for him, the majority of which still remain.
CHAPTER III
JAMES I.--HENRY PRINCE OF WALES--CHARLES I.--CHARLES II.--JAMES
II.--WILLIAM AND MARY--ANNE
Up to the present, as far as bookbinding is concerned, I have only
recorded one change in the royal coat of England, when Henry VIII., in
1528, altered his supporters, but on the accession of James I. to the
throne of England a much greater and more important change took place. Not
only was the shield of Scotland added, but also that of Ireland, which,
although Elizabeth seems to have used it sometimes, was never before
officially adopted. The harp of "Apollo Grian" has, equally with the
Scottish coat, remained an integral part of our royal shield ever since.
The coats of France and England were now quartered and placed in the first
and fourth quarters, the coat of Scotland in the second quarter, and the
coat of Ireland in the third. With minor changes and additions, this coat
remained the same until the reign of George III., who, in 1801, finally
omitted the coat of France. As to the supporters, James I. retained the
crowned lion of Henry VIII., and substituted one of his white unicorns for
the red dragon of Cadwallader; and these supporters remain unaltered to
the present day.
The fashion of stamping in gold on velvet, one example of which I have
already described as having been done for Edward VI. or Elizabeth, was
practised to a considerable extent for James I., and there are several
examples of it. James evidently thought much of the Tudor descent, by
virtue of which he held his English throne; and he used the Tudor emblems
freely. One large stamp was cut for him with the coat-of-arms just
described within a crowned Garter, all enclosed in an ornamental oval
border, in which are included the falcon badge of Queen Elizabeth, the
double rose, portcullis, and fleur-de-lis of the Tudors, and the plume of
the Prince of Wales. This stamp commonly occurs on leather bindings, but
it also occurs, used with great effect, stamped in gold or velvet. A very
charming specimen of this is on a copy of _Bogusz_, [Greek: DIASKEPSIS]
_Metaphysica_, printed on satin at Sedan, 1605, which is bound in crimson
velvet, and has two blue silk ties at the front edge. At each of the four
corners of the large stamp are four small decorative stamps. It is a
presentation copy to James I., and has an autograph of Henry Prince of
Wales inside the cover. In the Manuscript Department of the British
Museum, belonging also to the old royal library, is a small book bound in
dark green velvet, in the centre of which is stamped, in gold, the royal
coat-of-arms within an ornamental border, into which is introduced the
design of a thistle. An outer border of gold lines has decorative stamps
at each corner. The manuscript is about the introduction of Christianity
into England. These two designs, or amplifications of them, are the only
ones that I have met with on stamped velvet bindings done for James.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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