_The Publication Committee of the Caxton Club certify that this is one
of an edition of two hundred and fifty-two copies printed on hand-made
paper, of which two hundred and twenty-eight are for sale, and three
copies printed on Japanese vellum. The printing was done from type which
has been distributed._
THOMAS BERTHELET
[Illustration:
DIEV *
ET * MON
DROYT *
·M·D*L·II·]
[Illustration: PLATE I.
CALF BINDING OF BEMBO’S “HISTORICAE VENETAE. LIBRI XII. VENICE, 1551.”
MADE FOR EDWARD VI.
See page 87.]
THOMAS BERTHELET
ROYAL PRINTER AND BOOKBINDER TO HENRY VIII.
KING OF ENGLAND
WITH SPECIAL REFERENCE TO HIS BOOKBINDINGS
BY
CYRIL DAVENPORT, F. S. A.
OF THE BRITISH MUSEUM
AUTHOR OF THE ENGLISH REGALIA, ROYAL ENGLISH BOOKBINDINGS, ENGLISH EMBROIDERED
BOOKBINDINGS, CANTOR LECTURES ON BOOKBINDING, CAMEOS, ETC.
[Illustration: colophon]
CHICAGO
PUBLISHED BY THE CAXTON CLUB
MDCCCCI
COPYRIGHT BY THE CAXTON CLUB
NINETEEN HUNDRED AND ONE
TABLE OF CONTENTS.
CHAPTER PAGE
I. ENGLISH BOOKBINDING UP TO THE TIME OF HENRY VIII. 13
II. DOCUMENTARY EVIDENCE CONCERNING BERTHELET AND HIS WORK 29
III. THE BOOKBINDINGS OF THOMAS BERTHELET, WITH DETAILED DESCRIPTIONS
OF SOME TYPICAL EXAMPLES 57
INDEX 99
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.
PLATE NO. PAGE
I. CALF BINDING OF BEMBO’S “HISTORICAE VENETAE. LIBRI XII.
VENICE, 1551.” MADE FOR EDWARD VI. _Frontispiece_
II. TITLE-PAGE OF JOHN GOWER’S CONFESSIO AMANTIS. LONDON,
1532 10
III. BERTHELET’S DEVICE OF LUCRETIA STABBING HERSELF 16
IV. LEGEND WRITTEN ON THE EDGES OF A VOLUME OF SIXTEENTH-CENTURY
TRACTS, BOUND IN RED SATIN FOR HENRY VIII. 20
V. CALF BINDING OF “GALTERI DELOENI LIBELLUS DE TRIBUS
HIERARCHIIS.” A MS. DEDICATED TO HENRY VIII., AND
BOUND FOR HIM 24
VI. CALF BINDING OF A COPY OF THE WORKS OF ST. CHRYSOSTOM,
PRINTED AT BASLE IN 1530. MADE FOR HENRY VIII. 30
VII. WHITE LEATHER BINDING OF A MS. ENTITLED “LA SCIENCE
DE GEOMETRIE” 36
VIII. UPPER COVER OF THE CALF BINDING OF VOL. I. OF A BIBLE
PRINTED AT ANTWERP IN 1534. MADE FOR HENRY VIII.
AND QUEEN ANNE BOLEYN 42
IX. SATIN BINDING OF A COLLECTION OF SIXTEENTH-CENTURY
TRACTS. MADE FOR HENRY VIII. 46
X. CALF BINDING OF “JUL. CLAUD IGUINI ORATIO AD HEN. VIII.”
MADE FOR THE KING 52
XI. VELVET BINDING OF A BIBLE PRINTED AT ZURICH IN 1543.
MADE FOR HENRY VIII. 58
XII. CALF BINDING OF “TROGUS POMPEIUS. CHOROGRAPHICA,
1546.” MADE FOR PRINCE EDWARD 62
XIII. CALF BINDING OF A MS. COMMENTARY ON THE CAMPAIGN OF
THE EMPEROR CHARLES V. AGAINST THE FRENCH IN 1544.
