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

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It is disappointing that no single specimen of the rich Mediæval style of bookbinding exists of English workmanship. Such bindings were undoubtedly made here, and numerous drawings of them are to be seen in contemporary manuscript. It is certain that the intrinsic value of these covers attracted the attention of some of our sovereigns, especially the early Tudors, and whenever they were of any value at all, the crucible accounts for their disappearance. Luckily the manuscripts themselves, now infinitely more valuable than the gold and silver which formerly covered them, have in innumerable instances been carefully preserved unhurt. But it is some comfort to know that much beautiful work of the kind we have so unfortunately lost here can be seen and studied in Dublin, at the Royal Irish Academy and other institutions. In that city are to be seen noble specimens of the old book shrines, or covers, which protected the valuable manuscripts, illuminated sometimes by the ancient Irish scribes in such richness that they have never been excelled in beauty. These covers are in all probability nearly the same as the English ones were; they bear ornamentation of a similar Gothic character, nearly analogous to the Anglo-Saxon styles, and the jewels are cut and set in the same way as is found in old English jewellers’ work. The “cumdach,” or cover, of Molaise’s Gospels, that of the Stowe missal and “Dimma’s book,” are all beautiful examples. The Irish jewellers were justly celebrated workmen; they migrated largely to the Continent, and traces of their skill often show on Byzantine bindings made from about the ninth to the eleventh centuries. The older part of the magnificent cover of the Gospels of Lindau is Irish work. This was shown in 1891 at the Burlington Fine Art Club, and until lately was the property of the Earl of Ashburnham. It is one of the most gorgeous bookbindings in existence.