A remarkable binding on calf, executed for Queen Elizabeth, is on a large
Bible printed at Lyons, measuring 16-1/2 inches by 11, each board being
double (Fig. 12). The upper board is pierced in several places, showing
underneath it a lower level covered with green calf, and decorated with
small stars and arabesques. The upper boards on both sides of the book are
elaborately stamped in gold and painted in enamel colours, and in each
case an oval, painted panel occupies the centre. The upper cover of the
book has in the central oval a charming sunk miniature portrait of
Elizabeth as a young woman, dressed in jewelled robes and head-dress, and
carrying a sword or sceptre. The portrait is enclosed in a very delicately
painted frame of jewelled goldsmith's work. This painting is unfortunately
damaged, especially in the face, and it seems to be executed in opaque
water-colours, varnished, on vellum. Immediately round the miniature, on
the leather, is a very elaborately painted and gilded oval ribbon with the
words "ELIZABETH DEI GRATIA ANG. FRAN. HIB. REGINA." The broad, irregular,
oval border itself has a design of interlacing fillets and floral emblems
of considerable beauty, winged horses and Cupids, all picked out in
colours. This very large stamp, measuring 9 inches in length, which is now
and then found on books other than royal, is the largest English stamp
known to me. There are cartouches left in the upper leather above and
below this central arrangement, and they are of a similar ornamentation
and colour, as are also the very handsome corners. The other side of the
book is similarly decorated, with the differences that the centre
painting, by the same hand, is the royal coat-of-arms of England in an
egg-shaped, oval form, surrounded by the Garter, within an Elizabethan
scroll. Over the crown is a canopy of green and red, and the supporters of
the lion and red dragon are in their proper places. Underneath the coat is
the motto "DIEU ET MON DROIT" on an ornamental panel, and the legend
lettered on the leather immediately surrounding the painting reads "POSUI
DEUM ADIVTOREM MEUM." On the lower cartouche on this side is the date of
the binding, "MDLXVIII." This binding, when new, must have been one of the
finest and most elaborately decorated of any of the leather bindings made
for an English sovereign. The back of the volume, nearly 5 inches in
width, is also very finely ornamented with an Elizabethan pattern outlined
in gold and coloured in keeping with the rest of the ornamental work. Its
present condition is unfortunate. The restorations, which have been
largely added, have, however, the merit of being at once apparent, as
little or no trouble has been in this case taken to reproduce the old
stamps. The gilt edges are beautifully gauffred, and are picked out here
and there with colour. The design is a complicated arabesque with masks,
and on the lower edge a curious design of an animal resembling a unicorn.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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