tention. Thus in
both Mr. H. B. Wheatley's and Mr. W. Y. Fletcher's works on the bindings
in the British Museum, in Mr. Salt Brassington's _Historic Bindings in
the Bodleian Library_ and _History of the Art of Bookbinding_, and in my
own _Portfolio_ monograph on 'Royal English Bookbindings,' some of the
finer specimens of embroidered books still existing are illustrated and
described. But up to the present no attempt has been made to deal with
them as a separate subject. In the course, however, of the many lectures
on Decorative Bookbinding which it has been my pleasure and honour to
deliver during the past few years, I have invariably noticed that the
pictures and descriptions of embroidered specimens have been the most
keenly appreciated, and this favourable sign has led me to examine and
consider such examples as have come in my way more carefully than I
might otherwise have done. Very little study sufficed to show that in
England alone there was for a considerable period a regular and large
production of embroidered books, and further, that the different styles
of these embroideries are clearly defined, equally from the
chronological and artistic points of view. A peculiarly English art
which thus lends itself to orderly treatment may fairly be made the
subject of a brief monograph.

With the exception of point-lace, which is sometimes made in small
pieces for such purposes as ladies' cuffs or collars, decorative work
produced by the aid of the needle is generally large. Certainly this is
so in its finest forms, which are probably to be found in the
ecclesiastical vestments and in the altar frontals of the Renaissance
period, or even earlier. On the other hand, such work as exists on books
is always of small size, and, unlike the point-lace, it almost
invariably has more than one kind of 'stitchery' upon it--chain, split,
tapestry, satin, or what not.

Thus it can be claimed as a distinction for embroidered book-covers that
as a class they are the smallest complete embroideries existing, ranging
upwards from about 6 inches by 3-1/2 inches--the size of the smallest
specimen known to me, when opened out to its fullest extent, sides and
back in one. This covers a copy of the Psalms, printed in London in
1635, and is of white satin, with a small tulip worked in coloured silk
on each side.

An 'Embroidered Book,' it should be said, means for my purpose a book
which is covered, sides and back, by a piece of material or