Illustration: Embroidered bible cover, 16th century.
Embroidery is such a diverse and accomplished discipline that it has been used extensively as both a domestic and formal decorative tool. Human culture has used decoration and pattern in order to embellish most areas of life and that of book covers was no different.
It is hard to pinpoint when embroidered as opposed to any other form of decoration on book covers was used as a genre. Most European examples seem to point to the fifteenth century and the development of the printing press when book production, although still rare and limited by our own standards, was becoming much more part of everyday life, at least for the educated classes.
Illustration: Book of Christian Prayers with embroidered book cover, 1581.
Embroidered pattern work on book covers often followed the description, theme and content of the book itself. Therefore embroidery motifs and pattern would reflect the religious, historical or mythological subjects of the book and would be seen played out on the cover.
As with many cases when dealing with the history of textile crafts, there was very often a grading of craft skill and accomplishment. Many of the embroidered book covers destined for European royalty were often works of art in their own right. Silver and gold thread was used extensively, both to impress and to prolong the life of the textile cover.
Illustration: Henshaw's Florae Successivae with embroidered book cover, 1632.
Due to the practical three-dimensional construction of a book and the natural two-dimensional quality of embroidery, the two often did not work well together. Embroidered covers could quickly appear worn at the hinges and spine of the book and the edges could unravel, as could the stitching itself. The embroiderer needed to take the three-dimensional quality of the book into consideration. This meant that they had to be aware of the many factors that went naturally with the book particularly that of the wear and tear produced by continual opening and closing of the front cover and the pressure on the hinges and spine. If the cover became too overly heavy through the wrong use of materials, then the book may well not close properly, or if the embroidery work itself proved to be too slack then the cover could rumple and look untidy and unfinished. Metal braiding was often used to both bind and protect the edges of the book from excessive wear, but to give the embroidered covers a more secure framework in which to work.
Illustration: The Whole Booke of Psalmes with embroidered book cover, 1641.
There were so many factors that were outside the usual parameters of the embroiderer that in many cases a professional bookbinder would both offer advice concerning margins and acceptable materials, and would usually place the book cover with the book after the embroiderer had finished. However, this did not stop a certain percentage of embroiderers, some of whom covered their own books, from embellishing and over-embellishing. This led to books being covered in precious metals, ribbon, and even bells, pearls and other trinkets as if the practical ideal of the book was entirely swallowed up by decoration and ornamentation.
Eventually embroidered book covers fell out of fashion. Whether this was due to changing tastes and aesthetics, or more mundanely due to the increasing regularity and supply of printed works, is unknown. However, though the professional mass production of bookbinding was to produce the craft of embossed leatherwork, which became a standard for book covers, though this too was used to introduce sometimes complex pattern work.
Illustration: Ernest A Taylor embroidered book cover, 1900.
Unfortunately, too few examples of embroidered book covers survive and those that have are often faded or have lost much of their original work and appeal. The images shown in this article are all illustrations of idealised early versions apart from the first and last images.
Towards the end of the nineteenth century, with the revival of interest in embroidery and other needlework skills and crafts, an attempt was made to revive embroidered book covers as a reintroduced craft skill. An example from 1900 is illustrated in this article. It is a much simpler and cleaner example than those shown from the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. Although it was brave attempt to breathe new life into an old craft skill, many of these later examples were purely hobby pieces or student projects. They served no real purpose in an era where books were no longer seen as precious individual items of status, education and wealth, but were manufactured in their millions for an age that was beginning to see the rise of universal literacy.
Perhaps in some respects the end of embellished embroidered book covers meant the eventual end of literacy for the few.
Further reading links:
Catalogue of English Domestic Embroidery of the Sixteenth and Seventeenth Centuries
British embroidery: Curious works from the seventeenth century (Williamsburg decorative arts series)
A Book of Flowers, Fruits, Beasts, Birds, and Flies: Seventeenth-Century Patterns for Embroiderers Printed and Sold by Peter Stent
English Embroidery in the Metropolitan Museum 1580-1700: 'Twixt Art and Nature (Published in Association with the Bard Graduate Centre for Studies in the Decorative Arts, Design and Culture)
English Embroidery
English Embroideries--16th & 17th C. (Ashmolean Handbooks)
Guide to English Embroidery
English Embroidery in the Royal Ontario Museum.
English Crewel Designs: 16th to 18th Centuries (International Design Library)
The History of English Embroidery
Old English Embroidery: Its Technique and Symbolism.
STITCHES FROM OLD ENGLISH EMBROIDERIES
Catalogue of English Domestic Embroidery of the Sixteenth and Seventeenth Centuries
