An Essay in the History of Gold-Tooled
Bindings by Herbert P. Horne
London 1894
20
surrounded by a broad, tooled border; a distinctive manner of ornamentation, which has since
been known as the Harleian style. The leather used by them for the Earl's books was of a
somewhat inferior quality; but for this they were not responsible, as it was supplied to them.
They frequently complained of 'My Lord's leather,' and Mr. Chapman wanted to buy some of the
skins at a cheap rate; but Mr. Wanley, Lord Oxford's librarian, told him that 'My Lord will not turn
leather seller, and that he must agree to bind with my Lord's morocco skins, otherwise his
Lordship will appoint some other binder to do so.
Later in the century, Thomas Hollis, the republican, and the editor of Algernon Sidney's
'Discourses concerning Government,' and other works, employed Thomas Pingo, the medallist, to
engrave a number of emblematic tools for him, with which he caused the bindings of his books
to be decorated. He was in the habit of spending several hundred pounds a year on the
production and purchase of books and medals, large numbers of which he gave to various
libraries; those of Harvard, Berne, and Zurich being especially favoured. I t has been said, that
he sought to adorn his bindings 'with tooling of a character appropriate to the work': but the
accuracy of this statement would appear to be very doubtful. A copy of John Toland's Life of
Milton, London, 1761, presented by Hollis to the British Museum, bears all the principal stamps,
which occur o.n his bindings, with the exception of the cap of Liberty. On the upper cover of this
book, the figure of Liberty, beneath a star, is stamped between a branch of palm and a branch
of olive: on the lower cover, the figure of Britannia, also with a star, occurs between a cock and
an owl; while the back is tooled with the Wand of JEsculapius, and the Caduceus of Mercury [C.
66. e. 4-]. Thomas Hollis died in 1774; and left his name and property to Thomas Brand, who
continued to use these stamps: thus, the figures of. Liberty and Britannia occur upon a copy of
the Memoirs of Thomas Hollis, London, 1780, which is also in the British Museum [613. 1. 1 I.].
The art of bookbinding in England, which had reached the limit of its decadence, in regard both
to design and workmanship, was now to be suddenly revived by the genius of Roger Payne. This
extraordinary man was a native of Windsor Forest, and is thought to have been first employed
by Pote, the bookseller of Eton. Coming to London, he was apprenticed to Thomas Osborne, a
bookseller in Holborn; and was afterwards set up in business near Leicester Square, sometime
between the years 1766 and 1770, by Thomas Payne, the principal bookseller of his time, who,
though bearing no relation to him, showed him an unremitting benevolence, during the
remainder of his life. This venture was undertaken in partnership with his brother Thomas, as
forwarder: but it did not prove successful; for, like Falstaff, Roger Payne preferred his drink to
his meat. His appearance was habitually ragged and unkempt; and his workroom deplorable
and squalid. In his latter years, he took Richard Wier, the husband of Mrs. Wier, the celebrated
mender of books, to work with him: but Wier inclined to the same weakness as Payne; and in
consequence, they were continually quarrelling. Afterwards they parted; but not before
Mackinlay,