Samuel Mearne (d. 1683) was royal binder to Charles II., and invented the cottage style of decoration, a style which has lasted till the present day; the Bible on which Edward VII. took the coronation oath was ornamented in that way. An inner rectangle is run parallel to the edges of the book, and the upper and lower lines are broken outwards into the outline of a gable roof. Mearne’s work as a binder (Plate, fig. 5) is of the highest merit. Many of his books have their fore-edge painted in such a way that the work is invisible when the book is shut, and only shows when the edges are fanned out.
In France 16th- and 17th-century binding is distinguished by the work of such masters as Nicholas Eve, who bound the beautiful Livre des Statuts et Ordonnances de l’ordre du Benvist Sainct Esprit for Henry III. (Plate, fig. 6); Clovis Eve, who is credited with the invention of the style known as “fanfare,” a delicate tracery over the boards of a book, filled out with spirals of leafy stems; and Le Gascon, who invented the dotted work which has been used more or less ever since. Le Gascon caused his small gilding tools—curves and arabesques—to be scored across, so that when impressions were made from them a dotted line showed instead of a right line. Florimond Badier worked in a style very similar to that of Le Gascon and sometimes signed his work, which Le Gascon never did. Le Gascon had many imitators, the best and closest being Poncyn and Magnus, Dutch binders who worked at Amsterdam in the 17th century, and his style has been continuously followed to the present day.
The bindings of Padeloup le Jeune often have small tickets with his name upon them; they usually have borders of lace-like gold tooling known as “dentelle” and are often inlaid. He belonged to a family of binders, all of whom were excellent workmen, and lived in the 17th and 18th centuries.
The Deromes were another of the great French families of binders; the most celebrated was Nicholas Denis, called “Le Jeune,” born in 1731. He used dentelle borders resembling those of Padeloup, but with little birds interspersed among the arabesques—“dentelles à l’oiseau.”
Among the many French binders of the 18th century who used delicate inlays of coloured leathers, Jean Charles le Monnier was perhaps the most skilled. He often signed his bindings in small capitals impressed in gold somewhere about the inlaid part.
Eliot and Chapman bound the library of Robert Harley, earl of Oxford, about the middle of the 18th century. The bindings are in morocco, with broad, richly gold-tooled borders, and usually a diamond-shaped centre-piece. This is known as the Harleian style.
Thomas Hollis had his books bound in fine red morocco, ornamented with small, well-cut stamps engraved by Thomas Pingo, the medallist. These stamps comprise a cap of liberty, a figure of liberty, a figure of Britannia and several smaller ones.
Towards the end of the 18th century, when binding in England was decoratively at a low level, Roger Payne, a native of Windsor, came to London and set up as a bookbinder. He was a splendid workman, and introduced richly gold-tooled corner-pieces, ornamental “doublures” or inside linings, and also invented the graining of morocco, graining it, however, in one direction only, known as the “straight grain.” It is said that Payne cut his own binding tools of iron; they certainly are exquisitely made, and in many of his bindings he has put a written description of loving work he has done upon them. Payne was, unfortunately, a drunkard, but he has in spite of this rendered an immortal service to the art of bookbinding in England.
In 1785 John Edwards of Halifax patented a method of making vellum transparent, and using it as a covering over delicate paintings. He also painted pictures on the fore-edges of many of his books in the same manner as that followed by Samuel Mearne in the 17th century, so that they did not show until the book was opened. John Whitaker used calf for his bindings, but ornamented the calf in a curious way with strong acids and with prints from engraved metal plates. Both Edwards and Whitaker liked classical borders and ornaments, and their bindings are in consequence often known as “Etruscan.”
The main styles used in England at the beginning of the 19th century were nothing more than distant imitations of Roger Payne. Kalthoeber, Staggemeier, Walther and Hering were all disciples of this master, but Charles Lewis worked on original lines. He developed arabesques and paid particular attention to richly gold-tooled doublures. He also used gold end papers, and the bands at the back of his bindings are often double and always broad, flat and gold-tooled. His workmanship is excellent; he worked largely for Thomas Grenville and other great collectors.
French binding of the 19th century is remarkable for wonderful technical excellence in every part. Among the most skilled of these admirable workmen and artists may be particularly mentioned Thouvenin, Bauzonnet, Lortic, Niedrée, Capé and Duru, and fortunately they generally sign their work in small gold lettering either on the back of their bindings or inside along the lower edge.
Recent years have witnessed a marked revival of interest in the art of bookbinding, but modern binders have two serious difficulties to contend with. One of these is the prevalence of bad paper, overladen with clay and with wood pulp, and also the fact that many of the modern Modern methods.leathers are badly prepared and dangerously treated with sulphuric acid, which in time inevitably rots the fibre. The Society of Arts has appointed committees of experts to report upon both of these evils, and the published accounts of both inquiries are of much value, and it is to be hoped that the results may be beneficial. Concurrently with the revival of the artistic side of the subject, there has also arisen a remarkable development in the technical processes, owing to the invention of ingenious and delicate machinery which is capable of executing the work which had hitherto been always laboriously done by hand. The processes of folding the printed sheets, and sewing them together on bands, rounding the backs when sewn, and of making the outer cases, covering them with cloth or leather and stamping designs upon them, can now all be efficiently executed by means of machines. The saving in time and labour thus effected is very great, although it must be said that the old methods of carrying out the process of sewing and rounding the backs of books by hand labour were safer and stronger, as well as being much less liable to bruise and injure the paper. These processes unfortunately are not only slow but also necessitate highly skilled labour. Already the larger trade binders utilize machines extensively and advantageously, but exclusively high-class trade binders do not as yet materially depart from the older methods. Private binders have naturally no reason to use machines at all. Fine and delicate examples of large metal blocks or dies have been very successfully used for the decoration of covers measuring about 1112 by 8 in.
Besides the large trade binders working mainly by the help of machinery, and producing a great quantity of bound work which is not expected to last long, there also exists in London, Paris, New York and other large cities, a small class of art binders who work throughout upon the principles which have been continuously in use for first-class work ever since about the 5th century. The initial impetus to this school can be traced to William Morris, who himself made some beautiful designs for bookbindings, to be executed both in gold and in blind. Although he probably did not fully appreciate either the peculiar limitations or the possibilities of the art of gold-tooling on leather, nevertheless his genius guided him truly as to the spirit in which the designs should be conceived. The revived art soon reached its first stage of development under the guidance of Mr T. J. Cobden-Sanderson, who may fairly be considered as the founder of the modern school of design for gold-tooling on book-covers, the pre-eminence and individuality of his work in this direction being proved by the number of his imitators. Among the most successful of his pupils is Mr Douglas Cockerell, whose work (Plate, fig. 7) is distinguished by a marked originality of treatment, while it shows a scholarly appreciation of ancient methods. Mr Alfred de Sauty has succeeded in developing a new and admirable style in inlaid leathers, combined with delicate pointille work. A number of women artists, both in England
