).

When printing was introduced into Europe about the middle of the 15th
century, there was very soon a reaction against the large, beautiful and
valuable illuminated MSS. and their equally precious covers. Printing
brought small books, cheap books, ugly books, generally bound in calf,
goatskin or sheepskin, and ornamented with large panel stamps in blind.
But a new art came into birth very shortly, namely the art of gold
tooling on leather, which in capable hands is almost a great art, and
specimens of the work of the few great masters that have practised it
are now much sought after and likely to increase in estimation and
value. All this, as usual, brings a school of skilled _faussaires_ into
the field, and already the collector of fine bindings must be wary, or
he may easily give thousands of pounds for forged or made-up objects
that are worth but little.

In the matter of leather bindings with gold tooling, an art which was
probably brought to Venice from the East, the finest examples are to be
found in late 15th-century Italian work. The art quickly spread, and
Thomas Berthelet, Royal Binder to Henry VIII., seems to have been the
first binder who practised it in England. Berthelet's work is strongly
Italian in feeling, especially at first, and it is likely that he was
taught the new art by an Italian master; he worked until about 1558.

During the late 15th and the 16th century in England, numbers of fine
printed books were bound in velvet and satin, sometimes set with
enamels, sometimes embroidered. These books, having strong threads of
metal freely used upon them, have lasted much better than would be
expected, and instances of such work made for Henry VIII. are still in
excellent condition, and most decorative.

The fashion of ornamenting English royal books with heraldic designs,
which is considered to have begun in the reign of Edward IV., has
continued without break. The same fashion in books belonging to private
owners was first followed during the later Tudor period, and then
numbers were made, and have been, more or less, ever since.

During the whole Tudor period several small bindings of gold ornamented
with enamels were made. Some of these still exist, and they are charming
little jewels. They were always provided with a ring at the top, no
doubt for attaching to the girdle.

Aldus Manutius, the great Venetian printer, had several of his books
charmingly bound in dark morocco with "Aldine" knot