MADE FOR HENRY VIII., TO WHOM THE MS. IS ADDRESSED 68
XIV. CALF BINDING OF “LA CYROPEDIE DE XENOPHON. PARIS,
1547.” MADE FOR EDWARD VI. 74
XV. WHITE LEATHER BINDING OF “JOANNES A LASCO. BREVIS DE
SACRAMENTIS ECC. CHRISTI TRACTATIO. LONDON, 1552.” 78
XVI. WHITE LEATHER BINDING OF “D. AURELII AUGUSTINI HIPPONENSIS
EP. TAM IN VETUS QUAM IN NOVUM TEST. COMMENTARII.
BAS., 1542.” MADE FOR QUEEN MARY 82
XVII. CALF BINDING OF QUEEN MARY’S PRAYER-BOOK. MS. ON
VELLUM. BOUND FOR THE QUEEN 84
XVIII. CALF BINDING OF “EPITOME OMNIUM OPERUM DIVI AURELII
AUGUSTINI. COL., 1549.” MADE FOR QUEEN MARY 90
[Illustration:
To, Gower de
confessione
Amantis.
Imprinted at London in Flete-strete
by Thomas Bethelette
Printer to the
kingis grace,
A N .
M.D.XXXII.
CVM PRIVILEGIO.]
[Illustration: PLATE II.
TITLE PAGE OF JOHN GOWER’S CONFESSIO AMANTIS. LONDON, 1532.
See page 48.]
CHAPTER I.
ENGLISH BOOKBINDING UP TO THE TIME OF HENRY VIII.
Such English bookbindings of an early date as still exist are, as a
rule, bound in dark brown goatskin or brown sheepskin. The earliest
notices about bookbindings are to be found in some of the wardrobe
accounts of Edward IV., but of the many bindings which were made for
that king, the only remaining sign now left is a loose cover in the
library of Westminster Abbey; it is ornamented with a panel stamp
bearing the king’s arms, with supporters.
In Mediæval times, books, mostly religious, were generally written,
copied, illuminated, and bound in the monasteries themselves, and were
frequently of large size. After the date at which printing was
introduced into Europe, about the middle of the fifteenth century, books
became commoner, and very soon, as a general rule, smaller, the printer,
binder, and publisher usually combining in his own person the functions
hitherto performed by separate artists and artificers,--the
illuminators, scribes, silversmiths, goldsmiths, jewellers, enamellers,
and workers in leather, wood, or ivory. In short, the art of producing
books became in every way a less ornamental and a commoner one.
It is disappointing that no single specimen of the rich Mediæval style
of bookbinding exists of English workmanship. Such bindings were
undoubtedly made here, and numerous drawings of them are to be seen in
contemporary manuscript. It is certain that the intrinsic value of these
covers attracted the attention of some of our sovereigns, especially the
early Tudors, and whenever they were of any value at all, the crucible
accounts for their disappearance. Luckily the manuscripts themselves,
now infinitely more valuable than the gold and silver which formerly
covered them, have in innumerable instances been carefully preserved
unhurt. But it is some comfort to know that much beautiful work of the
kind we have so unfortunately lost here can be seen and studied in
Dublin, at the Royal Irish Academy and other institutions. In that city
are to be seen noble specimens of the old book shrines, or covers, which
protected the valuable manuscripts, illuminated sometimes by the ancient
Irish scribes in such richness that they have never been excelled in
beauty. These covers are in all probability nearly the same as the
English ones were; they bear ornamentation of a similar Gothic
character, nearly analogous to the Anglo-Saxon styles, and the jewels
are cut and set in the same way as is found in old English jewellers’
work. The “cumdach,” or cover, of Molaise’s Gospels, that of the Stowe
missal and “Dimma’s book,” are all beautiful examples. The Irish
jewellers were justly celebrated workmen; they migrated largely to the
Continent, and traces of their skill often show on Byzantine bindings
made from about the ninth to the eleventh centuries. The older part of
the magnificent cover of the Gospels of Lindau is Irish work. This was
shown in 1891 at the Burlington Fine Art Club, and until lately was the
property of the Earl of Ashburnham. It is one of the most gorgeous
bookbindings in existence.
