The trade of Venice with the East brought these matters of ornamented leather to the notice of Venetian bookbinders, and these, men of consummate taste, at once saw the possibilities of the new art. Indeed, the Italian gold tooled bindings of the late fourteenth century are the finest that have ever yet been made, even though many of them are quite Oriental in feeling and others very strongly so. But the Venetians soon crept away from the Eastern trammels and evolved beautiful styles of their own. One of the first of these styles was the careful mingling of blind tooled lines with gilded lines; another was the use of small gilded roundels--themselves an Oriental idea--in connection with blind tooling and blind tooling coloured by hand. [Illustration: FIG. 101.--Cameo stamp of Apollo and Pegasus found on binding that belonged to D. Canevari. Italian, sixteenth century.] Then at an early date the Italians hit upon the effective use of so-called “cameo” stamps. These were sometimes cut on a flat piece of metal, as the “Canevari” stamps are, and sometimes on a bossed piece of metal, as the Alexander and Cæsar are. When on the binding these stamps show as a depression with the design in relief within it. Many of the smaller stamps of this period are worthy of notice. There is the “Arabic” knot, used on Aldine binding and derived from an Oriental original from basket work, as many of the early stamps are, the Florentine leaf and the Aldine dolphin. [Illustration: FIG. 102.--Italian gold tooled binding made for Jean Grolier.] Then there is no doubt that many of the finest of the bindings made for Jean Grolier were Italian. Who designed them and who bound them we do not know, but among the earlier examples there is no doubt that splendid work can be found. They may have been done in the workshop of Aldus Manutius, but it rather seems that the designs were made by one man, and I think it is not unlikely that Grolier himself may have always given the general idea of the decoration he wanted. The later bindings made for Grolier are curiously inferior, and sometimes in calf. The earlier and finer bindings are in morocco, which is sometimes marbled. The words “GROLIERII ET AMICORUM” are always put upon such bindings as were made for him, and the legend “PORTIO MEA DOMINE SIT IN TERRA VIVENTIUM” also generally appears in the centre of one or other of the boards. [Illustration: FIG. 103.--Italian gold tooled binding made for Jean Grolier, 1532.] Whenever Grolier acquired a book which was already very finely bound he added his autograph either on the flyleaf at the beginning or at the end. Grolier was the first collector to have his books bound in a particular way for himself.