A Manual of the Art of Bookbinding. James B. Nicholson
within the peculiar limits of the Bookbinder's Art.
We return to Continental binding, and pass to the time of the ever-famous Jean Grolier. This nobleman was the first to introduce lettering upon the back; and he seems to have taken especial delight in having the sides of his books ornamented with very beautiful and elaborate patterns, said to have been drawn by his own hand. Many of them exist at the present day, either original Groliers or copies. Books from his library are eagerly sought for. All Grolier's books were bound in smooth morocco or calf, the pattern being formed of intersected line-work, finished by hand with a fine one-line fillet and gouges to correspond, with the occasional introduction of a conventional flower. Sometimes also the patterns were inlaid with morocco of different colours; and it is our opinion that no style of book-ornamentation has been since introduced that is worthy of entirely superseding the Grolier, a specimen of which will be given when treating on style. Very many of the Chevalier's volumes have the Latin inscription "Johanni Grolierii et amicorum" at the bottom, signifying that Grolier wished his books to be used by his friends as well as by himself. Connoisseurs rejoice when they meet with a work from the library of Maioli, a disciple of Grolier, or those of Diana of Poictiers, the mistress of Henry II., and whose books, in consequence of her influence and taste, are elegantly bound. It is supposed that the bindings for Diana of Poictiers were designed by Petit Bernard. They were bound in morocco of all colours, and usually ornamented with the emblems of the crescent and bow and quiver.
Among the earliest French binders must be mentioned Padeloup, Derome, and De Seuil. Pope celebrates De Seuil in one of his poems. Derome's plain morocco bindings are excellent; they are sewn on raised bands, are firm and compact, and the solid gilding upon the edges is worthy of commendation; his dentelle borders are fine, but unfortunately he was not careful of the trenchant steel. Padeloup's tooling or ornaments consist chiefly of small dots, and the forms he invented are elegant. When met with in good state, they look like gold lace upon the sides and backs of the books.
The bindings of books which belonged to De Thou are highly prized. He possessed a magnificent library, mostly bound in smooth deep-toned red, yellow, and green morocco. De Thou died in 1617. The Chevalier D'Eon used to bind books in a sort of Etruscan calf, the ornaments on which were copied from the Etruscan vases. The use of the black and red dyes have very frequently corroded the leather.
We must now resume our account of binding in England.
During the early part of the last century the general bindings were, with the exception of what was called Cambridge binding, (from being executed at that place,) of a depreciated character, many of them very clumsy, and devoid of taste in their ornament. Toward the middle some degree of attention had begun to be paid to the improvement of bindings, the general kinds being, up to the end of the eighteenth century, nearly all executed to one pattern—viz.: the sides marbled, the backs coloured brown, with morocco lettering-pieces, and gilt.
The artists of the earlier part of the period of which we have been treating must have been numerous; but few are known. Two German binders, of the name of Baumgarten and Benedict, were of considerable note and in extensive employment in London during the early part of this century. The bindings of Oxford were also very good at this period. Who the distinguished parties at Oxford were has not been recorded; but a person of the name of Dawson, then living at Cambridge, has the reputation of being a clever artist, and may be pronounced as the binder of many of the substantial volumes still possessing the distinctive binding we have before referred to. Baumgarten and Benedict would, doubtless, be employed in every style of binding of their day, but the chief characteristics of their efforts are good substantial volumes in russia, with marbled edges.
To these succeeded Mr. John Mackinlay and two other Binders, named Kalthœber and Staggemier; but to Mackinlay may, perhaps, be attributed the first impulse given to the improvements which have been introduced into bindings. He was one of the largest and most creditable binders in London of the period of which we are treating. Several specimens of his, in public and private libraries, remain to justify the character given of him; and of the numerous artists that his office produced, many have since given evidence, by their work, that the lessons they received were of a high character. The specimens alluded to exhibit a degree of care, ingenuity, and skill, highly creditable to them as binders. Though well executed, they did not pay the time and attention devoted, in later times, to the finishing or gilding of their work, and it was not till Roger Payne exhibited the handiwork of the craft, that any decided impulse was given to the progress of the art, which has gone on, under able successors, from one improvement to another till there exists much doubt whether or no we have not now, so far as mechanical execution depends, arrived at perfection. About the year 1770 Roger Payne went to London, and, as his history is an epoch in the history of the art, we will devote some space to it.
The personal history of Roger Payne is one among the many of the ability of a man being rendered nearly useless by the dissoluteness of his habits. He stands an example to the young, of mere talent, unattended with perseverance and industry, never leading to distinction—of great ability, clouded by intemperance and consequent indiscretion, causing the world only to regret how much may have been lost that might have been developed had the individual's course been different and his excellences directed so as to have produced the best results.
Roger Payne was a native of Windsor Forest, and first became initiated in the rudiments of the art he afterward became so distinguished a professor of, under the auspices of Mr. Pote, bookseller to Eton College. From this place he went to London, where he was first employed by Mr. Thomas Osborne, the bookseller, of Holborn, London. Disagreeing on some matters, he subsequently obtained employment from Mr. Thomas Payne, of the King's Mews, St. Martin's, who ever after proved a friend to him. Mr. Payne established him in business near Leicester Square, about the year 1769–70, and the encouragement he received from his patron, and many wealthy possessors of libraries, was such that the happiest results and a long career of prosperity might have been anticipated. His talents as an artist, particularly in the finishing department, were of the first order, and such as, up to his time, had not been developed by any other of his countrymen.
He adopted a style peculiarly his own, uniting a classical taste in the formation of his designs, and much judgment in the selection of such ornament as was applicable to the nature of the work it was to embellish. Many of these he made himself of iron, and some are yet preserved as curiosities and specimens of the skill of the man. To this occupation he may have been at times driven from lack of money to procure them from the tool-cutters; but it cannot be set down as being generally so, for, in the formation of the designs in which he so much excelled, it is but reasonable to suppose, arguing upon the practice of some others in later times, he found it readier and more expedient to manufacture certain lines, curves, &c. on the occasion. Be this as it may, he succeeded in executing binding in so superior a manner as to have no rival and to command the admiration of the most fastidious book-lover of his time. He had full employment from the noble and wealthy, and the estimation his bindings are still held in is a sufficient proof of the satisfaction he gave his employers. His best work is in Earl Spencer's library.
His reputation as an artist of the greatest merit was obscured, and eventually nearly lost, by his intemperate habits. He loved drink better than meat. Of this propensity an anecdote is related of a memorandum of money spent, and kept by himself, which runs thus:—
| For bacon .. .. .. | 1 halfpenny. |
| For liquor .. .. .. | 1 shilling. |
No wonder then, with habits like these, that the efforts of his patron, in fixing him, were rendered of no avail. Instead of rising to that station his great talent would have led to, he fell by his dissolute conduct to the lowest depths of misery and wretchedness. In his wretched working-room was executed the most splendid specimens of binding; and here on the same shelf were mixed together old shoes and precious leaves—bread and cheese, with the most valuable and costly of MSS. or early-printed books.
That he was characteristic or eccentric may be judged by what has been related of him. He appears to have also been a poet on the subject of his unfortunate propensity, as the following extract from a copy of verses sent with a bill to Mr. Evans, for binding "Barry on