In some Eastern countries bordering on Europe, especially the north of
Africa and parts of Asia, books were bound in leather and ornamented
with gold at a very early date. Signs of such work are found on bindings
of the twelfth century onwards, but it is always rare, and only
sparingly used. The manner of working the gold differs considerably from
the way it is treated now. Persian, Arabian, and Egyptian work of this
sort is of great interest, and well deserves more attention and
examination than it has yet received. It even seems that some kind of
gilding on books was practised in England as early as 1480, as appears
from one of the accounts of Piers Courteys, keeper of the King’s Great
Wardrobe in the City of London; but there is not enough information
given to enable us to say what sort of gilding this was, neither do the
existing specimens throw any definite light on this particular point.
The account in which this reference to gilding on books occurs is one of
the entries referring to the Privy Purse Expenses of Elizabeth of York,
daughter of Edward IV., and afterwards wife to Henry VII.; the words are
as follows:--
“Piers Bauduyn stacioner for bynding gilding and dressing of a booke
called _Titus Livius_ XXˢ; for binding gilding and dressing of a booke
of _The Holy Trinite_ XVjˢ; for binding gilding and dressing of a booke
called _The Bible_ XVjˢ; for binding gilding and dressing of a booke
called _Le Gouvernment_ of Kings and Princes XVj; ... and for binding
and gilding and dressing of a booke called The Bible Historial XXˢ.”
It is, I think, probable that these bindings were ornamented with panel
stamps, which were simply gilded all over, and that the process referred
to was not that which is now generally understood as gold-tooling.
During the Middle Ages Venice was the most important European centre of
trade with Eastern countries, and so it naturally comes about that the
first European gold-tooling on leather comes from that great art centre,
and occurs in Italian bindings of the fifteenth century. Not only does
gold-tooling first appear in Venetian work, but there also it reached
its highest development, several of the early bindings tooled in gold on
dark leathers being quite unsurpassed for delicacy and originality of
design, as well as for beauty of workmanship. In several of these
bindings the direct inspiration that has been afforded by the study of
Oriental originals is very apparent.
Innumerable also are the methods the Italian artists followed with
regard to their management of gold leaf, or gold foil; sometimes a whole
design is picked out with minute gold dots, sometimes backgrounds are
flatly gilded all over, leaving the design on the leather, and sometimes
the method of working closely resembles that followed at the present
day. The early Venetian bookbinders, as well as some of the Oriental
gilders, knew some way of gilding a line drawn on leather by means of a
style. This is a difficult thing to do, but effective in competent
hands; and if it could be done with any degree of safety, such a process
would now open up an entirely new field for decorative bookbinders, who
are at present much bound down by the limitations forced upon them in
consequence of chiefly using set stamps specially cut for each curve and
bend and detail. Of course such lines are easy to execute in blind, but
it is when the gilding begins that the difficulties increase. The
essential point in gold-tooling on leather, as we know it, consists in
the fixation of gold leaf by means of albumen. The design is marked in
blind on leather and painted over with glair of egg, the gold leaf then
being carefully laid over it; the marks of the blind-tooling show
clearly through the gold, and each of these impressions is steadily
reimpressed with the same tools in the same places over the gold. The
tools are heated to a point just sufficient to harden the albumen
without burning the leather. If necessary, this process can be repeated
again and again, until in the finest specimens of such work the gold
looks as if wires of the solid burnished metal were actually inlaid on
the leather. The albumen protected by the gold
[Illustration: PLATE III.
BERTHELET’S DEVICE OF LUCRETIA STABBING HERSELF.
