An Essay in the History of Gold-Tooled
Bindings by Herbert P. Horne
London 1894
18
centre, and his cypher, composed of the letters 1. E., and surrounded by laurel branches at the
angles of the boards: while the back is ornamented with his crest and cypher, in alternate
panels: and there are books, bound in this way, remaining in the library at Wotton. About the
time of the publication of Evelyn's diary, Mr. William Upcott, of the London Institution, who had
been employed by Mr. Bray, the editor of the Diary, to copy the manuscript, was entrusted by
Lady Evelyn with the duty of arranging the books and papers at Wotton. After the death of Lady
Evelyn, Mr. Upcott continued his visits; and pictures, letters and books were abstracted by him:
so that John Evelyn's library became partially scattered; while the sale-catalogues of Mr.
Upcott's books and manuscripts, which were dispersed in 1846, reveal the extent of these
appropriations. The name of Notts has been mentioned, as binder to the great Earl of
Clarendon; and that of Hugh Hutchinson to Bishop Cosin: but it would appear from Cosin's
letters, that the latter workman was a bookseller of Newcastle, who was only employed by the
Bishop to set the stamp of his arms on the backs of his books, after he had bestowed them
upon the library at Durham.
Very little has been collected about the history of English binding, from the reign of James II. to
the time of Roger Payne. The mere names of the principal binders are but imperfectly known:
and examples are rarely to be ascribed with any certainty, to a particular workman. William
Churchhill and Edward Castle were the royal booksellers, bookbinders, and stationers from
about 1700 to 1755: and in the British Museum are many royal bindings, of that period, some of
which may have been executed by them. The styles, which were introduced into England at the
time of the Restoration, especially the cottage style, continued to be used on these books; but
with successive changes of manner. The earlier examples are the more admirable. A little volume
covered in red morocco, Recue£l de diverses pieces servans a l'histoire de Henri lIfo, Roy de
France, 1662, bears the crowned cypher of William III. neatly interwoven, for its single ornament
[CO 47. a.]. Among the cottage bindings is a copy of an A1tglo-Saxon Homtty on the Birth-day of
St. Gregory, written by Aelfric, Archbishop of Canterbury, and translated by Elizabeth Elstob,
London, 1709, the binding of which is tooled with the crowned cypher of Queen Anne, and
though carefully designed, is somewhat hard and mechanical in appearance [223. i. 4.]. From
this time, English gilding rapidly degenerated: the cottage binding of a manuscript, An account of
what passed in a confermce concerning the Succession to the Crown, bearing the arms and
cypher of George I.-[Stowe MS.249.], and more especially that of a copy of William Musgrave's
Antiquitates Britamw-Belgicae precipuae Roma1tae, Exeter, 1719 [142. a. 23.], tooled with the
badge and initials of George, Prince of Wales, afterwards George II., illustrate in holy short a
time, that sense of a dignified style, and unity of composition, which distinguishes the
cottage-bindings pf Samuel Mearne,