TUDOR ROSE
Device.—A Tudor Rose arg. and gu., seeded or and leaved vert, within a ribbon bearing the legend HEC ROSA VIRTUTIS DE CELO MISSA SERENO ETERNŪ FLORENS REGIA SCEPTRA FERET.
Supporters.—Two kneeling angels.
Badges.—In the dexter corner a sun in glory and the shield of St. George, arg., a cross gu.
In the sinister corner a half-moon with face, and the shield of the City of London, arg., a cross gu.; in the first quarter a sword in pale of the last, point upwards. In the sky stars.
Initials.—I.N., i.e. Ihon Norins, with his trade device.
[Cicero. Commentarii questionum Tusculanarum. Parhisii, 1509.]
This stamp is generally found in combination with one or other of the armorial stamps which I have figured and placed under the heading of Henry VIII. No doubt there was some authority given to use these Royal emblems, and although so far no reliable account of such authority is forthcoming, it is likely enough that members of the Stationers' Company may have been granted the privilege. On all these bindings the coat-of-arms of the City of London appears. On many of them are also initials which are very often those of well-known contemporary printers and binders. The original stamps were cut in latten, a form of brass—copper and zinc—and impressed on the leather in blind, that is without gold, the design showing in low relief.
The latten plates were probably attached to wooden blocks by means of two or more metal pins, and in many instances, by reason of irregular pressure, these pins, the tops of which were engraved in continuation of the general design, have been forced a little out of their normal level. The result is that they show very clearly as indented marks. The pressure necessary to make a good impression from one of these large stamps is considerable; it may have been done by a slow constant pressure or by quick pressure from hammer strokes, and the leather was in any case softened by water. Bindings with these stamps upon them were either of calf or sheep-skin.
