The Book: Its History and DevelopmentDavenport, Cyril
History
The Book: Its History and Development
Davenport, Cyril
Bookbinding; Books; Books -- History; Printing -- History
One of the handsomest, which may be taken as a type, is a copy of the
indentures made between Abbot Islip and Henry VII. for the foundation
of the chantry at Westminster. It is a large manuscript on vellum, and
is covered in rich red velvet projecting liberally over the edges, and
bound with gold fringe. In the centre is a circular silver cup-like
boss, containing the royal coat of arms, France and England quarterly,
with supporters of red dragon of Cadwallader and white greyhound of De
Beaufort, cut out of silver and enamelled in proper colours. At each
corner is a circular silver boss containing the De Beaufort device
of a portcullis gilt and cut in low relief, and set on an enamelled
background of the Tudor livery colours, green and white, per pale.
There are clasps of cloth of gold braid, fastening with a chased
silver-gilt button bearing an enamelled rose, and dependent from the
lower edge of the board are five silver boxes bearing Tudor emblems in
relief, each containing an impression of the great seal.
It is also recorded by Paul Hentzner that in 1598 he saw Queen
Elizabeth’s library, and that many of them were bound in velvet and
embroidered, a note that is fully corroborated by such of her books as
now remain.
But there were also books embroidered upon canvas in the fifteenth
century, one of which is now in the British Museum. It is a psalter
of the fourteenth century, and is covered in fine canvas on which are
delicate embroideries in the manner known as “Opus Anglicanum,” which
looks like a chain stitch, but is really a cleverly managed split
stitch.
This remarkable book, the earliest known example of an embroidered
binding, has upon one side a beautiful representation of the
Annunciation, and on the other a Crucifixion. It is supposed to have
been worked by Anne de Felbrigge, a nun in the convent of Minoresses,
at Brusyard, in Suffolk, and daughter of Sir Simon de Felbrigge, K.G.,
standard bearer to Richard II. It is considerably worn and faded, but
the designs can all be made out.
The velvet books which were made in the next reign were ornamented with
embroidered designs appliqués, and many of them are very handsome. The
designs on such books were nearly always heraldic, judging from those
that remain, but arabesques and floral ornamentation are often met
with on satin. Queen Katharine Parr is said to have embroidered some of
these books, and there is one in canvas in the British Museum, and one
in canvas and one in velvet at the Bodleian, which are supposed to have
been worked by the Princess Elizabeth, always with braid.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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