of
'scales' are also typical of Scottish bindings of the period. The
initials on the covers are presumably those of Janet Borland, for
according to an inscription on the fly-leaf she aught this
Holy Bible in the year 1750.
BIBLE
Edinburgh: 1722 [BDA1-a.6]
A very typical design which incorporates a herringbone of
'turnip' tools, 'half pears' and 'scales'.
PINDAR
Olympia etc
Paris: 1566 [Bc.4.9]
The vertical 'spine' is formed of linked circles and half-circles
combined with other small tools and stippling. There is a rather
curious outer roll incorporating (among other things) cherub's
heads, vases and thistles.
BIBLES
Edinburgh: 1760 [Du-i.25]
Cambridge: 1779 [Db-d.7]
Cambridge: 1780 [Du-h.6]
These three bindings all feature the distinctive pear, or
palm-leaf, shape designs which are found only on Scottish
bindings and are of unknown origin.
ROSS, Matthew
Disputatio juridica
Edinburgh: 1772 [Mu27-d.23]
A herringbone design, with turnip ornaments at head and foot,
contained within a lozenge-shaped frame. This volume was a
presentation copy for Alexander Boswell, Lord Auchinleck, father
of James Boswell, the biographer.
The wheel pattern was the second distinctively Scottish type of binding. It appears to be a descendent of the fan pattern common throughout Europe in the seventeenth century.
CATHCART,
William Shaw
Disputatio juridica
Edinburgh: 1776 [Bm5-f.6]
A fine example of a wheel binding. The pentagram, or Solomon's
seal, occurs four times on each cover. This is frequently found
on Scottish bindings and may have been put there to hold the
powers of evil in check.
BIBLE. French.
Amsterdam: 1761
BIBLE
Psalms. The Psalms of David in metre
Edinburgh: 1758 [Dc-b.7]
This Scottish binding with Chippendale leanings incorporates
pentagrams and pomegranates. Judging from the style, the binding
is probably about twenty years later than the book.
HORACE
[Opera]
Glasgow: Robert and Andrew Foulis, 1760 [Mu47-g.2]
A curious 'joke' binding, bearing on the front cover, gold
stamped vertically, an inscription in Latin to John Erskine from
'J.P.W.', and on the back cover, similarly stamped, the lines:
"Each
beau may prise in glittring case/The picture of his own dear
face/And lovely self in ev'ry mirror find;/Be this thy glass in
ev'ry line/Sense, wit and elegance combine/To form the lovelier
portrait of the mind." The lettering-piece on the spine bears
the title: "Erskines' Looking Glass".
PLUTARCH
De Iside et Osiride liber
Cambridge: 1744 [BD2-c.19]
This binding is almost certainly by Henry Walther, one of a group
of German binders who came to England in the late eighteenth
century. It is in red straight-grained morocco blind stamped on
both sides with a border of steeples and fleurons. Charles
Ramsden in London bookbindings
(plate XXV) shows a
binding by Walther with the same border, of which he says:
"This
is a key binding as it links up with a large number of bindings
in the Storer Bequest at Eton College, which are unsigned but
carry the distinctive steeple tools (3 varieties) very often in
gilt."
POLYBIUS,
etc
Excerpta
Paris: 1634 [BC1-x.14,15]
This binding is by Richard Wier or Weir, a London bookbinder of
Scottish origin, who spent several years at Toulouse working for
Count MacCarthy Reagh, a great book collector. As this binding is
identical with another known to have belonged to Count MacCarthy,
it seems virtually certain that this is one of the volumes which
Wier bound while at Toulouse, in the 1770's.
COOPER ,Anthony Ashley, 3rd Earl of Shaftesbury
Characteristicks
Birmingham: 1772 [BD13-e.1-3]
From the tools and the fact that the text is ruled in red, it
would seem that this binding may be by Richard Wier or Weir.
