Blind panels of English binders

Abstract

"The tools used by binders to decorate the covers of a book are of three types -- small stamps, rolls and panels. The first two are impressed by hand; the third by a press. In his "English Blind-Stamped Bindings", Mr Oldham classified and illustrated the impressions made on English bindings with stamp and roll-tools. This companion volume gives the same treatment to panels, reproducing all that are known, and giving them intelligible system of classification. The two volumes together give an exhaustive and almost complete illustration, of this decorative element in English bookbinding from the middle of the the fifteenth to the middle of the seventeenth century. Mr Oldham's introduction defines 'panels', indicates the inclusive dates when they were used in England, and gives his criteria of 'Englishness'. He then discusses the artists who designed them, their variant forms, binders who used them, the evidence of nailmarks on panels, and the classification of panels. The 'Notes on Individual Panels' follow Mr Oldham's system of classification by subjects, with introductory remarks about each class. The plates reproduce about 250 panels"-- On front flap of dust jacket.