Читать книгу Thomas Berthelet, Royal Printer and Bookbinder to Henry VIII., King of England онлайн

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On the introduction of printing into England in the fifteenth century, the rich Mediæval bindings very rapidly became things of the past. The gap between them and the simple blind-stamped leather which rapidly superseded them was, however, filled to some extent by the production of very ornamental bindings in velvet and satin. These covers are mounted with bosses and clasps of precious metals and enamels, or embroidered in gold and ornamented with pearls. Several references and notes concerning such bindings occur in contemporary official documents, but no actual specimens now exist earlier than the time of Henry VII., but that king has left us several splendid examples.

Until Henry VIII. had his own royal binders, it is likely that all the early printers bound only their own work; but naturally a printer and binder holding an appointment as royal binder would be sometimes expected to bind other miscellaneous books, and instances of this are not only found in Berthelet’s account, given below, but amongst the books bound by him there are some which were printed abroad and others which are collections of tracts, etc., all of which were bound for King Henry VIII. or his immediate successors.