Enclosing the coat-of-arms is an ornamental border of straight lines and curves, worked with a thick gold twist, intertwined with graceful sprays of double and single roses, outlined in gold and coloured red, with buds and leaves. A few symmetrical arabesques, similarly outlined and coloured, fill in some of the remaining spaces. The work on this book, a New Testament in Greek, printed at Leyden in 1576, is like no other; but the general idea of the design, rose-sprays cleverly intertwined, is one that may be considered characteristic of the Elizabethan embroidered books, as it frequently occurs on them. The use of water-colour with embroidery is very rare, and it is never found on any but silk or satin bindings, generally as an adjunct in support of coloured-silk work over it, but in this single instance it is used alone.
Seventeenth-Century Embroidered Books.
The books described hitherto have been specimens of rare early instances, but in the seventeenth century there is a very large field to choose from. Small books, mostly religious works, were bound in satin from the beginning of the century until the time of the Commonwealth in considerable numbers; so much so, in fact, that their value depends not so much upon their designs or workmanship as upon their condition.
It is generally considered that embroidered books are extremely delicate, but this is not so; they will stand far more wear than would be imagined from their frail appearance. The embroidered work actually protects the satin, and such signs of wear as are visible are often found rather in the satin itself, where unprotected, than in the work upon it. In many cases a peculiar appearance, which is often mistaken for wear, is seen in the case of representations of insects, caterpillars, or butterflies particularly. These creatures, or parts of them, appear to consist only of slight stitches of plain thread, suggesting either that the work has never been finished, or else that the finished portions have worn away. The real fact is, however, that these places have been originally worked with small bright pieces of peacock's feather, which have either tumbled out or been eaten away by minute insects, a fate to which it is well known peacocks' feathers are particularly liable.
The late Lady Charlotte Schreiber, who was a great collector of pieces of old embroidery, among a host of other curious things possessed the only perfect instance of work of this kind of the seventeenth century I have ever been fortunate enough to find. It was a very realistic caterpillar, closely and completely worked with very small pieces of peacocks' feathers, sewn on with small stitches, quite confirming the opinion I had already formed as to the original filling in of the usual 'bald' spaces representing such objects.
Bible. London, 1619.
36—Bible. London, 1619.
A copy of a Bible, printed in London in 1619, is bound in white satin, and measures 6 by 3½ inches. On each side is an emblematic figure enclosed in an oval; the figures are different, but their surroundings are alike. On the upper side a lady holding a palm branch in her right hand is worked in shading-stitch. She is full length, and wears an orange skirt with purple robe over it confined by a blue belt, and over her shoulders a pink jacket—all these garments are outlined by a gold cord. Her fair hair is covered by an ornamental cap of red and gold, and her feet are bare.