See page 49.]
makes such a strong surface that frequently the gilded letters, or
designs, which were of course originally in _intaglio_, are found in
relief, the explanation being that the surrounding leather, being
unprotected, has worn or powdered away all around. The use of albumen
is, however, not entirely without a drawback, as it is a favourite food
for some small grub, so that sometimes, instead of a beautiful gilded
line, there is only a small trench following the same track, all the
gold and all the albumen having been eaten away, leaving the design as
it was, but in a different colour.
As a matter of fact, the earliest English binding now existing on which
gold occurs is in the Bodlein Library at Oxford, but it would hardly
come under the heading of gold-tooling. It is on a manuscript written by
Robert Witinton about 1516, and was given by him to Cardinal Wolsey. The
binding is in brown sheepskin, and is decorated with block impressions
from panel stamps, three on each side, the centre one representing St.
George and the dragon, and the side ones bearing the Tudor emblems,
portcullis, pomegranate, and double rose. These stamps are well and
boldly cut, and the impressions are gilded, but I think it would be
difficult to say positively whether they were simply overlaid with gold
leaf after being made on the leather, or whether the gold was fixed by
the operation of stamping. I rather expect the latter method was used;
but the volume is a very curious and interesting one even if such is not
the case, and to some extent may explain the gilding mentioned in Piers
Courteys’s account.
In England during the fifteenth century the printing, binding, and
publishing of printed books generally vested in the same individual, but
by degrees these processes became specialized, and towards the end of
the sixteenth century they were carried out by different persons. Now
and then, among the earlier specimens of Berthelet’s work, designs of a
similar kind occur on the outside of the binding in gold, and inside the
book printed in black. The occurrence of such a peculiarity would point
strongly to the probability of the printer having also been the binder,
or at all events that the control of both processes was in the hands of
the same master.
Although no Mediæval English bindings of the richer sort are now left,
several of the simpler kind bound in leather still remain. Most of these
are ornamented with impressions from small cameo stamps impressed in
blind,--that is to say, without gold. Most of such bindings are bound in
dark brown leather, either goatskin, corresponding to our morocco, or
sheepskin, corresponding to our roan. Each of these old leathers is
sound and fine in colour, and always brown; colour dyes for leather,
except red, being a later, and probably hurtful, innovation.
The boards of these bindings, like those of the decorated kind, are of
wood, sometimes thick, sometimes thin. The thick boards were made heavy,
because many of the manuscripts were written on vellum, which is very
curly, and the weight of the covers was useful in counteracting this
defect. The thin boards were very carefully chosen, and must have been
well seasoned, as they are very rarely indeed warped at all. In many
instances stamps of the monasteries at which they were made are
impressed on these boards, and this is a sign of the careful manner in
which even the smallest details concerning books was superintended.
Berthelet’s boards are always of cardboard or its equivalent, and
although wooden boards are often found at a subsequent time to this,
they may as a rule be considered to have gone out of universal use here
about the end of the fifteenth century.
The reputed oldest specimen of all the English bookbindings is bound in
red leather, possibly deerskin; it is known as “St. Cuthbert’s
Gospels,” and was found, A. D. 1105, in the tomb of St. Cuthbert when it
was opened. St. Cuthbert died A. D. 687, and the book is supposed to
have been buried with him. It contains the Gospel of St. John, written
on vellum, and is now treasured at Stonyhurst College. The volume is in
such a remarkable state of preservation, both outside and inside, that a
certain amount of discredit attaches to the legend of its great
antiquity. It is bound in thin boards of limewood, covered with red
leather, curiously worked and coloured. The upper cover bears a
decorative rectangular panel, the central portion of which, nearly
square, has a symmetrical foliated curve of double-S form, _repoussé_,
and _showing_ slight traces of colour; above and below this are two long
panels in which are drawn free-hand scrolls of Anglo-Saxon character,
deeply lined. These scrolls are painted blue and yellow. The under side
is simply ornamented with fillets. The design of this binding is
unquestionably very old, and may fittingly be referred to about the date
of St. Cuthbert’s death. Mr. E. Gordon Duff, however, inclines to the
view that it is not actually the original binding, but is a copy of
about the twelfth or thirteenth century. Even if it were made at the
latest date attributed to it, it is still the earliest existing English
book bound in red leather, as well as the only one decorated in the true
style of Anglo-Saxon art.
