An Essay in the History of Gold-Tooled
Bindings by Herbert P. Horne
London 1894
addition of some rich tooling at the angles, and in the centre, of the panel of the boards, is
figured by M. Bouchot, in Les Reliures Ii' Art a la Bibllotheque Nationale [PI. lxii.]. Peiresc, who
had an extraordinary care for books of all kinds, used constantly to employ a bookbinder in his
house: and of this practice of his, and of his library, we possess the following accounts, which
are among the most valuable documents of this kind, in the early history of bookbinding.
while a second fiUet, which generally is similar to that of the panel, runs along the margins of the
boards. A charming and very interesting example of this kind remains among the Hadeian
Manuscripts: it is an autograph copy of a tract by Sir Kenelm Digby, which was published at Paris,
in 1638, under the title of C A Conference with a Lady concerning Religion' [Har!. MS. 2312.]. Its
binding, which is figured in Plate VIII., is of red morocco; and the fore edge is furnished with two
leather clasps ending in little shells of silver. One of the lines of the fiUet, and the C fleurons,' or
cornerpieces, are worked C au pointille,' that is, by a dotted, instead of a solid, line. The panel is
stamped with the arms of Sir Kenelm Digby, impaling those of his wife, Venetia, daughter of Sir
Edward Stanley: while the back is decorated with a cypher, composed of their initials, K. V. D.
This book was probably bound in Paris, in 1636, shortly after his return to the Catholic Church:
his wife had died in 1633; and his extraordinary devotion to her memory, is shown in his
continued use of these arms and this cypher. During the Troubles, Sir Kenelm took refuge in
Paris, and there had his books bound by the most celebrated binders. According to one account,
C his library, being in France, became on his death the property of the French Monarch, under
the , droit d'aubaine.' I t was sold by the person, to whom his Majesty gave it, for 10,000
crowns, and was purchased by the Earl of Bristol.' A priced catalogue of this nobleman's library,
which commenced selling in London, on 19th April, 1680, is in the British Museum [821. h. 3.]. An
introductory note to this catalogue states, that its contents consist 'principally of the Library of
the Right Honourable George late Earl of Bristol, a great part of which were the curiosities
collected by the learned Sr. Kenelm Digby.
Of all the anachronisms with which the early history of bookbinding is replete, none is more
extraordinary than that which ascribes this style of decoration to Augustin Du Seuil, who was not
born until 1673, and of whom I shall presently speak: but apart from any discrepancy in point of
time, books bound in this way are, without doubt, the work of many several binders. M.Thoinan
gives in Les Relieurs Franfais [PI. xvi.] an example in which the figured tools, used on the boards
and back, are engraved in solid line. The date of this binding is c. 1640: and it. is to be remarked
that, unlike the richer French bindings of the previous century, the bands reappear upon the
back, both of this book, and of the Digby manuscript, as well as upon the simpler bindings of De
Thou.