An 'Embroidered Book,' it should be said, means for my purpose a book
which is covered, sides and back, by a piece of material ornamented with
needlework, following a design made for the purpose of adorning that
particular book. A cover consisting of merely a piece of woven stuff, or
even a piece of true embroidery cut from a larger piece, is not, from my
point of view, properly to be considered an 'embroidered book,' it being
essential that the design as well as the workmanship should have been
specially made for the book on which they are found; and this, in the
large majority of instances, is certainly the case.
With regard to the transference of bindings to books other than those
for which they were originally made, such a transference has often taken
place in the case of mediaeval books bound in ornamental metal, but even
in these instances it must be recognised that such a change can seldom
be made without serious detriment. It is chiefly indeed from some
incongruity of style or technical mistake in the re-putting together
that we are led to guess that the covers have been thus tampered with.
Now and then such a transference occurs in the case of leather-bound
books, and in such instances is usually easy for a trained binder to
detect. Embroidered covers, on the other hand, have rarely been changed,
the motive for such a proceeding never having been strong, and the risk
attending it being obvious enough.
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