The Napoleonic legend, however, is not dead. A pinchbeck imitation of the Empire was extinguished by the chance assegai of an unknown Zulu warrior in South Africa. Will it rise again, and in what form? And if so, how soon?

LIONEL CUST

VOLUME. BY CYRIL DAVEN-
PORT, F.S.A.

ARLY Italian work on gold-tooled bindings in leather of the latter half of the fifteenth century and the beginning of the sixteenth was remarkable for excellence of design and technical skill. After this period, which was strongly marked by a prevalence of designs and methods of work founded upon Oriental originals, there was a rapid falling-off from the high standard previously attained. The cameo bindings, some of which are among the earliest European examples of the use of gold on leather, do much to distinguish Italian bookbinding of the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. The bindings made for Jean Grolier, Treasurer-General of France, although possibly the designs used upon them were supplied, or at all events suggested, by some artist not himself a binder, nearly always reach a high level of artistic merit, and in some cases are of great beauty. The bindings which were made for Tommaso Maioli and for Marc Lauwrin during the sixteenth century are remarkable for the charm of the gold tooling upon them. They influenced the general art of bookbinding in Italy both during and after the period at which they were produced.

Colour is freely used on several of the early Venetian bindings, which are closely adapted from Eastern work, with sunk centre panels and angle-pieces; and it occurs more or less in Italian work up to recent times. Sometimes the colour is applied simply as an adjunct to gold tooling, as in the case of the coloured fillets occasionally found on bindings made for Jean Grolier; sometimes it is applied over gold, as in the patterns in relief contained in the sunk panels of the Oriental' style; sometimes it is simple oilpainting, as in the case of the curious books produced at Siena and the many Venetian bindings with armorial bearings shown in proper colours in the central panel. Colour, however, as a regular method of ornamenting book covers has been chiefly used at Lyons, and dates from the latter part of the sixteenth century. Although produced in France, these bindings have, as a rule, decided marks of Italian origin; and it is plausibly conjectured that they were made by Italian workmen domiciled at Lyons.

These books are usually ornamented with cleverly arranged interlacing fillets, which are outlined in gold and filled in with brilliant colours. The actual composition of this colour is not known; but it is probably some powdered colour used with a soft varnish in the manner of oil paint. The taste for coloured bindings spread widely from Lyons; work of a similar kind was made in other parts of France, in Italy, and in England. Time, it is

probable, has improved the appearance of these bindings: the brilliance of many of them when new must have been too decided for strict beauty.

After the days of the great collectors whom I have mentioned, the art of gold-tooling on leather bookbindings as practised in Italy rapidly became poor and disappointing. Indeed, Italian bookbinding since the beginning of the seventeenth century would, from an artist's point of view, be almost a neglectable quantity were it not for the redeeming qualities and the interest attaching to many of the ecclesiastical bindings which have been constantly and plentifully produced in that country. Even in these ecclesiastical bindings the artistic level of the design is generally low: the stamps (so to speak) trust to themselves, for their effect, rather than to the skill of the gilder. They are cut too large, and are elaborately engraved with superficial ornamentation in fine lines. Such stamps have more the character of blocks engraved with a view to printing in ink than that of being impressed on gold. In the latter case the delicate lines are apt to be lost: the impression becomes heavy, more or less meaningless, and generally unsatisfactory. Stamps of this kind intended to be used with gold are, I think, always a sign of weakness on the part of their designer; nevertheless, by their use an effective mass of gilding can sometimes be quickly produced with little labour. There remains, however, a redeeming point in favour of even the later Italian bindings. They are very largely ornamented with heraldic designs as their chief decoration. Such designs have always a strong interest for an antiquary besides their mere decorative value. Heraldry, indeed, plays an important part in fine bookbinding, and supplies a useful key to the history of the volumes on which it is found.

