12. School Prize with City Arms

Netherlands, 17c.
On: M. Velleius Paterculus's Historia Romana
Published: Leiden, 1639
British Library, Shelfmark c64cc3.

A small history book tooled with the city arms of Amersfoort. Two front ties missing.

A representative 17th century application of vellum, this book was awarded as a school prize of some sort to Jacobus, a Burghorst in Amersfoort, and it has been tooled with the city's coat of arms. Note that while such a volume would have been quite a prize to the average grammar school student, the tooling is rather sloppy and hastily done, especially when compared to the royal volumes from the same period.