An Essay in the History of Gold-Tooled
Bindings by Herbert P. Horne
London 1894
before the close of the fifteenth century, it continued to be commonly used in the gauffering of
the edges, during the first three decades of the succeeding century; and is to be found until a
comparatively recent period. The question remains, whether the dolphins, occurring in the border
of this binding, were used in allusion to the Aldine mark of the Dolphin and the Anchor, which M.
Gruel, repeating, perhaps, the assertion of MM. Marius-Michel, states to be found upon some
bindings of Aldus. Such an example, I have not had the good fortune to see: but the British
Museum possesses a copy of the first volume of the Orations of Cicero, upon vellum, printed at
the Aldine Press in 1519 [C. 16. g. 5.]; the mutilated binding of which is ornamented with a
border of dolphins, similar to that upon the Statius, but executed with a tool of finer
workmanship. The whole of the tooling upon this binding is executed in blind; the panel within
the border being ornamented with little roundels, and knots of Arabic work: and the boards,
which are no longer of wood, but of pasteboard, are covered with black morocco. In some
examples, the name of the author is stamped upon the panel of the upper cover, as upon
another mutilated binding in the Grenville Library, containing a Martial, 1501, with an Euripides in
Latin, 1507 [G. 9631.]. With the exception of the names of the authors, which are tooled in gold,
the characteristics of this binding are similar to those of the earlier binding upon the Statius.
The Museum possesses, also, a copy of the sonnets of Petrarch, printed by Aldus in 1501, in its
original binding of dark olive green morocco [C. 20. b.]. This copy being upon vellum, the binding
is of more than ordinary cost and finish. The panels of the boards are ornamented by a series of
knots and Aldine leaves, and surrounded by a double border, the one of figured, the other
knotted, work: the whole of these ornaments being in gold tooling; while the back of the volume
is richly tooled in blind. The edges of the boards, which are of wood, are grooved: and the
head-band is curiously returned against the head and tail edges of the boards. Altogether, this
is a binding of .uncommon beauty and interest.
In the history of Aldus Manutius, little is more remarkable, than the eagerness with which his
italic types were copied. Within a year of their publication, a counterfeit of them appeared at
Lyons: and among the Italian printers, Philippo di Giunta of Florence early attempted their
imitation. A copy of the Divina Commedia of Dante, printed by him with these types at Florence,
in 1506, is preserved in the British Museum [1071. f. 4.], in its original binding of black morocco.
The back and edges of this book are plain: