Fig. 77.—English embroidered book, velvet. Made for Henry VIII.
One of the handsomest, which may be taken as a type, is a copy of the indentures made between Abbot Islip and Henry VII. for the foundation of the chantry at Westminster. It is a large manuscript on vellum, and is covered in rich red velvet projecting liberally over the edges, and bound with gold fringe. In the centre is a circular silver cup-like boss, containing the royal coat of arms, France and England quarterly, with supporters of red dragon of Cadwallader and white greyhound of De Beaufort, cut out of silver and enamelled in proper colours. At each corner is a circular silver boss containing the De Beaufort device of a portcullis gilt and cut in low relief, and set on an enamelled background of the Tudor livery colours, green and white, per pale. There are clasps of cloth of gold braid, fastening with a chased silver-gilt button bearing an enamelled rose, and dependent from the lower edge of the board are five silver boxes bearing Tudor emblems in relief, each containing an impression of the great seal.
It is also recorded by Paul Hentzner that in 1598 he saw Queen Elizabeth’s library, and that many of them were bound in velvet and embroidered, a note that is fully corroborated by such of her books as now remain.
But there were also books embroidered upon canvas in the fifteenth century, one of which is now in the British Museum. It is a psalter of the fourteenth century, and is covered in fine canvas on which are delicate embroideries in the manner known as “Opus Anglicanum,” which looks like a chain stitch, but is really a cleverly managed split stitch.
This remarkable book, the earliest known example of an embroidered binding, has upon one side a beautiful representation of the Annunciation, and on the other a Crucifixion. It is supposed to have been worked by Anne de Felbrigge, a nun in the convent of Minoresses, at Brusyard, in Suffolk, and daughter of Sir Simon de Felbrigge, K.G., standard bearer to Richard II. It is considerably worn and faded, but the designs can all be made out.
The velvet books which were made in the next reign were ornamented with embroidered designs appliqués, and many of them are very handsome. The designs on such books were nearly always heraldic, judging from those that remain, but arabesques and floral ornamentation are often met with on satin. Queen Katharine Parr is said to have embroidered some of these books, and there is one in canvas in the British Museum, and one in canvas and one in velvet at the Bodleian, which are supposed to have been worked by the Princess Elizabeth, always with braid.
When Elizabeth came to the throne she continued her evident liking for velvet bound books, and she had them of several colours—red, green, or black. Several of these are richly embroidered, sometimes with armorial designs, sometimes floral, and sometimes arabesque. Others are decorated with brilliant enamels or gold, centrepieces, cornerpieces, and clasps, and others again have appliqué pieces of coloured satin, on which is gold tooling, some of which is actually put on the velvet itself.
Canvas is rarely found during Elizabeth’s reign, but it does exist, and is usually embroidered in a coarse manner with tent-stitch.
