Fig. 13.—Gospels in Anglo-Saxon and English.
London, 1571. Queen Elizabeth.
A smaller example, with centre-piece and angle inlays only, in all other ways exactly resembling the book just described, was printed in London, 1571 ([Fig. 13]). It is a copy of the Gospels printed by John Day, and is the dedication copy, as is stated in a MS. note on the title-page—“Presented to the Queen’s own hands by Mr. Fox.”
A copy, printed in London in 1575, of Grant’s Græcæ Linguæ Spicilegium is covered in brown calf, and was bound for the queen. It has large corners stamped in gold from set stamps. In the centre it bears a fine stamp of the royal coat-of-arms, crowned, and surrounded by the Garter, and decorated with Elizabethan scrolls. The remainder of the groundwork is covered with a semée of small roses. Among the old royal manuscripts is a curious book, Scholarum Etonensis ovatio de adventu Reginæ Elizabethæ, 1563, covered in white vellum and stamped in gold. It bears in the centre the royal coat-of-arms enclosed in an oval ornamented border, and has large corner-pieces impressed from a set stamp, the field having a semée of small stars. The work upon this binding is of a curiously unfinished character, and it is probably the work of some unskilled local workman. The gilt edges are gauffred in a floral design, with some white colour here and there.
Anne Boleyn bore, as one of her many devices, a very decorative one of a crowned falcon holding a sceptre, standing on a pedestal, out of which is growing a rose-bush bearing white and red blossoms ([Fig. 14]). This badge occurs first in an illuminated initial letter to her patent of the Marquisate of Pembroke, and at her coronation, in a pageant at Whitehall, an image of the falcon played a prominent part. The origin of it is not very clear, but it may have been derived from the crest of Ormond, a white falcon, which is placed under the head of the Earl of Wiltshire, Queen Anne’s father, on his tomb. It was in turn adopted by Queen Elizabeth, and was exhibited on the occasion of her visit to Norwich, in 1578, as her own badge; and it occurs also on the iron railing on her tomb in Henry VII.’s chapel. The queen bore it on several of her simpler bindings impressed in the centre of each board, with usually a small acorn spray at each corner. There are several books ornamented like this in the library of Westminster Abbey, and there are examples at Windsor. The British Museum possesses few, the best example being a copy of Justinus’ Trogi Pompeii Historiarum Philippicarum epitoma, etc., printed at Paris in 1581. It originally had two ties at the front edge. At Windsor a few bindings of Elizabeth’s are still preserved; among them, a copy of Paynell’s Conspiracie of Catiline is bound in white leather, and bears the royal arms within a decorative border. It has large corners impressed by a set stamp, and has a semée of small flowers. A copy of Spenser’s Faerie Queene, printed in London in 1590, also in the Windsor Library, bears in the centre a crowned double rose, in the centre of which is a portcullis, and E. B. at each side of it. The crowned rose was a favourite design with Elizabethan bookbinders; but unless there be corroborative evidence of royal possession, I do not think that the existence of this stamp is of itself a sufficient proof of such exalted ownership.
Mr. Andrew Tuer, in his admirable History of the Horn-Book, gives a figure of one which was exhibited in the Tudor Exhibition in 1890, where it was described as the Horn-Book of Queen Elizabeth. It is said to have been given by the queen to Lord Chancellor Egerton of Tatton, and it has been preserved in his family ever since. The letterpress is covered with a sheet of talc, and the back and handle are ornamented with graceful silver filigree work, that on the back being underlaid with red silk. Mr. Tuer thinks that the type used on this Horn-Book resembles some used by John Day, the printer already mentioned; and if so, it is not altogether unlikely that Archbishop Parker himself may have presented this beautiful toy to the queen, as well as the more serious works in velvet and inlaid leather.
Fig. 14.—Centre stamp from Trogi Pompeii
Historiarum Philippicarum epitoma.
Parisiis, 1581.