An Essay in the History of Gold-Tooled
Bindings by Herbert P. Horne
London 1894
tools used in gilding the boards, are of that solid Venetian character, which is popularly
associated with the name of Aldus: indeed, were it not for a peculiar handling of the tools, it
would, in the present instance, be difficult to distinguish between the ornaments used upon this
book of Berthelet's, and those, which occur upon certain contemporary Italian bindings. That
foreign gilders were in the employment of the king's Printer, is not probable, notwithstanding
these and other peculiarities of design and handling: for to what extent, the manner of an artist,
working in a foreign country, is liable to influence, the tomb by Torrigiano at Westminster, for
Margaret of Richmond, plainly shows, when considered in the light of the original contract for its
execution. Another book printed by Berthelet in 1534, Opus eximium de Vera Differentia Regiae
Potestatis et Ecclesiasticae, and apparently bound by him, remains, also, in the Old Royal
Collection [Co 24 A.]. It is stamped with the arms and supporters of the king; but the gilding
has, unfortunately, been freely re-tooled, and much of its interest thereby lost. Several volumes,
however, are preserved, in a finer condition, among the manuscripts of the Royal Library; the
bindings of which are very similar in the manner of their design and execution, to the bindings of
these books printed by Berthelet: and in the absence of any precise information about them,
they may, not without reason, be also attributed to him. Of these manuscripts, the chief is a
treatise inscribed to King Henry VIII., in 1544, by Anthonius de Musica; and entitled,
Commentan"a rerum ab Imperatore Carolo gestarum apud Sanctum Dlgerlum [Royal MS. 13, B,
xx.} The arms of the king, and the initials H. R., are tooled in the centre of either cover, with a
label repeated above and below, on which the following inscription is carried: 'VERO DEFENSORI
FIDEI' 'ERRORVMQVE PROFLIGATORI OPTIMO' 'MAXIMO HENRICO OCTAVO' 'REG! ANGLORVM
FRANC. HIBERNIEQVE P. M. P. P. D. G.' The whole is surrounded by two enriched border fillets of
gold and blind work ; and in the remaining spaces are repeated the heads of Plato and Dido, in
medallions. Another Latin treatise, Llbellus de Tnous Hlerarchy's, also addressed by its author,
Gualterus Delaenus, to Henry, is covered, like the former, in brown leather: the arms of the king,
together with the type and antitype of the crucifixion and the brazen serpent, are tooled in gold
within a panel, formed by an oblong fillet interlaced with another of a lozenge form; and the
remaining spaces are filled with small cornucopias, roses, and other ornaments of a Venetian
character [Royal MS. 12, B, xiij.]. On a third manuscript, julfi Claudy'lqulni Oratz'o ad Henvii.J; ad
faciendam expeditionem in Turcas hortatoria, the arms of the king occur in a panel surrounded
by the inscription, HAIO~ nANTA~ AAAIENON EZAPKTOV, and contained within a "blind fillet,
enriched with figured work in gold [Royal MS. 12, A, lxiij.]. Of the embroidered bindings executed
for Henry VIII., there are in the British Museum, a Bible in Latin, printed at Zurich, in 1543, bound
in purple velvet, and embroidered with a design in outline, and the initial H. R., in gold thread
[CO 23, C. 3.], and a manuscript, Description de toute la Terre Saincte, by Martin de Brion, which
is, also, bound in crimson velvet, but heavily embroidered, in gold and coloured silks, with the
anTis of England surrounded by the garter, crowned, and the initial H. repeated in the centre,
and with roses at the corners, of either board [Royal MS. 20, A, iv.].