It bears the same design on each side. A panel, enclosed by an ornamental
fillet, contains a very graceful arrangement of curves forming a central
space in which are the words "Dieu et mon Droit"; and at each side of this
the royal initials contained in two semicircles left for them. At each of
the inner corners is a large set stamp, and the ground is dotted over with
small circles and the daisy--a badge used by the Tudors probably as a
compliment to their ancestress Margaret de Beaufort. On the edges are
painted in gold the words "REX IN ÆTERNUM VIVE."
Some of the same stamps are used on another book which is probably
Berthelet's work. It is a manuscript Latin commentary on the campaign of
the Emperor Charles V. against the French in 1544, addressed by Anthonius
de Musica to Henry VIII. It is bound in brown calf, and bears within a
broad outer fillet a panel containing in the centre the royal coat-of-arms
and initials enclosed in an inner rectangular panel; above and below this
are two rectangular cartouches, with titles of the king and various
initials which have not yet been interpreted. Flanking the long central
panel are medallions of Plato and Dido, favourite stamps afterwards with
English binders, but occurring here for the first time.
A design which was probably a favourite one of Berthelet's is found on a
copy of _Opus eximium de vera differentia Regiæ Potestatis et
Ecclesiasticæ_, printed by him in 1534 (Fig. 2). There is an instance of
the same binding in the Bodleian Library at Oxford. The arms of the king,
with the supporters of the dragon and the greyhound, occupy the centre of
each board. This is enclosed in an oval ribbon bearing the words "Rex
Henricus VIII. Dieu et mon Droit," and the whole is surrounded by an
ornamental fillet with decorative corners. Above and below the shield are
crowned double roses and the initials K. H.
A collection of sixteenth-century tracts is covered with crimson satin,
and ornamented with an arabesque design outlined in gold cord. This is the
earliest English book remaining that is bound in satin, but no doubt many
more existed, as they are so often mentioned in accounts of the time. The
satin is always crimson, and, curiously enough, long afterwards under the
Stuarts the use of satin was revived, but of a white colour. This
collection of tracts was certainly enough bound for the king, as it has
the peculiarity of the motto painted on its edges in gold, "REX IN ÆTERNUM
VIVE NEEZ," which seems to have been a favourite form of decoration of
Berthelet's, so very likely this is one of his books.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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