All these borders passed into the hands of Peter Short, Denham’s successor, and afterwards into those of Humfrey Lownes. They thus form an interesting link between the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, as in 1602 another of Fleming’s books, The Diamond of Devotion, was printed by Peter Short, and each page of this, like its predecessor, had a border, and these show variations from those used before: (1) a border of flowers in an interlaced design, seen on sig. M 2 and elsewhere throughout the book, and (2) a design with the letters E. R., i.e. Elizabeth Regina, with a fleur-de-lys at either end.
In other respects the seventeenth century has little to show in the way of borders, and what it has are neither original nor striking. The engraved title-page came into fashion, but as these belong rather to a History of Engraving than a book on Printers’ Ornaments, they are not dealt with in the present volume. What woodcut borders are met with had done duty in the preceding century, and were generally the worse for wear. But there are one or two uncommon ones to which I should like to draw attention. Amongst the Bagford fragments in the British Museum (Harl. 5927, 155) is a title-page to the second part of Thomas Scot’s Philomythie, or Philomythologie, with the imprint, “Printed at London for Francis Constable, 1616.” This title is surrounded with a light and graceful geometrical border. None of the editions of 1616 in the British Museum appear to have this second part of Philomythie.
In 1641 a curious border resembling a twisted skein of wool, printed white on a black ground, is seen on the title-page of the Rev. T. Denison’s sermon, The White Wolf.
The fleuron borders still continued to be popular, but no such effective use was made of them as in the days of Bynneman and East.
An interesting example of the combination of the two classes of ornament—i.e. the fleuron and the decorative block—is found in the early part of this century. In 1613 the printer John Beale, whose material and work were notoriously bad, printed the second edition of William Martyn’s Youth’s Instructor, and he made up a border to the title-page in the following manner: At the top he built up a gable end of various units of fleuron, enclosed between printers’ rules. Below this he placed a decorative head-piece, the double A, with two naked children. On either side of the title he built up a column of fleurons and other ornaments, and at the bottom he placed another decorative block in which the prominent features are two winged figures blowing horns, and two birds, evidently intended for peacocks, are perched on the filials at the bottom. The whole is a curious medley, and I know of no other like it. Both the decorative blocks used in this border, or copies of them, are found in the hands of other printers at this time. Other small ornaments came into use during the sixteenth century. The national emblems the rose, the thistle, and the harp crowned, each a separate unit, but generally used together; the acorn, the fleur-de-lys, stars and various other forms to which it is difficult to give a name, are found, and towards the close of the century we come upon a border made up of ten printers’ rules set close and printed in red and black, which has a novel if not very artistic appearance. The use of rules, not only on the title-page, but on every page of a book, dates back to the sixteenth century, and was probably a relic of the days when all manuscripts were rubricated, and it was adopted by the sixteenth century printers as an adornment for all manner of service books, particularly Bibles.
In the eighteenth century borders of any kind are rare, but two are here reproduced: that to Dodsley’s edition of Gray’s Elegy, printed in 1751, and the border used by John Wilson of Kilmarnock, when printing the first edition of Burns’s Poems in 1786.
Although, as we have seen, it was at Oxford that the earliest use of a border in English books is found, the University printers of that city in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries were content to follow in the footsteps of the London men, and until we come to the work of M. Burghers, late in the seventeenth century, there is nothing that calls for special notice.
Burghers’ engraved title-pages do not come within the scope of this work, for reasons already stated.
Cambridge has a somewhat better record: Siberch, the first printer there, had a woodcut border which is found in most of his early books. It is either German or Dutch in character. Its design is architectural, showing an arch supported by curiously decorated columns, with children, one of whom has wings, playing round them. Two other winged figures are seen on the arch, and two more in the bottom compartment, are acting as supporters to the Royal Arms. As Siberch’s sign was the Arma Regia, this bottom block is said to represent it. As a specimen of the woodcutters’ art this border is of no great merit; it is a one-piece border, and it has been reproduced scores of times. But as being the earliest border used in Cambridge it calls for mention in this volume, and we give a reproduction of it. In the seventeenth century the Cambridge printers built up some effective borders with small ornaments. An extremely pretty one is seen round the title-page of the Clavis Apocalyptica, printed by Thomas Buck in 1632. In this instance thirty-nine units are used in a space of 110 mm. and placed within rules, giving the whole a neat and pleasing appearance. In 1633 Roger Daniel printed an octavo edition of Dionysius, and used as a border to the title-page a flower perhaps meant for a rose, with stalk and leaves, measuring only 4 × 2 mm., and he placed the units in a double row.
In another case the ornament looks like a fleur-de-lys rising from a slender stem with a leaf on either side. The unit measures 5 × 4 mm., and a double row is made with them.