The rarest of all English Restoration bookbinders

Bible, English - 1663

[ENGLISH RESTORATION BY "OWEN"]. Dieu et mon droit. The Holy Bible containing the Old and the New Testament

London: John Bill and Christopher Barker, 1663. 8vo. Engraved title + A-4K8 [unpaginated]. 8vo. Bound by "Owen" in contemporary full black morocco, richly gilt all over with floral and leaf motifs, onlaid red and citron morocco pieces to covers and spines, a.e.g., fore-ege painted with flowers and “Search [the Scriptures]” two working silver clasps, joints beautifully repaired, fore-edge painting dulled and worn from clasps, some foxing throughout. Preserved in a protective cloth case. Suitable for exhibition and study. Item #1238

OF SIGNAL IMPORTANCE IN THE HISTORY OF ENGLISH RESTORATION BOOKBINDING: AN UNRECORDED AND UNPUBLISHED BINDING BY "OWEN" WHOSE WORK IS KNOWN FROM ONLY ONE OTHER EXAMPLE.

In terms of 17th-century English bindings, this one in particular is of particular significance: the only other binding by "Owen" is in the Henry Davis Gift (British Library). Howard Nixon (English Restoration Bookbindings, p. 37 and plate 78) describes it in some detail: "It has been stated earlier that signatures on painted fore-edges followed by the word 'fecit' in the seventeenth century are those of binders or booksellers for whom the books were bound. The book in the Henry Davis Gift with the edges signed 'Owen fecit' and dated 1672 is a possible exception to this rule, as Owen cannot be traced. The tools used on this book have not, however, been identified elsewhere." Our binding is far more elaborate the that in the Henry Davis Gift, as it features a total of 26 onlays (red and citron), all elaborately gilt. The Davis Gift example is bound in a single piece of black goatskin. Due to the extensive and complex gold tooling, the present binding was not easily attributable to a known workshop, but it is now clear that all four major tools on it are identical to those on the "Owen" binding in the Davis Gift (see Mirjam Foot, Henry Davis Gift vol. II, no. 115 with full-page reproduction). While the fore-edge of our binding is worn, the word "Search [the Scriptures]" is just visible alongside depictions of flowers.

Provenance: inscribed on recto of third blank leaf "John Pounds Carter 1864, bequeathed to him by his aunt Phoebe, who died July 14th 1852." Tipped onto the first blank is a small handwritten note which describes this as a "very fine binding by Samuel Mearne."

We are grateful for the assistance of Philippa Marks (British Library), and for supplying rubbings of the tools on their Owen binding.

Price: $6,500.00