Robert Dudley, the great Earl of Leicester, was the first English book collector who was possessed of any degree of taste. His cognisance of the "bear and the ragged staff" appears on the sides of a (generally) quite plain binding, although sometimes a rough attempt at ornamentation is found. Archbishop Parker, and Burghley the Lord Treasurer, had good libraries of well-bound books, and one specimen from Bothwell's collection is known to exist. This, the _Larismetique et Geometrie_ of La Roche, _Lyon_, 1538, was in the possession of the late Mr. Gibson-Craig, and is mentioned by him in his _Fac-similes of Old Book-Binding_. It is in the original calf gilt, with gilt _gaufre_ edges, and on the sides are the arms of James Hepburn, Earl of Bothwell. Although Bothwell is known to have possessed literary tastes, books from his library are excessively rare. This fine book belonged originally to the family of Forbes of Tolquhon, and a signature and date 1588 written on the title-page show that it had been acquired by them a few years after the outlawry and death of the original proprietor. At the Gibson-Craig sale this fine specimen was knocked down for L81. James I. was a bibliophile, as well as a reputed _savant_, and paid much attention to the binding of his books, some of which, now to be seen in the British Museum, are ornamented with thistles and _fleurs-de-lys_. Lord Clarendon, who died in 1674, had a very fine collection of books, many of which were bound by Notts, the most experienced English workman of that day, and who was, it appears, also patronised by Pepys, the diarist. It was not, however, until the eighteenth century that we made in this country any real advance in bookbinding. Robert Harley, the first Earl of Oxford (1661-1724), had established a library, and this had not only been added to by his son, but bound in a most expensive manner, by two workmen named Elliott and Chapman, who seem to have attained a certain amount of proficiency, and whose efforts gave rise to a new style of ornamentation known as the "Harleian". Though much inferior to the Continental designs, this had a beauty of its own, and was a vast improvement upon anything hitherto attempted by English binders. Thomas Hollis, the _litterateur_ and antiquary, who died in 1774, bound his extensive collection in calf, adding, in each instance, a device suitable to the contents of the work. Thus, as the owl is the symbol of wisdom, his scientific books bear the figure of an owl stamped on the covers. Military works have the short Roman stabbing sword, and so on.