Royal English Bookbindings

by Cyril Davenport

Mr. Almack, in his valuable Bibliography of the King’s Book or Eikon Basilike, gives a plate of a binding that covers an edition of 1649, but which was bound for Charles II. by Samuel Mearne. It bears the royal coat-of-arms, with garter and crest, within a rectangular panel enriched with small gold stamps. It is in red morocco. Several of the editions of the Eikon bear the initials C. R. upon their covers, with other emblems, but it is most likely that these letters refer to the author rather than to the owner.

Mr. E. H. Lawrence lent to the Burlington Fine Arts Club Exhibition of Bookbindings an exquisite specimen of Samuel Mearne’s work. It is a collection of anthems, with music, bound in dark blue morocco. It is elaborately stamped in gold, with a curved adaptation of the cottage design, closely filled in with masses of small gold work along the inner and outer edges. The crowned monogram, with laurel sprays, is in the centre of each of the sides, and it has a rich double border of scale patterns filled with gold stamped work.

In the library at Windsor are several bindings that were done for James II., but they are generally of a simple kind, bearing heraldic devices in the centre enclosed in rectangular panels of more or less elaboration. At the British Museum are some Jacobean bindings of a more ornamental kind. One of these, a Cambridge Bible of 1674, is bound in crimson velvet, and has rich silk ties with bullion fringe ([Fig. 20]). It is heavily embroidered in gold, silver, and coloured silks, and bears in the centre the crowned initials “J. R.” enclosed in a strap border intertwined with rose sprays and other floral designs. In each of the corners is a cherub’s head with wings. There are two volumes, each measuring 18 × 12 inches. Although, from the size of these books and the splendid colour, they are undoubtedly of imposing appearance, neither the design nor the workmanship can be considered of a high quality.

Belonging to the King’s Library in the British Museum are two specimens, almost exactly alike except for their size, which may, for the present, be considered the finest that were done for James II. One of these is a Common Prayer, printed at Oxford in 1681. It is bound in red morocco, and has a black “cottage” fillet, broken at the angles and at each side. The crowned monogram “J. R.,” with laurel spray, occurs in several places on the boards. The remaining spaces are closely filled with small gold stamped work, similar to that used by Samuel Mearne. The book is an unusually fat one, and bears upon its broad front edges, under the gold, the most elaborate painting I have found in such a position. It has the full coat-of-arms of England, with supporters, crown, and crest, enclosed in an elaborate border of flowers, cherubs, and ribbons. This painting is in remarkably fine condition, but, like all this class of work, the appearance of it depends very largely upon the manner in which it is displayed. The companion volume is a Bible of 1685. It is bound in an almost identical way; but the painting on the edge, although brighter, is not to be compared with it, either for size or excellence.

Fig. 21.—Euclide. Oxford, 1705. Queen Anne.

A note at the beginning, signed G. Sarum, says that this was the book which “lay before His Majesty above two years in the closet of his chappell,” and afterwards it was the property of the Archbishop of Canterbury, and then of the Bishop himself.

At Windsor there is a small book bound for Mary of Modena in red morocco, with the royal coats of England and Este, crowned, and enclosed within a cordelière des veuves, the rest, with the field, being occupied with small panels ornamented in the Mearne fashion.

At the British Museum is a copy of Walter’s Poems, printed in 1668, that was dedicated by him to the Duchess of York, with an autograph poem. It is bound in black morocco, and bears the arms of England, with a label, impaled with those of Este, with supporters, and surmounted with a prince’s coronet. Above and below the coat-of-arms are curves and arabesques in dotted gold work, picked out with silver, all enclosed in a rectangular border of a Mearne pattern.