CATO,
Dionysius
The Book callid Cathon
Westminster: Caxton, 1483 [Bv.2.16]
This volume is from the library of James West, 1704-1772, Joint
Secretary to the Treasury, who was described by Dibdin as a 'Non-Pareil Collector'. The Gothick window panelling on
the spine was intended to match the remodelling in the Gothick
taste of the manor house he bought at Alscot, near
Stratford-on-Avon, and is typical of his bindings, of which there
are several in the Hunterian collection. John Ratcliffe bought
this book for £4.7s.6d at West's sale in 1773 and
presumably William Hunter acquired it at Ratcliffe's sale
three years later.
LIBRI,
Guglielmo
Catalogue de la bibliothèque de
M. L*****
Paris: 1847 [Mu30-b.5]
Signed binding by Francis Bedford, 1799-1883, who was foreman for
Charles Lewis and later became the leading Victorian binder. He
was described by Hobson as "an admirable craftsman, content as
a designer to be merely imitative". This was Libri's own copy.
BIBLE
(Latin)
Paris: 1504 [Du-d.7]
A fine binding in the fan style by J. Carss & Co. of
Glasgow, a well-known firm in the early nineteenth century.
Dibdin describes Carss as "the favourite bookbinder among the
cognoscenti at Glasgow".
GIFFARD,
George
A dialogue concerning witches and witchcraft
London: 1603 [Ag-d.46]
Signed binding by Roger de Coverly, a late nineteenth century
London binder. T.J. Cobden-Sanderon studied binding in his shop
in 1883, and in 1894, the year that Cobden-Sanderson established
the Doves Bindery, Charles McLeish the younger was apprenticed to
de Coverly, who at that time was working with his two sons.
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|
CHURCH OF ENGLAND |
LORENZO
DE' MEDICI
Poesie volgari
Venice: 1554 [BD1-h.7]
Binding by Robert Fairbairn, who was in partnership with Thomas
Armstrong 1820-26 and in business alone 1826-40. He was obviously
known as a skilled craftsman before 1817 since he was praised by
Dibdin in the Bibliographical Decameron and described as
"of the Payno-Lewisian school". The corner-pieces of the
present binding are copies of those used by Roger Payne. The
gauffered, gilt and coloured edges are interesting.
ZINCGREF,
Julius Wilhelm
Emblematum ethico-politicorum centuria
Frankfurt: 1624 [S.M.
1114]
This binding is signed by Benjamin Fargher and John Lindner, who
were in partnership from about 1802 until 1808 at 3 Exeter Court,
Strand, London. It has been suggested that they took over Roger
Payne's tools and may have been his disciples. The book is from
the White Knights Library, the property of George Spencer, 5th
Duke of Marlborough, 1766-1840, which was sold in 1819;
presumably the binding was executed for him. Several other
bindings from White Knights in Glasgow University Library have
similar bindings and, though unsigned, were almost certainly
bound by Fargher & Lindner.
PAISLEY.
Monastery
Registrum Monasterii de Passelet
Edinburgh: 1832 [Mu39-a.19]
A signed binding by James Hayday with the hand-coloured bookplate
of Joseph Walter King Eyton. Hayday was a London binder whose
name first appeared in the directories in 1825 and who died in
1876, aged 72. He bound a number of books for Eyton, some of them
very elaborate productions. This one is handsome and dignified,
in a contemporary style.
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APICIUS,
Caelius |
A very proper treatise, wherein is briefly sett
forthe the arte of limming
London: 1573 [S.M.
1161]
The binding of this book is identical with one illustrated in
Seymour De Ricci's English collectors
(plate VII) and
there described as a binding made for John Bellingham Inglis in
1825. De Ricci states that in 1826 Inglis sold anonymously a
small but extremely choice collection of early plays which were
uniformly bound in this way. The present volume is also from the
collection of J.B. Inglis. The binding is signed by W. Pratt,
presumably William Pitt Pratt, who was in business as a binder in
London from 1823 to 1838.
