Perhaps altogether the most interesting Italian work of this
kind was done on books bound for Cardinal York, several of which still
remain, embroidered with his coat-of-arms, one of them being now in the
Royal Library at Windsor. Although the actual workmanship on these books
is foreign, we may perhaps claim them as having been suggested or made
by the order of the English Prince himself, inheriting the liking for
embroidered books from his Stuart ancestors.
French embroidered books are very rare, and I do not know of any
examples in England. Two interesting specimens, at least, are in the
Bibliotheque Nationale, and are described and figured in Bouchot's work
on the artistic bindings in that library. The earlier is on a book of
prayers of the fifteenth century, bound in canvas, and worked with
'tapisserie de soie au petit point,' or as I should call it, tent-, or
tapestry-, stitch. It represents the Crucifixion and a saint, but M.
Bouchot remarks of it, 'La composition est grossiere et les figures des
plus rudimentaires.'
The other instance occurs on a sixteenth-century manuscript, 'Les Gestes
de Blanche de Castille.' It is bound in black velvet, much worn, and
ornamented with applique embroideries in coloured silks, in shading
stitch, probably done on fine linen. The design on the upper cover shows
the author of the book, Etienne le Blanc, in the left-hand corner,
kneeling at the feet of Louise de Savoie, Regent of France, to whom the
book is dedicated.
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