There are in the British Museum two large volumes of an English Atlas,
measuring 23 × 15 inches. The first of them bears the large ornamental
initials C. R. crowned. It has a modification of the cottage design,
arranged in an interlacing fillet of yellow leather, within which is a
symmetrical arrangement of irregular panels, inlaid with black and yellow
morocco, all richly edged and filled in with small gold stamped work,
picked out with silver. The second volume is ornamented in a similar
manner with inlays, but has not the outer border or the initials.
Although there are many of Mearne's bindings to be found in the large
private libraries throughout England, probably the finest is that which
belongs to the Earl of Crewe, at Crewe Hall. It covers a folio Book of
Common Prayer, 1662, and bears the cottage design, outlined in yellow
leather, with scale pattern. There are fine mosaics of red, yellow, and
green leathers in the corners of the inner panel, covered with close gold
stamp-work and floral sprays. The crowned C's are in the centre within an
ornamental border, and outside the yellow panel are red and green mosaics,
thickly covered with small gold work.
Mr. Almack, in his valuable _Bibliography of the King's Book_ or _Eikon
Basilike_, gives a plate of a binding that covers an edition of 1649, but
which was bound for Charles II. by Samuel Mearne. It bears the royal
coat-of-arms, with garter and crest, within a rectangular panel enriched
with small gold stamps. It is in red morocco. Several of the editions of
the _Eikon_ bear the initials C. R. upon their covers, with other emblems,
but it is most likely that these letters refer to the author rather than
to the owner.
Mr. E. H. Lawrence lent to the Burlington Fine Arts Club Exhibition of
Bookbindings an exquisite specimen of Samuel Mearne's work. It is a
collection of anthems, with music, bound in dark blue morocco. It is
elaborately stamped in gold, with a curved adaptation of the cottage
design, closely filled in with masses of small gold work along the inner
and outer edges. The crowned monogram, with laurel sprays, is in the
centre of each of the sides, and it has a rich double border of scale
patterns filled with gold stamped work.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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