Another early English book of great interest is a Latin Psalter of the
eleventh century, in its original binding of thick oaken boards covered
with brown leather. On each side is a sunk panel, and in one of these is
a copper gilt figure of our Lord in the attitude of the crucifixion. The
corners and clasp are of thin brass stamped with patterns, and are most
likely of later date than the rest of the binding. A very interesting
point about this book is, that it was used as the official coronation
oath-book by all the English sovereigns from Henry I. to Henry VII.; it
formerly belonged to the Exchequer, and was subsequently the property of
the Marquis of Buckingham, who kept it in his beautiful library at
Stowe; it is now in the British Museum.
With the exception of these two instances, all the English books bound
in leather before the time of Thomas Berthelet are ornamented, if at
all, with blind-stamped work only. In the cutting of stamps for this
form of decoration, as well as in the designing of them, English artists
in the twelfth century particularly are considered to have been
superexcellent. The subject has been most ably and lucidly considered by
Mr. James Weale, lately Art Librarian at the South Kensington Museum. He
finds that such work was produced especially at Durham, Winchester,
Oxford, and London, from the twelfth to the fifteenth centuries, after
which there was such a marked irruption of foreign binders and foreign
stamps that the English work became obscured, and on its recovery was of
an entirely different character. But it is now generally conceded that
these early English blind-tooled leather bindings are indeed the finest
of the kind made anywhere.
The Winchester Domesday Book of the twelfth century, now belonging to
the Society of Antiquaries of London, is a charming and typical specimen
of this work; it is bound in dark brown goatskin, and ornamented with
impressions in blind from beautifully cut small cameo stamps. The main
scheme of the decoration is two large circles, one above the other,
enclosed within a rectangular panel. The circles as well as the lines of
the panel are curiously made up of successive impressions of small
stamps. Those used in the circles are cut in such a manner that they can
be used either separately or in combination. Used together, of course,
certain stamps will only combine properly to form a circle of a
particular
[Illustration: PLATE IV.
LEGEND WRITTEN ON THE EDGES OF A VOLUME OF SIXTEENTH-CENTURY TRACTS.
BOUND IN RED SATIN FOR HENRY VIII.
See page 66.]
circumference, as they are designed in short segments of circles, drop
shaped, or in lozenge shapes, smaller at the base than at the top. It
must be noted that the use of stamps cut in such a manner as to combine
easily in circular forms is a characteristic of early English work. This
circle, differently produced, however, will presently be seen again in
Berthelet’s designs, and it reappeared also in the seventeenth century
on much of the remarkable work done on leather as well as on velvet, at
the very interesting establishment founded at Little Gidding in
Huntingdonshire by Nicholas Ferrar. Parts of circles are sometimes, but
not often, found on the bindings made for Jean Grolier during the first
half of the sixteenth century, but it is very seldom that the circle
itself occurs as an integral part of the design on bookbindings. The
circle as originally used in the artistic ornamentation of sculptures,
goldsmiths’ work, and the arts generally was probably a sun-sign. I fear
bookbinding is not old enough to come under this ancient art influence
very strongly; but it is just possible that the artists who designed the
ornamentation of the leather covers of several of the splendid bindings
made in England in Mediæval times, based largely upon the circle, and
who cut their stamps so as easily to produce circles, may have been
unconsciously following out the lines of thought inherited by them from
artistic ancestors imbued with the ancient traditions. Crosses as well
as circles are found sometimes on early leather bindings, but not in
English work, and with these two exceptions I do not think any of the
ancient symbols are represented in this particular line of art.
