[A] Davenport, “English Embroidered Bookbindings.” Kegan Paul, London, 1899.
There certainly are enough specimens left of such ornamental bindings to show that plain leather bindings were not always considered elaborate enough in appearance to compensate entirely for the loss of the gold-jewelled and enamelled productions which immediately preceded them; and it seems wonderful that bindings made in such apparently fragile materials as velvet and satin should not only be in existence but actually in a very good state of preservation, though faded in colour. They are really much more enduring than is generally imagined, but unquestionably numbers of them, worked on velvet, satin, and canvas, have perished or been worn out long ago. Embroidered books were made for all the Tudors, mostly on velvet, and a little later, in the time of Charles I., numbers of them, usually small, were embroidered on satin. The dates of the manuscripts bound in embroidered velvet and satin by Berthelet are not quite certain, but it is probable that his work of this kind in both these materials is the earliest made in England.
The greater number of bindings made by Thomas Berthelet belonged, as might be expected, to Henry VIII., Edward VI., or Mary; that is to say, they formed part of the old Royal Library of England. This old Royal Library, or as much as was then left of it, was given by George II. to the British Museum in 1757, and it forms perhaps the most valued special collection in that institution. It must not, however, be supposed that every old English royal book was really included in this library, for by some means or other a very considerable number of them were separated from the rest, and now exist scattered all over England, in private libraries as well as at Windsor. Such books now seldom come into the open market, and if they do, they are generally purchased by the state, and so return to their old companions. Also, royal bookbinders did some work outside their official limits, and small bindings of an unimportant kind, evidently the work of Berthelet, are not uncommon in England. They are always charming, and the simplicity of the quiet blind lines running side by side with others in bright gold on the rich brown calf is quite delightful; such simple covers usually have a rectangular panel with small Italian fleurons at the outer corners, and usually an initial, monogram, or heraldic ornament in the centre.