English Embroidered Bookbindings

⇈
English Embroidered Bookbindings, by

Cyril James Humphries Davenport This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
Title: English Embroidered Bookbindings
Author: Cyril James Humphries Davenport
Editor: Alfred Pollard
Release Date: January 23, 2006 [EBook #17585]
Language: English
Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK ENGLISH EMBROIDERED BOOKBINDINGS ***

Produced by K.D. Thornton, Bruce Albrecht, and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images generously made available by The Internet Archive/Canadian Libraries)

ENGLISH EMBROIDERED BOOKBINDINGS
[Illustration: 19--Christopherson, Historia Ecclesiastica. Lovanii, 1569.]

EDITED BY ALFRED POLLARD
ENGLISH EMBROIDERED BOOKBINDINGS
BY CYRIL DAVENPORT, F. S. A
AUTHOR OF 'THE ENGLISH REGALIA' ETC.
LONDON KEGAN PAUL, TRENCH, TRüBNER AND COMPANY, LIMITED
1899
The English Bookman's Library Edinburgh: T. and A. CONSTABLE, Printers to Her Majesty

CONTENTS AND LIST OF PLATES
PAGE GENERAL INTRODUCTION, ix By Alfred W. Pollard.
ENGLISH EMBROIDERED BINDINGS By Cyril Davenport.
CHAPTER I.
--Introductory, 1
PLATES. 1. Embroidered Bag for Psalms. London, 1633, 17 2. Embroidered Cover for New Testament. London, 1640, 18
CHAPTER II.
--Books Bound in Canvas, 28
PLATES. 3. The Felbrigge Psalter. 13th-century MS., 29 4. The Miroir or Glasse of the Synneful Soul. MS. by the Princess Elizabeth. 1544, 32 5. Prayers of Queen Katherine Parr. MS. by the Princess Elizabeth. 1545, 33 6. Christian Prayers. London, 1581, 37 7. Psalms and Common Praier. London, 1606, 38 8. Bible, etc. London, 1612, 39 9. Sermons by Samuel Ward. London, 1626-7, 41 10. New Testament, etc. London, 1625-35, 42 11. The Daily Exercise of a Christian. London, 1623, 44 12. Bible. London, 1626, 45 13. Bible, etc. London, 1642, 48 14. Bible. London, 1648, 49
CHAPTER III.
--Books Bound in Velvet, 52
PLATES. 15. Très ample description de toute la terre Saincte, etc. MS. 1540, 52 16. Biblia. Tiguri, 1543, 54 17. Il Petrarcha. Venetia, 1544, 55 18. Queen Mary's Psalter. 14th century MS., 57 19. Christopherson, Historia Ecclesiastica. Lovanii, 1569, Frontispiece 20. Christian Prayers. London, 1570, 59 21. Parker, De antiquitate Ecclesi? Britannic?. London, 1572, 60 22. The Epistles of St. Paul. London, 1578, 63 23. Christian Prayers, etc. London, 1584, 65 24. Orationis Dominic? Explicatio, etc. Genev?, 1583, 67 25. Bible. London, 1583, 68 26. The Commonplaces of Peter Martyr. London, 1583, 69 27. Biblia. Antverpi?, 1590, 70 28. Udall, Sermons. London, 1596, 71 29. Collection of Sixteenth-Century Tracts, 72 30. Bacon, Opera. Londini, 1623, 75 31. Bacon, Essays. 1625, 76 32. Common Prayer. London, 1638, 77 33. Bible. Cambridge, 1674, 78
CHAPTER IV.
--Books Bound in Satin, 80
PLATES. 34. Collection of Sixteenth-Century Tracts, 80 35. New Testament in Greek. Leyden, 1576, 81 36. Bible. London, 1619, 84 37. Emblemes Chrestiens. MS. 1624, 85 38. New Testament. London, 1625, 86 39. New Testament and Psalms. London, 1630, 89 40. Henshaw, Hor? Successiv?. London, 1632, 90 41. Psalms. London, 1633, 91 42. Psalms. London, 1635, 92 43. Psalms. London, 1633, 94 44. Bible. London, 1638, 96 45. Psalms. London, 1639, 98 46. The Way to True Happiness. London, 1639, 99 47. New Testament. London, 1640, 101 48. Psalms. London, 1641, 103 49. Psalms. London, 1643, 105 50. Psalms. London, 1643, 106 51. Psalms. London, 1646, 108 52. Bible. London, 1646, 109

GENERAL INTRODUCTION
A new series of 'Books about Books,' exclusively English in its aims, may seem to savour of the patriotism which, in matters of art and historical research, is, with reason enough, often scoffed at as a treacherous guide. No doubt in these pleasant studies patriotism acts as a magnifying-glass, making us unduly exaggerate details. On the other hand, it encourages us to try to discover them, and just at present this encouragement seems to be needed. There are so many gaps in our knowledge of the history of books in England that we can hardly claim that our own dwelling is set in order, and yet many of our bookmen appear more inclined to re-decorate their neighbours' houses than to do work that still urgently needs to be done at home. The reasons for this transference of energy are not far to seek. It is quite easy to be struck with the inferiority of English books and their accessories, such as bindings and illustrations, to those produced on the Continent. To compare the books printed by Caxton with the best work of his German or Italian contemporaries, to compare the books bound for Henry, Prince of Wales, with those bound for the Kings of France, to try to find even a dozen English books printed before 1640 with woodcuts (not imported from abroad) of any real artistic merit--if any one is anxious to reinforce his national modesty, here are three very efficacious methods of doing it! On the other hand, English book-collectors have always been cosmopolitan in their tastes, and without leaving England