PLATE XII.
CALF BINDING OF “TROGUS POMPEIUS. CHOROGRAPHICA, 1546” MADE FOR PRINCE EDWARD.
See page [81.]
There are other embroidered books of the time of Henry VIII., which were worked for him by his daughter Elizabeth, but although these probably enough were put together for her by Berthelet, the designs upon them have nothing of his about them, having in all probability been designed by the princess herself. Some of these are at the Bodleian Library at Oxford, and others in the British Museum; the finest of them have been already figured and described.[A]
[A] Davenport, “English Embroidered Bookbindings.” Kegan Paul, London, 1899.
There certainly are enough specimens left of such ornamental bindings to show that plain leather bindings were not always considered elaborate enough in appearance to compensate entirely for the loss of the gold-jewelled and enamelled productions which immediately preceded them; and it seems wonderful that bindings made in such apparently fragile materials as velvet and satin should not only be in existence but actually in a very good state of preservation, though faded in colour. They are really much more enduring than is generally imagined, but unquestionably numbers of them, worked on velvet, satin, and canvas, have perished or been worn out long ago. Embroidered books were made for all the Tudors, mostly on velvet, and a little later, in the time of Charles I., numbers of them, usually small, were embroidered on satin. The dates of the manuscripts bound in embroidered velvet and satin by Berthelet are not quite certain, but it is probable that his work of this kind in both these materials is the earliest made in England.
The greater number of bindings made by Thomas Berthelet belonged, as might be expected, to Henry VIII., Edward VI., or Mary; that is to say, they formed part of the old Royal Library of England. This old Royal Library, or as much as was then left of it, was given by George II. to the British Museum in 1757, and it forms perhaps the most valued special collection in that institution. It must not, however, be supposed that every old English royal book was really included in this library, for by some means or other a very considerable number of them were separated from the rest, and now exist scattered all over England, in private libraries as well as at Windsor. Such books now seldom come into the open market, and if they do, they are generally purchased by the state, and so return to their old companions. Also, royal bookbinders did some work outside their official limits, and small bindings of an unimportant kind, evidently the work of Berthelet, are not uncommon in England. They are always charming, and the simplicity of the quiet blind lines running side by side with others in bright gold on the rich brown calf is quite delightful; such simple covers usually have a rectangular panel with small Italian fleurons at the outer corners, and usually an initial, monogram, or heraldic ornament in the centre.
Before printing was used in England, the commonest leather for bindings was goat or sheep, but Berthelet found his favourite Italian bindings were largely bound in calf, a leather having a beautiful surface, and in some ways easier to gild than goat. I believe he was the first English binder to use this leather exclusively; it was rarely used in England before his time, although it was common on the Continent. His calf bindings, with few exceptions, are still in excellent condition, and are always of a beautiful rich brown colour. Many of these volumes have been, I think unnecessarily, rebacked; certainly in all such cases the old backs should have been preserved, which has not always been done. There is, however, no doubt that the calf used on Berthelet’s bindings may still be considered quite sound, whereas books bound in that leather within the last fifty years, or even less, are now all powdering away. In spite of greater chemical knowledge and presumably better processes of tanning and preparing leather, the conclusion that this material, as produced to-day, is not a fitting one for books is forced upon us.