The bindings of the books printed by Thomas Berthelet have already in many instances been noticed as examples of fine workmanship, but he has not by any means always been credited with their authorship.
There are certain volumes which belonged to Henry VIII. at a period when Berthelet was royal printer, some of which were
VELVET BINDING OF A BIBLE PRINTED AT ZURICH IN 1543. MADE FOR HENRY VIII.
actually printed by him, on which certain stamps impressed in gold occur with great frequency. Several of these stamps are peculiar, and all of them bear the characteristics of being designed by the same artist, one who quite understood the art of designing curves for bookbindings. There is now little doubt that these bindings issued from Berthelet’s workshop, and they may be safely considered to be his workmanship.
Unfortunately none of the bindings attributed to Berthelet are signed. There are numerous instances of signed bindings made in England both before and during his time, but these are always on panel stamps, which in all probability were seldom made by Englishmen. The fashion of signing a binding outside has indeed been seldom followed here, although it has been common on continental bindings for a long period. When English workmen have signed their bindings it has generally been by means of a small paper ticket pasted on the inside, or in very small letters or initials impressed at the lower edge of the inside of the boards.
Most of the bindings of the late fifteenth and early sixteenth centuries had silken ties fixed to the front edges of the boards. This peculiarity was probably a survival of an old custom which prevailed during the Middle Ages, when books were largely written on vellum, which is very apt to curl; the ties helped the thick, heavy boards to counteract this tendency. The ties on Berthelet’s bindings are now nearly all rubbed off, but signs of them can be traced in most cases.
In default of a signed binding, we are driven, in Berthelet’s case, to probability only with regard to fixing some standard by which to judge his work. The stamps used on all the books printed by Berthelet which are still in their original bindings are fortunately few in number, and nearly all these stamps are found on the first binding described in my list below. The gilding on this binding is bad, and evidently the work of a beginner, and I think it is the first English book ornamented with actual gold-tooling. It is dedicated to Henry VIII. and belonged to him, and my theory is, that the king desired Berthelet to try the new form of decoration on one of his own books, to be marked with his own heraldic devices and special royal badges. Berthelet doubtless considered the gold-tooling, which at that time he alone understood here, was a more distinguished manner of marking his work than the commoner plan of signing his name, as the foreign workmen were in the habit of doing on their large panel stamps.