Whilst many of the Italian heraldic bindings have been made for one or another of the great Italian families,-Medici, Borgia, Foscari, and Colonna, for example, the most important of them belonged to dignitaries of the Church, abbots, bishops, archbishops, cardinals, and popes. There can be found an almost unbroken series of splendid bindings adorned with the armorial bearings of each successive pope from the fifteenth century until the present time. In the case of an English bishop or archbishop the arms of the see are always impaled with the holder's family coat; but in the Italian hierarchy the family coat alone is found, and sometimes it can be traced through all the grades, from the lowest to the highest rank, differing only in its attributes of head-dress, with tassels, cross, mitre, and crozier. Ecclesiasts never officially use a crest: they use a shield only. A crest is a combatant distinction, and was originally used only by aggressive warriors; a shield, to be used exclusively for protective purposes, is considered fitting for even the most peaceable of men. For the proper consideration of these bindings, one must

gain some idea as to the different signs of priestly rank which are most usually found on ecclesiastical bindings. These marks are generally, but not always, given correctly. The most decorative as well as the most important of the emblems is the priest's hat with tassels. The shape of this hat is the same through all the grades; but the colour, in actual use, is different. On books it is almost always shown in gold, and thus by the number of tassels alone are we able to say what the rank of the owner was. The tassels hang from the inner edge of the brim, one over each ear; they start from one tassel, from which depends a series of rows of tassels, each row having one more tassel than that preceding it.

B

An abbot wears tassels of two rows, each having three tassels altogether; a bishop has three rows, with six tassels; an archbishop four rows, with ten tassels; a cardinal five rows, with fifteen tassels.

In all the lower grades we find a mitre and a crozier-head placed slantingly on the two upper corners of the shield, and these two emblems are shown without regard to any of the more distinctive marks which may be used with them. They are properly borne by abbots and bishops only; but no doubt they frequently occur in the cases of persons whose abbacies were merely titular. The next most important badge is the cross, the distinguishing marks of which are found in the number of cross-bars shown. The plain Latin cross appears to be promiscuously used by all priests, and has only one cross-bar; the patriarchal cross commonly used by bishops, archbishops, and cardinals has two cross-bars; the papal cross

itself has three cross-bars. We should not, however, place reliance upon the forms of the crosses. They are often used indiscriminately, even the triple papal cross showing now and then in company with the hat of a cardinal.

In the case of the higher dignitaries who are members of the Order of St. John of Jerusalem, the four bifurcate ends of the cross of the order are shown projecting from behind the sides of the shield.

In the lower grades all these priestly emblems are often found side by side with the heraldic insignia of civil rank. In many cases princes, dukes, marquises, counts, and barons use their proper coronets immediately above the upper line of the coat-of-arms. These marks sometimes imply personal hereditary rank, and sometimes the rank inherent in the ecclesiastical dignity. In the case of the popes themselves, however, all other dignities disappear. Whatever hereditary rank the actual pope may have held, the supreme dignity of the triple tiara, with the cross-keys of St. Peter surmounting his family coat-of-arms, is never interfered with by any other badge.

The ornamentation of the rest of the volumes, if any, is usually floral, conventional, and largely interspersed with latticed openwork and heavy scrolls. Floating cherubs are a favourite design, and there is on the later Italian bindings a curious fancy for taking certain bearings out of the coat-of-arms itself and dotting them about as complete isolated ornaments. These detached bearings not only appear on the boards of the books, but are also often made use of to decorate the panels of the backs.

The home of the papal books themselves is no doubt the library of the Vatican; but, from a variety of causes, it has come about that many of them have been scattered abroad. They are always valuable, and of great interest; but they are by no means uncommon. The largest and finest of these bindings are on the music-books, many of which are of great size, and are fine specimens of typography and production generally.

The binding copied on the present issue of the ANGLO-SAXON REVIEW is taken from that which covers the folio edition of Soriano's Masses, supposed to be unique, and now in the British Museum. It is dedicated to Pope Paul V., and has a finely engraved portrait of him on the title-page, with a border in which is included his coat-of-arms.1

It measures 21 by 16 inches, is in red morocco richly tooled in gold, and is certainly one of the most splendid specimens of late Italian bookbinding.

Camillo Borghese succeeded Leo XI., as Pope, in 1605, and assumed the title of Paul V. He was fond of art, and left Rome 1 F. Soriani Missarum Liber, &c. Romæ, 1609.