King Edward VI not only had his bindings stamped with his royal badges, but the edges also sometimes came in for a share of attention, as on a copy of La Geografia di Claudio Ptolemeo, printed at Venice in 1548. On the front or fore-edge of the book is the royal coat-of-arms of England, painted on a blue ground; on the upper edge is the coat-of-arms of France, and on the lower the golden harp of Ireland. The side space on each of these edges is filled up with a delicate arrangement of interlacing strap-work in black, and further ornamented with fine gold scrolls and the initials "E. S. R.," also in gold. One of Edward's books, however, has actually the first instance in an English book of a decorated "doublure," the name by which we understand the inner side of the boards of a book.

Mr. Herbert Horne, in his most excellent work on the Binding ofBooks, mentions, and gives a plate of, an instance of this kind of decoration occurring on a copy of Petrarch, printed at Venice in 1532. It is an arrangement of interlaced lines of silver with two figured stamps, and is said to be the earliest European example. Edward VI.'s doublure (Fig. 6) is not much later, as it was probably bound about 1547, and, like nearly all doublures, it is in a wonderful state of preservation; in fact, it may be said to be the only instance of a sixteenth-century painted book that is at all in its original state, as the pigment used upon them is extremely delicate, and chips off freely. The book, a small duodecimo, is covered in crimson velvet, much worn, and is a collection of "certain prayers and godly meditacyons," printed at Malborow in 1538. The inner side of each of the boards is covered with calf, and the design is outlined in gold and filled in with color. This color is not quite like oil-paint, but resembles closely the "enamel" colors which have of late years been so well known. It has little penetrating quality, lying evenly on the top of the leather, and dries with an even and polished surface. The king's arms, crowned, occupy the centre of the board, the arms in the correct heraldic colors and the crown of gold, silver, blue, and green. The king's initials, stamped in gold, are on each side of the shield. A rectangular border of green encloses the coat-of-arms, and at each of the inner corners is a daisy in gold, and above and below the arms is a semicircular projection from the green border, colored blue.

There is yet another volume which for many years has been by the British Museum authorities attributed to Edward VI., but Mr. W. Y. Fletcher, in his splendid volume on the English Bookbindings in the British Museum, considers it to be Elizabethan. There is no doubt that the volume in some ways fits a description of one that was presented to that queen by the University of Oxford at Woodstock in 1575, but I think the difference in the dates of printing and presentation is a weak point in the argument. The book was printed in 1544 at Zurich, and it certainly seems curious that a book printed thirty-one years before