On the introduction of printing into England in the fifteenth century,
the rich Mediæval bindings very rapidly became things of the past. The
gap between them and the simple blind-stamped leather which rapidly
superseded them was, however, filled to some extent by the production
of very ornamental bindings in velvet and satin. These covers are
mounted with bosses and clasps of precious metals and enamels, or
embroidered in gold and ornamented with pearls. Several references and
notes concerning such bindings occur in contemporary official documents,
but no actual specimens now exist earlier than the time of Henry VII.,
but that king has left us several splendid examples.
Until Henry VIII. had his own royal binders, it is likely that all the
early printers bound only their own work; but naturally a printer and
binder holding an appointment as royal binder would be sometimes
expected to bind other miscellaneous books, and instances of this are
not only found in Berthelet’s account, given below, but amongst the
books bound by him there are some which were printed abroad and others
which are collections of tracts, etc., all of which were bound for King
Henry VIII. or his immediate successors.
The royal heraldry at the time Berthelet made his bindings was simple
and dignified; first and fourth were the three fleurs-de-lys of France;
second and third, the three lions of England. From William the Conqueror
until Henry II., the royal coat of England probably consisted of two
lions passant guardant in pale. Henry II., however, on his marriage with
Eleanor, daughter of William V., Duke of Aquitaine and Guienne,
incorporated the coat of that potentate, a single leopard, with his own,
but as he probably considered the conjunction of this animal with those
already on his coat might not be conducive to peace, he turned the
leopard into a similar lion and added it to the others, and from that
time the coat of arms of England has been “gules, three lions passant
guardant in pale, or.” The coat of France, “azure, semé de
fleurs-de-lys, or,” was adopted by Edward III., in the fourteenth year
of his reign, together with the title of King of France, asserting his
right to the coat and the title by virtue of his mother, Isabel,
daughter of Philip IV. At first Edward placed the French coat in the
second and third places of his shield, but presently gave it the places
of honour, first and fourth, in consequence of a remonstrance from the
French king. Edward’s grandson, Richard II., married, as his second
wife, Isabel, daughter of Charles VI. of France, who changed his coat,
“semé de fleurs-de-lys,” to one having only three fleurs-de-lys. Richard
altered the French coat on his shield in accordance with this change,
and this became the royal coat of arms of England until the accession of
James I. With regard to the supporters which are found on some of
Berthelet’s bindings, they are only the dragon and the greyhound. The
dragon is the red dragon of the last of the British kings, Cadwallader,
from whom Henry VII. claimed descent, and in remembrance of whom he bore
it as a supporter, as did all our Tudor sovereigns. This, however, is
only one explanation, as it appears that a very similar badge was
previously borne by Henry III., Edward I., and Edward III. The greyhound
was also one of Henry VII.’s supporters, and is found on several of his
bindings; it was used by Henry VIII. until about 1528, when he
substituted a lion and changed the sides. This greyhound was borne by
Henry VII. by a double right, partly by reason of his own descent from
the Earls of Somerset, whose badge it was, and also by right of his wife
through the Nevilles.
The badges found on Berthelet’s bindings are the portcullis, used by all
the Tudors in remembrance of the castle of the Beauforts in Anjou, where
Henry VII.’s maternal grandfather was born; the double rose, red and
white, used first by the Lancastrian Henry VII. on his marriage with
Elizabeth of York, as a symbol of the union of the two rival houses; the
fleur-de-lys, doubtless taken as one of the bearings from the French
coat of arms; and the daisy, borne in remembrance of Margaret Beaufort,
mother of Henry VII. All these are found on bindings made by Berthelet,
sometimes singly and sometimes in combination on one binding.
Henry VII. was the first English king who attempted to form a library of
his own, and besides manuscripts, he possessed a very fine collection of
splendid volumes printed by Antoine Verard at Paris. These books are now
part of the old Royal Library in the British Museum, and since they have
been there they have all been rebound in velvet, which may probably be
taken as some sign that they were originally bound in that material; and
this is likely enough, as all the bindings still existing that belonged
to this king are bound in it. Some of these beautiful bindings are now
in the library at Westminster Abbey, but the finest example of any of
them is in the British Museum.
