An Essay in the History of Gold-Tooled
Bindings by Herbert P. Horne
London 1894
d'Orleans, there is an entry of a payment of 33 livres made to this binder, on the 17th June,
1628, for binding a Mlssal and a Book of Hours, in 'maroquin de Levant incarnat semees (slc) de
fleurs de lis' [Bib!. Arsenal, MS. 4209.]. Again, there is a binding of an Office de la Semalne
salncte, published by Clovis Eve in 1619, which M. Gruel, who reproduces it in his Manuel,
attributes to this binder. It is covered in olive- morocco; and, like the Mlssal and Hours of Gaston
d'OrIeans, it is tooled with a 'semis,' which, in this case, is composed of the crowned L's and
fleurs-de-Iys of Louis XIII.
The bindings, which have been traditionally ascribed to Clovis Eve, exhibit a very different
character: of these, the most celebrated are popularly supposed to have been executed for
Marguerite de Valois, the queen of Henri IV. The field of their boards is broken by a series of
ovals, in the centre of which are placed various flowers, or sprigs of oak or pomegrana~e; the
whole being surrounded by borders of palm-branches: the central oval of the upper lid is tooled
with a shield, charged with three fl~urs-de-Iys on a bend; that of the lower cover with the
legend, EXPECTATA NON ELVDET. A copy of Caesar, Paris, 1564, in the British Museum, affords a
good example of this kind [CO 19. a. 15.]. It was M. Guigard in his Armorlal, who first pointed
out, that these arms could not be those of Marguerite de Valois; and, at the same time
suggested, that their bearer might be found in Marie Marguerite de Valois Saint Remy, the
daughter of a natural son of Henri III. Tradition has further declared, that Marguerite de Valois
herself gave the design for these bindings; a statement equally untenable. It is evident, that
this style of the ovals, though probably invented and used by some one binder, was employed
by him upon the books of his various patrons: thus, the binding of a Terence, Geneva, 1581,
finished in this style, and tooled with the arm.s of Nicolas de Villars, Bishop of Agen, is .figured
by Mr. Quaritch among his illustrations [No. 47.]; while amongst similar bindings, stamped with
the cyphers of various collectors, in the British Museum, may be cited those of a Latin Psalter,
Paris, 1586 [Co 48. e. 4-], and a manusc,ript of Horae et offiC£a, fourteenth century [Add. MS.
14,845.].
The tools used upon these bindings possess a very distinct character, and may, perhaps, be
traced upon other contemporary bindings, which are finished in different styles: as that of a
copy of the De rebus Salomonls regis, by J oannes de Pineda, Lyons, 1609, bearing the arms
and cypher of Henri IV., which is figured by M. Gruel. It is designed in a little manner, and
worked without due care: being one of the king's bindings, it not improbably came from the
workshop of Clovis Eve. In the British Museum, may be seen another binding executed for Henri
IV. and greatly differing from that of the Pineda. It is a copy of De Thou's Historia sui temporis,
Paris, 1604 [Co 20. f. I I.]: and the arms and devices of the king form the whole of its decoration.