International studio (27.1905/1906(1906))

Ornamental Bookbmding in Ireiand


IRTSH BOOKBINDING iSTH CENTURY

which Stands about twenty-one inches high. Many
of them are besides rendered more striking in their
effect by having portions of their designs inlaid
in a variety of colours, and the conventional
floral ornamentation frequently picked out in black
or silver. -
Occasionally, too, a marbled inlay is introduced,
an extremely rare form of decoration in binding in
any country where the art was practised. Except
in a case where the Journal of some particular year
runs into two volumes—a thing that happens a few
times only—there are no two covers in the whole
set which bear the same decorative design, a fact
that demonstrates in a telling manner the marvellous
aptitude for originality displayed throughout the
extended period during which the works were
produced, although, naturally enough, not invari-
ably maintained at the same high-water mark of
perfection.
Looked at from this point of view, the set as
they stand present an almost complete panorama
of the history of decorative bookbinding in Ireiand.
In the early volumes, hands more or less untrained
seem, as it were, to be feeling their way in a region
to which they were but little used; and none of
the volumes bound between 1613 and 1705 are
characterised by any special feature distinguishing
them in workmanship or design from the book-
binding done at the same period in other
parts of the kingdom, or from the work of an
ordinary kind done abroad. It is worth noticing,
however, that we find, even in these early Irish
examples, a tendency to vary the monotony of

colour by the introduction of a splashing of black
on the calf covers, the subsequent and more
ambitious development of which produced such
fine effects of harmony in colour as are to be seen
in the intricate and luxurious mosaic designs of
later years. A very striking contrast to the earlier
work is presented in the binding of the House
of Commons’ Journal for the year 1707—the
result, no doubt, of a new appointment which is
known to have been then made to the office of
binder serving that House—and with this volume
begins, and at a high level too, this most remarkable
series of bindings, which, reaching its zenith in the
middle of the eighteenth Century, returned, by
distinctly marked gradations, about the year 1800,.
to even a lower Standard of art and technique than
that from which it started—lower at any rate than
it should have been, having regard to the many
brilliant examples of really admirable work which
then existed in the country. The binders of
almost all these volumes were the firms or
individuals who from time to time held the office
of King’s Stationer, or King’s Printer in Ireiand.
Both offices were granted by Patent—the rights
uncler which were jealously guarded by the
patentees, as the profits derived from the supply of
what was termed “ Stationery Wares” to Parlia-
ment and the Government departments were,
generally speaking, extremely large. The profit
on the actual binding of the Journals, however,
must have been small, for it is known that even
the most elaborately ornamented of them were
charged for at the rate of £6 a volume. The
finest work seems to have been done after the
appointment of Abraham Bradley as King’s
Stationer in 1749. Of the names of the actual
handicraftsmen by whom the designing and tooling
were done, nothing can now be known. There is
not a single volume in the whole set that contains.
the “etiquette” of either firm, or individual, in
any way responsible for the doing of the work.
They all seemed content to labour for art’s sake,
without any thought of advertising or perpetuating
theii names. The volumes of the Journals illus-
trated here are mostly from the later part of the
eighteenth Century. That which is reproduced
on page 54, the Commons Journal, 1765-66, was
probably bound in 1767, and is the work of
Abraham Bradley, the then King’s Stationer.
It is by no means easy to say from what quarter
the Irish binders, when at their best, drew their
inspiration as designers of ornate work. Occasional
traces may be seen of Scotch influences, as for
instance in such an example as the Commons.
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