Fig. 81.—English golden book, made for Henry VIII.
But the English, German, French, Italian, and Dutch bindings with metal enrichments are pretty well known and generally admired. The English are the finest by far, and, as far as I can ascertain, the earliest. In the reign of Henry VIII. it was the fashion for ladies to carry small books of devotion at their girdle. These little books were always ornamental, and they had a ring fixed on the lower edge of the binding so that when the book was lifted up it came right for reading. One of these belonged to one of the queens of Henry VIII.; it is a copy of the Psalms, and is bound in gold with a delicate leafy spray in high relief. On it are remains of enamel, and in the beginning is a tiny miniature of the king.
Another beautiful little golden book with a design, probably by Holbein, in black enamel, is now the property of Lord Romney.
Several small golden bindings with scriptural subjects in high relief and enamelled were made late in the sixteenth century. Most of these are now divorced from their original texts, and are only kept as specimens of enamel work, but in one instance the whole book is perfect. This is a little book of prayers that belonged to Queen Elizabeth. On one side of it is the Serpent in the Wilderness and on the other the Judgment of Solomon.
For the same queen a little copy of Christian Meditations was bound in red velvet with golden centrepieces, corners, and clasps. The enamels in this case are champlevé, and still perfect in colour. They are said to have been the work of George Heriot, Elizabeth’s goldsmith, who founded a hospital in Edinburgh.
James VI. of Scotland wrote the βασιλικον Δωρον for his son Henry, and the precious MS. was bound in purple velvet with golden centrepiece and clasps. The gold is cut out thin and then finished by engraving. When king of England James had some of his books bound in velvet with silver enrichments. On one of these, a little book of Christian Meditations, which is bound in purple velvet, the royal coat-of-arms is engraved on the centre oval, and on the corners are the national crests of England and Scotland, the crowned harp of Ireland, and the fleur-de-lis of France.
A beautiful little New Testament of 1643 with silver portraits of Charles I. and Queen Henrietta Maria, and cornerpieces and clasps engraved with allegorical figures, shows that metal on velvet was still a popular style, but on later bindings in England metal centrepieces fell quite out of use. Metal corners, however, were still used for some time, and clasps occasionally.
Bindings entirely of silver are rare in English workmanship, but they were not unknown, as a fine specimen with a repoussé figure of Charity covers a Common Prayer of 1632.
Fig. 82.—German binding in silver filigree and niello.