A copy of the Psalms, printed in London in 1643, is covered in white satin and embroidered. It may have belonged to King Charles, and was purchased by the British Museum in 1888. In the centre, in an oval medallion, is a minute portrait of the king, wearing a crown with miniver cape and red robe, with the jewel of the Garter flanked by the letters C. R. Enclosing this is an arrangement of arabesques and flowers, worked respectively in silver or gold guimp and coloured silks. There is no record with the book, but it is quite possible that it was worked for the king. It is one of the smallest embroidered books existing, measuring little more than 3 inches by 2. At Windsor there is a copy of the Book of Common Prayer, printed in 1638. It is bound in blue velvet, and richly embroidered in silver guimp. In the centre are the Prince of Wales' feathers, enclosed within a circular Garter, and surmounted by a prince's coronet, with C. P. on either side of it. Below are the rose and the thistle. A rich outer border of arabesques encloses the central design. Her Majesty lent this book to the Burlington Fine Arts Club in 1891. It was figured in the _Queen_ of August 15, in the same year. There are several other bindings at Windsor that belonged to Charles; among them a particularly charming specimen covers a copy of _Ecphrasis Paraphraseos, G. Buchanani in Psalmos_, 1620. It is a small book, and bears the Prince of Wales' feathers in the centre, within a border of crosses, patée, and fleurs-de-lis, surrounded by the Garter. It has large corner-stamps and a semée of fleurs-de-lis. The other bindings made for Charles I. in the same library generally bear the royal coat-of-arms and large corner-stamps, and dates often occur upon them. [Illustration: New Testament, etc. London, 1643. Charles I.] [Illustration: FIG. 17.--_Dallington. Aphorismes, Civill and Militarie. London, 1613. Charles Prince of Wales._] Charles himself certainly took very considerable interest in bookbinding, and abundant evidence of this is found in the history of Nicholas Ferrar's establishment at Little Gidding, in Huntingdonshire, the beginning and ending of which was synchronous with Charles's reign. The king visited Little Gidding more than once, and always evinced the liveliest interest in its work, a very important part of which was bookbinding. The most remarkable feature about these Little Gidding bindings, which were the work of amateur hands, was the stamped work on velvet, which actually reached its highest development under the auspices, and probably by the hands, of some of the Collet family, nieces of Nicholas Ferrar. They bound books for Charles and for both his sons; but, unfortunately, no specimen of their finer stamped work done for either of these princes is in the British Museum.