During the reign of Henry VIII. some large heraldic panel stamps bearing
the royal coat of arms were made here, probably by Dutch workmen, as
they have characteristics of foreign workmanship. These stamps are often
considered royal, but it is doubtful whether they ever were so. Two of
them bear the royal coat of arms as used by Henry VII. and Henry VIII.
One shows the royal coat, crowned, with supporters, stars, and a few
flowers, and at the top the sun in glory and a half-moon with a face in
profile, the arms of the City of London, and the cross of St. George;
the other, a handsomer design, has likewise the royal coat of arms,
crowned, with supporters, but at the top there are two angels carrying
scrolls, and having between them a large double rose, while below are
two portcullises, depending from the lower edge of the shield by chains.
Two other panel stamps belonging to this series show the coats of arms
of Queen Katharine of Aragon and Queen Anne Boleyn, and these have large
shields, crowned, and supported by angels, with a ground on which are
several flower sprays.
[Illustration: PLATE V.
CALF BINDING OF “GALTERI DELOENI LIBELLUS DE TRIBUS HIERARCHIIS.” A MS.
DEDICATED TO HENRY VIII., AND BOUND FOR HIM.
See page 68.]
These stamps are always accompanied by another, which shows peculiar
characteristics tending to prove that none of them are royal. This stamp
always bears upon it some initial or device that belonged to a printer
of the time. It consists of a large double rose supported by two angels,
each bearing a scroll, on which, read together, is the legend, “_Hec
rosa virtutis de celo missa sereno eternū florens regia sceptra feret_.”
In the two upper corners are a sun in glory and a half-moon with face in
profile, the shield of the City of London, the cross of St. George, and
several stars. Below are a few scattered flower sprays and the initials
or device of a printer. The commonest initials occurring on these panels
are probably H. J., most likely Henry Jacobi; J. R., very likely John
Reynes; G. G., possibly Garret Godfrey; R. L., perhaps Richard Lant; and
many others of less note.
Judging from the use of the greyhound as one of the royal supporters,
none of these stamps were cut after 1528, and Mr. Weale considers they
may have been first used as early as 1485. I described and figured all
of them in “The Queen” of June 20, 1891.
Although books bearing these designs are now generally considered
non-royal, they are nevertheless frequently put forward as having
belonged to Henry VII. and his successors, and in many places and
catalogues they will be found so described. They are fine and well-cut
stamps, and are impressed sometimes on sheep, but usually on fine calf
leather; and no doubt if it were not for the existence upon them of
trade-marks, private monograms, and city emblems, there would be much in
favour of such a supposition. It may be that they were allowed to be
used by members of the Stationers Company, at that time of much
importance.
Immediately after the general discontinuance of large panel stamps with
royal heraldic designs, Thomas Berthelet became royal printer and
binder to Henry VIII., and the earliest of his large stamps bears some
resemblance to the stamp just described as having two portcullises
dependent from the lower part of the shield. It is possible that
Berthelet took his design from this stamp. But whatever Berthelet’s
early bindings may have been like, the distinguishing characteristic of
his work is the gold-tooling, properly so called, which he was, so far
as is yet known, the first Englishman to use. A large portion of the
printing he did was in the form of proclamations, single sheets, and
other official matters, which were never bound; but as time went on, and
the king, with his Tudor love of magnificence, perhaps to some extent
regretting his own destruction of the beautiful and valuable Mediæval
bindings, feeling that something more ornamental than the sombre panel
stamps was wanted, Berthelet, being already royal printer, was no doubt
further commissioned to make decorative royal bindings. This he did on
both velvet and satin, materials already royal favourites, as well as
using his new art of leather gilding in as decorative a manner as
possible.