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The family of Ferrars, which settled at Little Gedding in the county of Hertford in the reign of James I., is chiefly known for the ascetic piety of its members: but as industry formed an essential part of their rule, the family was taught the art of bookbinding in all its parts. The fame of their work reached the ears of Charles I. to whom a splendid Concordance of the four Evangelists was exhibited, adorned with many beautiful pictures, and bound by one of Nicholas Ferrars's nieces, "all wrought in gold, in a new and most elegant fashion." Dr. Wordsworth has given several instances of the magnificent works executed by individuals of this family, which our limits forbid us to describe'.

To the late Roger Payne, foreign Bibliographers are constrained to yield the palm of excellence in the art of bookbinding. He worked alone in a small apartment, where every thing was huddled together; on the same shelf were seen old shoes and precious leaves-bread and cheese, with editions of the fifteenth century— so that it would seem next to impossible that superb binding should proceed from such a place, to decorate the library of a noble Lord, without being either soiled or spotted with grease. The most difficult bindings were those, ' Ecclesiastical Biography, vol. v. pp. 172-178, 216, 220,

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in which Roger Payne excelled: this ingenious man introduced a style of binding, uniting elegance with durability, such as no person has ever been able to imitate. He may, indeed, be ranked among artists of the greatest merit: the ornaments he employed were chosen with classical taste, and were in many instances appropriated to the subject of the work, or the age and time of the author; and each book of his binding was accompanied by a written description of the ornaments in a most precise and curious style. His chef d'œuvre is his Eschylus, in the possession of Earl Spencer, the ornaments and decorations of which are most splendid and classical; the binding of the book cost the noble Earl fifteen guineas. Those, who are not accustomed to see book-binding executed in any other than the common manner, can have no idea of the merits of Roger Payne, who lived without a rival, and (we fear) died without a successor'.

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Roger Payne died in 1797; and his remains were decently interred at the expense of that respectable and upright bookseller the late Mr. Thomas Payne; to whom (though in no degree related to the bookbinder,) the admirers of this art may feel themselves indebted for the prolongation of his existence; Mr. P. having for the last eight years of his life supplied him with regular pecuniary assistance, both for the support of his body and the performance of his work. Nichols's Lit. Anecdotes, vol. iii. pp. 736, 737. Gent. Mag. vol. lxvii. Part 11. pp. 1070, 1071.

In concluding this short historical account of bookbinding, it may be expected that some notice should be taken of the living artists whose works adorn our libraries: but where so many excel, it would be invidious to specify any individuals. Yet we cannot but mention, Messrs. Edwards, eminent booksellers of Halifax, in Yorkshire; whose style is unique, and has not hitherto been successfully imitated abroad: they have introduced several new styles of tasteful decoration to books, instead of profuse gilding, an imitation in their proper colours of the borders of Greek or Etruscan vases, and also a new method of ornamenting vellum bindings with exquisite drawings, but of which on account of their expense few were executed. To Messrs. Edwards the lovers of ornamented books are indebted for a method of gilding upon marbled leaves, and decorating the edges of leaves with exquisite paintings: we have seen landscapes thus executed, with a degree of beauty and fidelity that are truly astonishing; and when held up to the light in an oblique direction, the scenery appears as delicate as in the finest productions of the pencil'.

A copy of the Book of Common Prayer, (printed at Oxford in 1774,) bound by Messrs. Edwards, in the style above described, produced £2. 12s. 6d. at the sale of the Merly Library, (No. 524.)

SECTION III.

Miscellaneous Remarks on the Preservation, &c. of Books.

BOOKS are liable to incur much damage from the ravages of insects; two species of which are particularly destructive, viz. the anthrenus or flower-beetle, and the ptinus.

The former insects attach themselves exclusively to herbals, and produce much devastation in cabinets of natural history. In order to prevent such ravages, the binder ought to put a little alum or vitriol, or some similar mineral preparation into his glue; the books should also be carefully rubbed, at the end of March, May, and September, with a piece of woollen stuff sprinkled with pulverised alum. Generally speaking, the tops of the books ought to be frequently dusted; as that operation is favourable to the discovery of insects: when the covers or interior of the volumes are affected by them, a little pulverised coloquintida or bitter apple may be strewed over them. The surest way however is to beat them, place them in the open air, and expose them to a fumigation with sulphur the vapor of this mineral destroys the insects, in a perfect state, but produces no effects on their eggs; so that they must be carefully watched until they are hatched.

The insects which do so much damage in libraries are the larvæ of the ptinus fur L. and the ptinus mollis L. or the anobium mollis of Fabricius. The latter perforate the leaves of a book in sinuous furrows, like those made by a silkworm when devouring a mulberry leaf: the former pierce them through, almost in a straight line. M. Peignot mentions an instance, where, in a public library that was but little frequented, twenty-seven folio volumes were perforated in a straight line by the same insect in such a manner; that, on passing a cord through the perfectly round hole made by the insect, these twenty-seven volumes could be raised at once!!! This fact, he adds, was attested to him by an eyewitness. M. Peignot gives the following preventive remedies against the ravages of insects, from the "Dictionnaire de l'Industrie."

The cause of these ravages is to be attributed to the pasteboards and to the glue, employed by bookbinders. Fruitless attempts have been made to mix wormwood, coloquintida and other bitters in the paste: the only remedy is in the mineral salts, such as alum', vitriol, &c. and

Many processes, says M. Achard, have been published, for preventing worms from attacking books: I have used them all, or caused them to be tried, but without success. The only one which succeeded with me, is the addition of a little sulphat of alumine (alum) in the bookbinders' paste: but these artisans he complains are not complaisant enough to mix

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