Fig. 18.—Common Prayer. London, 1662. Charles II.
The second division are bound in red or dark morocco, the boards being decorated with what is known as the “Cottage” design, usually having the crowned monogram in the centre, the remaining spaces being more or less filled with masses of small stamped work. The fillets and many of the flowers and ornaments are often picked out with black stain.
The third division are bound in red or black morocco, ornamented with mosaic work of coloured leathers—red, yellow, green, and white. Many of these books are so intricate in their design that they deserve special mention; but it may be said, generally, that the leading motive upon them is a modification or elaboration of the cottage design, so called because its leading motive is in the shape of the gable of a cottage roof.
One of the earliest bindings done for Charles is a copy of the Bible and Prayer Book, printed at Cambridge, 1660. It is a large book covered in red morocco, and has a rectangular panel and border, with the royal coat-of-arms in the centre, all richly decorated with small gold stamp-work. The binding is not very characteristic of Mearne, although it is often considered to be his work, and bears some of his stamps. Neither the crowned monogram which is used upon it, nor the crowned dove bearing an olive branch, is found on any other bindings by Mearne. The stamp of the dove with the olive branch is of course symbolical of Charles’s return to the throne of his ancestors. The book may have been bound for special presentation to Charles on his accession to the throne.
In the royal library at Windsor are several specimens of Charles II. bindings. Among them are three copies of Charles I.’s Eikon Basilike. One of them is bound in dark blue morocco, with large royal coat-of-arms and supporters, crest and crown. Another in olive morocco is delicately stamped with arabesques, and the crowned initials C. R.; it has two silver clasps, with medallion portraits of Charles I. Another is bound in calf, having in the centre of each board a decorative portrait medallion of Charles I. in silver, within an ornamental border of figures and arabesques, having also engraved silver corner-pieces on the two front corners.
In the same library a copy of the Bible, 1660, and Taylor’s Rule of Conscience, 1676, are bound respectively in black and red morocco, and are brilliant specimens of Samuel Mearne’s work. The boards are covered with many irregular small panels, each closely filled with small stamped work. The Bible was lent to the Burlington Fine Arts Club in 1891, and is figured both in their Catalogue and in Mr. Holmes’s book of the bookbindings at Windsor. A copy of the works of Charles I., 1662, now at Windsor, is a beautiful example of Samuel Mearne’s inlaid work. It is bound in deep red morocco, with an inner panel marked with white leather. In the centre is the royal coat, with supporters and crest; and the remainder of the boards, especially the corners, are ornamented with elaborate inlays of green and yellow leather, and richly stamped in gold.
The British Museum is also rich in Charles II. bindings. The Common Prayer, printed in London in 1622, measuring 17¼ × 11½ inches, was bound for him in black morocco, elaborately inlaid, and stamped in gold ([Fig. 18]). A broad, yellow, rectangular panel encloses at the present time a stamp of the coat-of-arms of one of the Georges. This, of course, is a subsequent addition, and it is impossible to say for certain whether there was originally any stamp in the centre of the book or not; but probably there was a crowned initial. The inner sides and corners of this panel are ornamented with mosaics of white, red, and yellow leather, with gilded sprays and small stamps. The outer edges of the panel have at the top and bottom a cottage arrangement, filled in with small dotted scale ornament, and further decorated with red mosaic inlays, having gold stamps and sprays. A somewhat similar arrangement at the sides has scale patterns and red mosaics, and the crowned initials of the king are impressed at the roof angles. The gilt front edges of this volume are decorated with paintings of incidents chosen from the life of Christ, executed under the gold, and only visible when held in a certain position.