Fireside talk: a trivial tool?
A tiny tool on two bindings from the collection of the University of Amsterdam, how do we proceed if we would like to find out more about it? The existence and size of the databases at our fingertips remains to grow day by day, research has never been so easy. True, when overcome by a light-bulb moment, online is often the first place where the insight can be checked, hopefully confirmed and elaborated on. One need not move an inch from the computer in one’s ivory tower far above the maddening crowd to produce thorough, maybe even academic work ‘marked by a narrow focus on or display of learning especially its trivial aspects’. One doesn’t even need to get up to check this definition, it is readily available in an online dictionary. So where’s the catch in this seemingly ideal setup? Take bookbinding research, is all you need a computer and detailed pictures of the bindings in question? To a certain extent this is so. As the tools on the bindings are less than 5 mm in diameter, enlarging the images on the computer screen is a by far better method than old school peering through a magnifying glass. So far so good, with the enlargements on screen we can see and describe the tools in detail.
Bird tool on spine of OTM: Band 1 E 19
Bird tool on spine of OTM: Band 2 C 12
At first sight these tools seem to be alike, they depict a bird with elevated wings. On closer inspection, although the two tools are similar they are not identical and are they even birds? The beak, the barbed, horselike neck, and the two legs with pronounced claws could be those of a wyvern were it not for the tail being distinctly feathered and therefore bird-like, a wyvern has a pointed tail.
Comparison with what definitely is a bird on another binding from the University’s collection, OTM: Band 1 D 19 (above), leads to the conclusion that the animals on our two bindings are hybrid, and indeed, this is corroborated by Google’s image recognition database that defines the animal in our image to be a mythical creature.
Good, the computer has again proved its worth, the algorithm works, but does not bring us any further than the definition as unfortunately there are no bindings with comparable images to be found in Google. Rare book libraries are doing their best to get descriptions and images of their bookbindings online, but are sorely pressed for (wo)man hours to do this. The descriptions and images of bindings that have made it online are the tip of the iceberg, usually not more than hundred or so specimens per library, with the bulk still unidentified and offline. Even though the quantity of available online material is limited, trawling library sites with hopes of finding bindings with a specific tool still is like looking for a needle in a haystack. It is time to leave the computer and get back to basics, this requires an actual visit to the library. There is a wealth of publications by the pioneers of bookbindings research, but where to start? In a case like this the go-to-work could be the hefty dictionary of bookbinding compiled by Frederico and Livio Macchi, the Dizionario illustrato della legatura; it is one of a kind. Granted, it is in Italian, which might present a problem, but there is a cross reference index of bookbinding terms in several languages and we do have the online database of Google translate available on our trusted computer. The Dizionario is illustrated which also helps, and, more importantly, many entries have a bibliography for further reading about the subject and that is exactly what we are after. Given that it is 600 plus pages exclusively on bookbinding, one would expect a lemma on the bird tool, but that is not the case. It appears single bird tools are seldom found on mid-16th century bookbindings (Fontaine Verwey 1971). Our grotesque birds are therefore exceptional as is the bird on Band 1 D 19 which is part of a design ‘à la fanfare’, a geometric, interlacing, floral leafy pattern that covers the whole board, popular in the second half of the 16th and in the 17th century. Dead end in the Dizionario, where can we look now? Former sales catalogues often are a useful source of information and as both bindings have been part of renowned collections, and have been sold several times since the 16th century, it is worth checking out what relevant catalogue descriptions are to be found.
Bird tool on the binding of Livius, Latinae Historiae Principis. Lugduni: Apud Seb. Gryphium, 1542. 2 vols.
In his 1921 catalogue Bernard Quaritch describes two other Wotton bindings, on two volumes of Livius Latinae historiae principis (1542). Each cover is tooled with four grotesque birds (above) very similar to those on Band 1 E 19. Quaritch states that ‘the two stamps of the bird and the fleurs-de-lis do not figure on any other Wotton binding known to me.’ In 1936 Band 1 E 19 was sold at the Sotheby’s Howard sale, the bird tools are not mentioned in the description of its binding. We fast forward some 25 five years, when Howard M. Nixon, at the time librarian at the British Museum, researched around 140 volumes from the Wotton library. He published his findings in three general works on bindings from British libraries, one of these on the impressive Broxbourne Library (1961), again nothing in there on the bird tool. In the 1962 letter accompanying Band 1 E 19 Nixon states that ‘This design is not found on any other of the bindings from Wotton’s library’, with which he presumably meant the overall design, there is no reference to the bird tool in the letter. In 1970 Band 1 E 19 was sold by A.L. van Gendt & Co nv to the University of Amsterdam with no new infomation on the bird tool, only quoting the description in Quaritch 1921 mentioned earlier. As for Band 2 C 12, the binding descriptions in the catalogues of Sotheby’s Mensing and Abbey sales do not mention the bird tool either.
