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

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PLATE III.

BERTHELET’S DEVICE OF LUCRETIA STABBING HERSELF.

See page 49.

makes such a strong surface that frequently the gilded letters, or designs, which were of course originally in intaglio, are found in relief, the explanation being that the surrounding leather, being unprotected, has worn or powdered away all around. The use of albumen is, however, not entirely without a drawback, as it is a favourite food for some small grub, so that sometimes, instead of a beautiful gilded line, there is only a small trench following the same track, all the gold and all the albumen having been eaten away, leaving the design as it was, but in a different colour.

As a matter of fact, the earliest English binding now existing on which gold occurs is in the Bodlein Library at Oxford, but it would hardly come under the heading of gold-tooling. It is on a manuscript written by Robert Witinton about 1516, and was given by him to Cardinal Wolsey. The binding is in brown sheepskin, and is decorated with block impressions from panel stamps, three on each side, the centre one representing St. George and the dragon, and the side ones bearing the Tudor emblems, portcullis, pomegranate, and double rose. These stamps are well and boldly cut, and the impressions are gilded, but I think it would be difficult to say positively whether they were simply overlaid with gold leaf after being made on the leather, or whether the gold was fixed by the operation of stamping. I rather expect the latter method was used; but the volume is a very curious and interesting one even if such is not the case, and to some extent may explain the gilding mentioned in Piers Courteys’s account.