10. James I English Armorial Binding

England, 17c.
On: Bishop of Salisbury's De Gratia et Perseverantia Sanctorum.
Published: London, 1618
British Library, Shelfmark c27f7.

A gold tooled limp binding with the arms of England in a field of floral tooling. Several ties missing along the fore-edge.

This presentation copy to Charles the I, then the prince of Wales, exhibits the limp vellum binding's place in the most prestigious of libraries in the 17th century. Based on the finishing, this binding was surely not considered temporary, and one must imagine that the decision to keep it in limp vellum was an aesthetic one, a vote for the form itself as pleasing and worthy of its place amongst much more elaborate structures.