GRAY,
Thomas
Elegy written in a country churchyard
London: 1846 [BD6-f.12]
This was the first of a series of bindings, probably designed by
Owen Jones, in deeply embossed leather, often with gold lining or
tooling along the edges and inside on the squares. For some of
these, parts of the design must have been built up under the
leather as well as punched by steel or brass die. The firm of
Remnant & Edmonds specialized in making these and other
embossed bindings and was awarded a Prize Medal for them at the
Great Exhibition.
GALAUP
DE CHASTEUIL, Jean de
Discours sur les arcs triomphaux
Aix: 1624 [S.M.
1652]
Binding by the firm of J. Leighton, Brewer Street. John Leighton,
one of a family of bookbinders who were in business in London
from 1764 until 1920, opened his shop in Brewer Street, Golden
Square, in 1820.
HORACE
Poemata
Florence: 1519 [BD2-i.22]
Binding by Charles Lewis in imitation of a French Renaissance
style, with gilt and gauffered edges. The volume has the
bookplate of Edwrd Vernon Utterson, 1777-1856, a book collector
of importance, and it was probably bound for him. Charles Lewis,
1786-1836, was the most renowned London bookbinder of his time.
JOHNSON,
John
Typographia
London: 1824 [Mu30-b.11,12]
Signed binding in the pointillé style by James MacLehose of
Glasgow. MacLehose began business as a bookseller in Glasgow in
1838 and about 1862 he established a bookbinding shop where he
had his fine leather work done in his own style and with a
perfection of workmanship that is seldom attained.
MOORE,
James
A narrative of the campaign of the British
army in Spain
London: 1809 [I.3.4]
A handsome contemporary binding by Alexander Macnair, with his
binder's tocket. It has purple silk endpapers with a gilt
roll-tooled border and wide turn-ins lavishly tooled in gold.
Macnair, whose address was 8 Queen Street, Golden Square, London,
was a master binder by 1802 and is listed as one in 1813.
BIBLE
Psalms. The Psalms of David in metre
Edinburgh: 1829 [Mu39-d.12]
A fine binding by John Nelson & Co. of Glasgow, with pale
pink watered silk doublures and gilt and gauffered edges.
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LESLIE,
John |
HUMPHREYS,
Henry Noel
The coinage of the British empire
London: 1854 [BD4-d.26]
This is one of the black papier maché bindings which were
supreme examples of Victorian Gothic and perhaps the biggest
triumph among all the ingenuities of Victorian commercial
bookbinding. They were manufactured by a patent process
consisting of a mixture of papier maché and plaster composition,
usually on a metal framework.
COWPER,
William
Poems
London: 1819 [BD20-i.1,2]
These volumes are examples of landscape bindings. In the
centre of the covers are panels on which are drawn freehand
(probably using both a pen and a brush, perhaps with a weak
solution of copperas) romantic landscapes, a different one on
each cover. The binding is by John Wansbrough of Bristol.
The
Paston Letters
London: 1840-41 [BD4-f.19]
A handsome binding in the 'antique' style which became very
popular in England following Prince Albert's marriage to Queen
Victoria in 1840, because it was though to be a German style. The
binding is signed by John Wright, who was described by Ramsden as "a binder of the highest order".
Baltimore Museum of Art The history of bookbinding 1957
Craig, M. Irish bookbindings 1954
Hobson, G.D. Thirty bindings 1926
Hobson, G.D Bindings in Cambridge libraries 1929
Hobson, G.D English bindings, 1490-1940 in the Library of J.R. Abbey 1940
McDonnell, Joseph Five hundred years of the art of the book in Ireland 1997
Mitchell, W.S. A history of Scottish bookbinding 1432 to 1650 1955
Nixon, H.M. Twelve books in fine bindings from the library of J. W. Hely-Hutchinson 1953
Nixon, H.M. Broxbourne Library; styles and designs of bookbindings 1956
Oldham, J.B. Shrewsbury school Library bindings 1943
Oldham, J.B. English blind-stamped bindings 1952
Oldham, J.B. Blind panels of English binders 1958
Ramage, C. Bookbinders of the United Kingdom (Outside London) 1780-1840 1954
Ramage C. London bookbinders 1780-1840 1956