Conclusion
Bernard Quaritch notes the rarity of the grotesque bird tool, this is supported by Herman de la Fontaine Verwey who states that a single bird tool is alltogether seldom found on 16th century bindings. Might the grotesque bird be even more rare? The presence of a very similar grotesque bird on Band 2 C 12 shows that this motif was applied on at least one other contemporary binding. What we have achieved here, even with the help of the computer and some digging into reference works in the library, is no more than an embellished question mark, but who knows, maybe there is someone out there who recognizes this grotesque bird tool, then the bindings brought together here could become more than a threesome. It should be noted that the bird tool on Band 2 C 12 has less detail than those on the two Wotton bindings.
Postscript
Further places to look: bindings made in Paris for contemporary bibliophiles. Like rats, when you see one aboveground, there are likely to be more underground.
Sales catalogues
Sotheby’s auction catalogue 1919 to be consulted.
Catalogue of English and Foreign Bookbindings offered for Sale by Bernard Quaritch Ltd. 1921. No's. 11 and 12, Plate 5 (Wotton binding with grotesque bird).
Catalogue of Printed Books and a Few Manuscripts comprising The Property of the Hon. Hugh M. Howard (decd.) etc. London: Sotheby & Co., 9-10 March, 1936. No. 47 (Band 1 E 19).
Catalogue of the Very Valuable and Important Library formed by the late M. Ant. W.M. Mensing of Amsterdam. London: Sotheby & Co., 15th-17th December 1936. No. 564 (Band 2 C 12).
Catalogue of Valuable Printed Books and Fine Bindings from the Celebrated Collection the Property of Major J.R. Abbey. First Portion. London: Sotheby & Co., 21-22-23 June 1965. No. 639 (Band 2 C 12).
Bibliography
OTM: Band 2 C 12 at bandenkast.blogspot.com. Bound for Maarten Count of Horne, Baron of Gaasbeek (1510-1570) and Anne of Croÿ Sempy Princess of Chimay (ca. 1522-1573).
OTM: Band 1 E 19 at bandenkast.blogspot.com. Bound for Thomas Wotton (1521-1587) in Paris ca. 1547 (Howard Nixon). Wotton was in Paris ca. 1547-1553. He was called the English Grolier as he was the first Englishman to have a library with richly decorated bookbindings in the style of great French bookcollectors such as Jean Grolier (1489/90-1565) and Thomas Mahieu (1520-1590).
Herman de la Fontaine Verwey, ‘Een band voor Sir Thomas Wotton.’ In: Bibliotheekinformatie. Mededelingenblad voor wetenschappelijke bibliotheken. Amsterdam: Universiteitsbibliotheek. No. 4. Maart 1971, p. 3-4.
Mirjam M. Foot. The Henry Davis Gift. A Collection of Bookbindings. Vol. I. Studies in the History of Bookbinding. London: The British Library, 1978. p. 140-147. Extensive analysis of the tools on the Wotton bindings but nothing on the grotesque bird.
Federico e Livio Macchi, Dizionario Illustrato della Legatura in colloborazione con Milena Alessi. Milano: Edizioni Sylvestre Bonnard, 2002.
Howard M. Nixon, Broxbourne Library. Styles and Designs of Bookbindings from the Twelfth to the Twentieth Century. With an introduction by Albert Ehrman. London: Published for the Broxbourne Library by Maggs Brothers, 1961. No. 30 & 33 on the tooling of the Wotton bindings.
- - -. Letter dated 13-12-1962. Kept with Band 1 E 19.
[Pam van Holthe tot Echten]
Petrarca, Sonetti et Canzoni. In Venetia: Aldi filii, 1546. OTM: Band 1 E 19.
C. Suetonius Tranquillus, Omnia quam antehac emendatiora annotationes… Basileae: in officina Frobeniana, 1533.OTM: Band 2 C 12.
Livius, Latinae Historiae Principis. Lugduni: Apud Seb. Gryphium, 1542. 2 vols. Both with the grotesque bird tool. (Quaritch 1921)