To say much on this subject might bring me perilously near to
re-writing the prospectus of this series. It is enough to have pointed
out that the bookish arts in England are well worth more study than they
have yet been given, and that the pioneers who are endeavouring to
enlarge knowledge, each in his own section, may fairly hope that their
efforts will be received with indulgence and good-will.
ALFRED W. POLLARD.
[Illustration]
CHAPTER I
EMBROIDERED BOOKS
The application of needlework to the embellishment of the bindings of
books has hitherto almost escaped special notice. In most of the works
on the subject of English Bookbinding, considered from the decorative
point of view in distinction from the technical, a few examples of
embroidered covers have indeed received some share of attention. Thus in
both Mr. H. B. Wheatley's and Mr. W. Y. Fletcher's works on the bindings
in the British Museum, in Mr. Salt Brassington's _Historic Bindings in
the Bodleian Library_ and _History of the Art of Bookbinding_, and in my
own _Portfolio_ monograph on 'Royal English Bookbindings,' some of the
finer specimens of embroidered books still existing are illustrated and
described. But up to the present no attempt has been made to deal with
them as a separate subject. In the course, however, of the many lectures
on Decorative Bookbinding which it has been my pleasure and honour to
deliver during the past few years, I have invariably noticed that the
pictures and descriptions of embroidered specimens have been the most
keenly appreciated, and this favourable sign has led me to examine and
consider such examples as have come in my way more carefully than I
might otherwise have done.
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