Page:The Art of Bookbinding, Zaehnsdorf, 1890.djvu/20

xiv woodcut will give a fair idea of a Venetian tool. During this period the French had bookbinding almost entirely in their hands, and Mons. Grolier, who loved the art, had his books bound under his own supervision in the most costly manner. His designs consisted of bold gold lines arranged geometrically with great accuracy, crossing one another and intermixed with small leaves or sprays. These were in outlines shaded or filled up with closely worked cross lines.

Venetian.

Not, however, satisfied with these simple traceries, he embellished them still more by staining or painting them black, green, red, and even with silver, so that they formed bands interlacing each other in a most graceful manner. Opposite is a centre block of Grolier. It will be seen how these lines entwine, and how the small tools are shaded with lines. If the reader has had the good fortune to see one of these specimens, has he not wondered at the taste displayed? To the French must certainly be given the honour of bringing the art to such a perfection. Francis I. and the succeeding monarchs, with the French nobility,