Berthelet used also a very decorative white leather, supposed to be deerskin or doeskin, prepared with lime in the same manner as vellum. This leather is soft and creamy in colour; it has a smooth surface and takes gilding to perfection. There are not many instances of its use, but those that do exist are always perfectly strong and sound, except where they show signs of fair wear and tear. The taste for white gilded leather began with Berthelet, and it has been highly esteemed as a style in England almost ever since. Such work was done for all our Tudor sovereigns, but the white deerskin soon gave place to vellum, especially during the time of our Stuart kings; and this, to some extent, has been used to the present day. Probably the strongest and most durable materials used for bookbinding at any time have been the white deerskin, white vellum, and white pigskin, the first two mentioned being chiefly used in England, and the last in Germany. This durability is most likely due to the method of preparation and the absence of any dye. Bark-tanned goatskin is also an excellent leather, and was much used in England from the twelfth century onwards.
Several of Berthelet’s bindings bear legends, and texts, dates, and names, on their sides. These inscriptions are variously arranged, but as a rule they are contained in small long panels, sometimes in circles, and rarely simply impressed on the side of the book as its chief ornament. In the cases where coats of arms are given, the initials of the owner are generally added as well. The lettering on the sides of the books is either in Greek, Latin, French, or English, examples of each of which are described below, and there is never any lettering on the backs of any of them.
Except in so far as the wording of these inscriptions is concerned, which often reads consecutively on both sides, the ornamentation is alike on both boards of all Berthelet’s bindings. The fondness for lettering sentences on the outside of his books did not stop, however, at the binding, as Berthelet carried it out also in several instances on the edges of the leaves themselves. The edges of these leaves were usually made a creamy colour, and a legend was painted upon them with gold paint. This legend, “Rex in Aeternum Vive,” is a quotation from the Book of Daniel; it is sometimes followed by the mysterious word “Neez” or “Nez,” which Mr. Edward Scott of the British Museum considers to be the three first letters of the words, Ναβουχοδονοσωρ Εσαει Ζηθι, as the phrase was addressed to that king. Whenever this legend is found on a decorative binding of the time of Henry VIII., I should say it is a sure sign of Berthelet’s royal work.
Fortunately this legend, on some of Berthelet’s earliest bindings, is associated with certain stamps of marked character, which can thus be safely considered his, and which enable us, even when they are found on other bindings without the legend, to attribute the work with certainty to him. It is my opinion that all the existing bindings in calf or white deerskin that were made for Henry VIII. and Edward VI., as well as most of those for Queen Mary, were Berthelet’s work.
The legend on the edges of the leaves of some of Berthelet’s books was not, however, the only way in which he decorated them. There are other instances where the whole edge is painted with heraldic designs in colour. This fore-edge decoration was not a new thing even in Berthelet’s time, but he seems to have been the first to adopt it in England. To some extent the ornamentation of the edges of rare volumes has been practised ever since, both in this country and abroad. The most elaborate work of the kind was, I believe, from the hand of Samuel Mearne, royal binder to Charles II., and about a hundred years after his time the fashion was revived by James Edwards of Halifax. Both these binders painted the edges of their books so that the pictures showed only when held in a certain position. Possibly the lettering on the edges of some of Berthelet’s books may have been suggested to him by the fact that in Mediæval times, when books were large and were kept on their sides with the front edges forward, it was no uncommon thing to write the title on these edges in large letters.
This title lettering is, however, very rarely ornamentally treated; it is only used as an eminently useful expedient. Berthelet makes it a decorative feature, and substitutes a legend, which may be considered as a sign of royal ownership, for the more usual title of the book.
From such collections and libraries in England as have been available to me I have chosen a few typical examples of Berthelet’s work for detailed description. I have illustrated as many as possible of the finest specimens in colour plates by Mr. William Griggs, to whom my best thanks are due for the patience with which he has endured my superintendence of his work, and my compliments for the admirable results of his unequalled skill in this particular branch of colour-printing. Each of these colour plates must yet be a little discounted as to the apparent freshness of their appearance. I think that in all prints and photographs old objects gain in this way; nevertheless, most of the books illustrated are really wonderfully preserved. The half-tone and process blocks are also by Mr. Griggs, some of them from my own drawings; the methods of producing tone blocks capable of being printed with type have made great advances in late years, but I feel that in America better results are obtained in this particular branch of art than as yet can be made by English workmen. I have arranged the bindings which I have chosen for detailed descriptions in chronological order, taking the printed date as correct; it may not be actually so in all cases, but under the circumstances I think these dates are probably near enough for all present purposes.
1528-1530 (?). Galteri Deloeni Libellus de tribus Hierarchiis. MS. Dedicated to Henry VIII. Bound in brown calf, and tooled in gold with a few blind lines. The ornamentation consists in a filling in the spaces, mostly triangular, left by the intersections of a parallelogram aligned with the edges of the boards, and a diamond. In the centre is the royal coat of arms, crowned, cleverly outlined by reversed curves. Between the crown and the top of the shield are two double roses; above the crown are two stars; at the sides are two cornucopias. Below the shield are arabesques; four single daisies, the daisy being a badge used by Henry VIII. and Edward VI. in remembrance of their descent from Margaret of Beaufort; four stars, and stamps representing the crucifixion, and a serpent, with references to texts. The four large triangular spaces between the rectangle and the diamond are ornamented with arabesques, the upper and lower spaces bearing also a stamp of the single daisy. Beyond the diamond come the four large corners, each of which is decorated in a similar way. This binding is a remarkable one, inasmuch as it contains nearly all the small stamps that Berthelet subsequently used in so many combinations, and it is probably the earliest example of gold-tooling on an English leather binding. The gilding is not well executed, and it is likely enough that this is one of his first finished attempts at such work. It is rougher than any other example, but in spite of that it is very effective and rich in appearance.
Vitae illustrium Virorum. MS. Bound in brown calf, and gold-tooled with a few lines in blind, and measuring 14½ by 9½ inches.