“Grolier” bindings have been very freely imitated, especially by a native of Bologna, who worked a good deal for Count Guglielmo Libri, a great collector, and unfortunately the style lends itself well to imitation. A fraudulent finisher looks out for an old Italian book of the right date, bound in plain leather. Then he copies parts from one or other of the many Groliers which can be seen and studied by any Londoner or Parisian for the asking, and if he is fairly clever at his trade it will take a very skilled expert to detect the fraud. Many such imitations are about, and every day they become more like genuine examples. [Illustration: FIG. 104.--English gold tooled binding by Thos. Berthelet. Made for Henry VIII.] The styles of binding that have been most largely and successfully imitated are those made for Jean Grolier, Henri II. and of his period, and the so-called “Canevari” bindings. [Illustration: FIG. 105.--English binding by Thos. Berthelet, 1552. Made for Edward VI.] From Italy the art of gold tooling rapidly spread through Europe, and took hold particularly in England and France. There is no doubt that an Italian gilder came to England and taught Thomas Berthelet, binder and printer to Henry VIII. Not only are numbers of Berthelet’s stamps of distinctly Italian character, but in many of his lists of books he describes particular examples as being bound “after the Italian fascion.” But Berthelet quickly enough evolved a style of his own. It appears to me that English binders have from the time of Berthelet until now succeeded better than those of any other nation in the ornamentation of large books. In small books the palm must be given to Italian and French binders, but large books have always puzzled the best of these, and even Le Gascon has not been successful with them. Many of the large books bound by Thomas Berthelet are as fine as any such books can be. His best work was, naturally enough, done for royalty, but he set the fashion for smaller binders, and although there is a want of minute finish and technical accuracy in everything he did, Berthelet’s fine work will always give him a place in the first rank of bookbinders of this or any other country. [Illustration: FIG. 106.--English inlaid and gold tooled binding by John Day. Made for Queen Elizabeth.]