A copy of the Book of Common Prayer, printed in London, 1669, is covered
in red morocco, and bears upon each board a modification of the roofed
pattern, stained black, and broken by curves at the upper and lower points
and at the sides. In the centre, the crowned C's are enclosed in a small
inner fillet, coloured black, and supplemented with very delicate
arabesque stamped work in gold. The inner angles of the roof and sides are
filled with scale patterns in dots. Above and below the centre-piece are
bold leaf sprays. The corners and spaces throughout are filled with very
close gold stamped arabesques, circles, and small flowers. It has an
elaborate outer border of an enlarged scaled pattern filled with small
stamps. The book is a very beautiful one, and is, in some ways, the finest
specimen of Mearne's work existing. It has frequently been figured. Under
the gilding on the front edges is a painting, having as its centre motive
the design of the crowned C's and the laurel branches already mentioned.
This method of painting under the gold, which appears to have been first
done by an artist of the name of Fletcher, is frequently found on Mearne's
bindings. The custom dropped into disuse after his time, until it was
revived by Edwards of Halifax about a hundred years later.
A copy of the Scottish Laws and Acts of James I., Edinburgh, 1661, is
covered in red morocco. It has in the centre a large irregular panel,
inlaid in black morocco, bearing the royal coat-of-arms, crowned, within
the Garter, and the initials C. II. R., the rest of the black panel being
thickly gilded with ornamental sprays. There are large angle-pieces of
yellow leather, richly stamped, and at the sides, upper, and lower edges
of each board are urns carrying large branching sprays, with flowers
inlaid in yellow and black leathers.
_A short View of the late Troubles in England_, Oxford, 1681 (Fig. 19),
is bound in red morocco, and ornamented all over the boards with small,
irregular panels, outlined by broad gold lines, and filled with mosaics of
black and yellow leather, all ornamented thickly with small gold
stamp-work. In the centre, on a black panel, are large ornamental
initials, "C. R.," crowned. Although this binding has many points in
common with Samuel Mearne's work, it is lacking in finish, and it is
probably the work of his son Charles, who afterwards succeeded him as
royal binder. A copy of Fox's _Book of Martyrs_, London, 1641, also bound
in Mearne's fashion, bears upon its front edges, under the gilding, a
portrait of the king in his coronation robes. It is figured in
_Bibliographica_, part viii., and is signed "Fletcher."
[Illustration: FIG. 20.--_Bible. Cambridge, 1674. James II._]
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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