Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 4.djvu/51

Rh and in the same author's Shadows of the Old Booksellers, 1865. See also History of Booksellers, by Henry Curwen, 1873, and Bilder-Hefte zur Geschichte des Bücherhandels, by Heinrich Lempertz, Cologne, 1854.  BOOKBINDING is the art of fastening together the sheets of paper composing a book, and enclosing them in cases of pasteboard covered with leather, cloth, or other materials,—the object being the preservation of the book, and its protection from injury while in use.

At the time when books were rarities, being either manuscripts produced by patient secluded labour or the productions of the printing-press during the infancy of typography, they were naturally very highly prized; and as much labour and expense were bestowed upon the protection and embellishment of a cherished folio as would suffice at the present day for the building of a house. The wooden cover of a book, with its metal hinges, bosses, guards, and clasps, seems, in all but dimensions, fit for a church door; but the great improvement in all the mechanical arts, together with the extension of education to all classes, and the consequent diffusion of knowledge, has led to the multiplication of books, and the gradual but radical changes witnessed during the present century in the art of bookbinding.

For a period of one thousand years—from the end of the 5th to the 15th century—books were excessively rare and costly, and comparatively few bindings illustrative of the art during the Dark Ages have been preserved to the present day. From being the task of slaves during the Roman empire, the transcribing of books came to be the duty of monks, who copied and bound the works which were among the chief treasures of religious establishments. Numerous documents exist indicating the attention which was given by all grades of the priestly order to the binding and preservation of their literary treasures. The general aspect of monastic bindings was thick, heavy, and solid, and according to modern ideas somewhat clumsy. Books for common use were enclosed in boards of hard wood covered with leather, with the binding protected by metallic bosses, corner plates, and clasps. The literary treasures, on the other hand, of kings and ecclesiastical dignitaries, and the sacred volumes of churches and monasteries, were encased in ivory sides, with appropriate subjects artistically carved on them, in silver and sometimes even gold plaques, or in the enamels of Limoges, &c.; and these bindings were frequently enriched besides with gems and jewels. Often these precious volumes were, in keeping with ancient customs, further preserved in boxes or cases no less rich and costly than the bindings they were meant to preserve. As the period of the Renaissance approached, silk and velvet came into use for ornamental bindings.

The most ancient binding in the British Museum is the St Cuthbert gospels and manuscript, written about the beginning of the 8th century, bound in velvet intermixed with silver, with a broad silver border, enriched with inlaid gems. One of the most ancient and remarkable of bindings, a Lectionorium, which was formerly in the collection of M. Libri, that eminent bibliophile thus describes in his Monuments médits: "Manuscript upon vellum of the 11th or 12th century in an ornamented cover (forming a diptych), both sides being gilt and silvered metal, with ivory carvings, figures in alto rilievo, and enamels en taille d'épargne. The borders contain thirty-two large ivory medallions (sixteen on each side), representing the old prophets and saints, with their symbols, and having inscriptions in ancient uncial letters, the whole surrounded with a foliage of ivory work in the Greek style, and with baguettes carved in compartments. The ivory medallions are very early, probably as old as the 6th century, whilst the enamels and metal ornamentation are specimens of the handiwork of a rather later period This Lectionarium has evidently been inserted in the present cover at a later period, the original one having most probably been damaged or destroyed by use." Referring to this work, M. Libri, in the introduction to the volume above quoted, says: "Whether the enamels contained in this binding are Byzantine and contemporary with the ivory sculptures, or were introduced later (as we have shown was frequently the case) into an older covering, the medallions and other workmanship in ivory, adorning the sides of this coating, appear, from the character of the heads, from the inscriptions, and from the workmanship itself, to date back to the earliest period of the Byzantine school."

With the invention of printing, and the consequent multiplication of books in a portable shape, came the modern style of bookbinding. The old massive boards, with their bosses, corner plates, and heavy clasps disappeared, and thin sides covered with leather, parchment, and vellum came into use. Bindings in which enamels, precious metals, or gems were employed almost entirely disappeared, and were followed by bindings in richly-coloured leather or vellum, with elaborate designs, blind-tooled or worked in gold and colour, and gilt gauffré edges. By the wealthy and powerful families of Italy this style of binding and ornamentation was first encouraged towards the end of the 15th century, and skilful artists were employed to design appropriate decorations to be worked out by the bookbinders. Among the most famous early patrons of the bibliopegic art in Italy were Michael and Thomas Maioli, the books of the latter being the models on which were fashioned the bindings of later collectors and of other countries. More rare and artistically valuable still are the works of another Italian collector of the 16th century, Demetrio Canevari, commonly called Mecenate, physician to Pope Urban. They are distinguished by a medallion executed in gold, silver, and colour, with the device of a charioteer driving towards Pegasus on an elevation, and the motto, ΟΡΘΩΣ ΚΑΙ ΜΗ ΔΟΞΙΩΣ. These elegantly gilt bindings have, in the opinion of M. Libri, never been surpassed.

Artistic bindings of Italy and Italian binders were brought to France by Charles VIII. and Louis XII.; but it was not till the time of Francis I.—himself a lover of books and bindings—that Grolier, his military treasurer and the governor of Milan, brought the French school of binding suddenly to the front, and placed it, where it long remained, at the head of the art in Europe. The bindings executed for Grolier usually contain on their obverse the inscription, IO. GROLIERU ET AMICORUM, and on the reverse his usual motto was PORTIO MEA DOMINE SIT IN TERRA VIVENTIUM. Of Grolier's bindings the learned De Thou, a later and little less famous French bibliophile, remarked "that his books partook of the elegance and polish of their owner." The Grolier style is yet recognized as the most chaste, elegant, and appropriate method of book ornamentation, and it immediately attained an enormous reputation in France. "The very tools used by his binders," remarks M. Libri, "were employed for contemporary collectors, and his admirable patterns have been imitated and copied by other French bibliophiles. The gradual change in those patterns is very perceptible. At first they were formed by a simple and chaste combination of various links only; but afterwards Grolier successively introduced into the designs more rich ornaments, such as small flowers, wreaths, &c." Some of his later covers were resplendent with gold and coloured ornament, most elaborately tooled.

After the period of Grolier the taste for magnificent bindings in France grew into a passion, and the sumptuous bindings in which the famous Diana of Poitiers indulged  IV. — 6