Read Ebook: La philosophie zoologique avant Darwin by Perrier Edmond

Font size: 10 px 15 px 20 px 25 px 30 px 35 px

Background color: BlackWhiteGrayLight GrayDark GrayDim Gray

Text color: BlackWhiteGrayLight GrayDark GrayDim Gray

Apply/Save settings

Ebook has 239 lines and 47787 words, and 5 pages

ortion, chaste simplicity, and conventionalism, triumphant; symbolism disregarded. The principal elements of Greek ornament were the honeysuckle, the lotus-leaves, the wave-line and scroll, the zig-zag, and the universal fret. The beauty of Grecian ornament consists in its equality of foliage, starting-points, stalks, and groundwork. Its running figures are well adapted to and are employed for rolls, in side-finishing, and the proportions of this style of Art should be carefully studied by the finisher.

ETRUSCAN.

Simplicity and elegance of form, combined with strong contrast in colour, constitute the distinguishing marks of this style. The Etruscan vases still form models for the artist. The novel appearance of these vessels, all uniformly painted with a tracery of black on a natural groundwork of brownish red, is extremely pleasing, proving the high artistic capability of their makers. In the British Museum there is one room entirely devoted to a collection of these remains of ancient Art. This style is approached in its effects by inlaying with black upon a brownish red. A copy of Caxton's "Recuyell of the Historyes of Troye," bound in this style by Whittaker, has been highly extolled. It is in the possession of the Marquis of Bath. The general effects of this style are represented by a style now much in vogue, called antique, a reddish-brown morocco being stamped upon so as to produce a dark or black figure thereon; but the character of the ornaments are generally dissimilar.

ROMAN.

Roman art is a redundant elaboration of the Greek, in which purity gives way to richness, grotesque combinations become common, and false principles creep in. Mosaic pavements are rendered pictorial by the introduction of light and shade, the flat and round not kept distinct. In the remains of Pompeii we find the degradation of classic Art by the violation of true principles. There is nothing in this style to commend it to the artist, especially in decorating books.

BYZANTINE, LOMBARD, NORMAN.

These varieties of kindred ornament, commencing with the rise of Christianity, were founded on classic details, having a distinct expression of their own. There is much symbolism in the Byzantine, but all are appropriate to their several wants,--the parts rich, judiciously disposed, and purely conventional. In these styles, so intimately connected, we find the interlaced strap-work that suggested Gothic tracery to the great mediaeval artists.

MOORISH.

The decorative art of the Arabs is more conventional than any other, it being in most cases extremely difficult to trace the origin of their forms. All animal representations are strictly excluded by the religion of Mohammed. The union of geometrical with floral forms seems to have supplied the expression, many ornaments resembling the ovary of plants, transversely cut and connected with crystalline shapes. The abstract and superficial treatment is perfect, the forms are extremely graceful, and the colouring gorgeous. The interlaced strap-work is highly elaborated. This style is sometimes called the Arabesque, and forms the chief decoration of the Alhambra, an ancient fortress and residence of the Moorish monarchs of Granada. For grace and liveliness this style is unrivalled, and it affords many useful and beautiful hints to the finisher in his hand-tooling, and is well calculated to produce fine effects in stamps designed for the embossing-press.

GOTHIC.

The Gothic is founded upon geometrical forms. The strap-work of former styles is elaborated into tracery, the main lines being circular or curved, starting from vertical lines, ending in points, enclosing spaces divided and subdivided in the same manner, further decorated with conventional ornaments derived from local nature. For bookbinding it is sometimes employed, but without much judgment. The judicious finisher will reject it on account of its inapplicability to superficial decoration.

THE RENAISSANCE.

The Renaissance or Revival arose in Italy in the fifteenth century, by the appropriation of classic details in connection with prior styles, the traditionary giving way to selection and freedom; Art gaining but few entirely new forms, rather subjecting all that had gone before to a new treatment, which in the hands of the great artists of the period produced agreeable results, showing the importance of general design, rendering even incongruous materials pleasing from that cause alone. The Cinque-cento has been considered the goal of the Renaissance and its characteristics,--strap, tracery, arabesque, and pierced scroll-work, a mixture of the conventional with natural forms, and every detail of ancient Art,--producing, under different masters, varied results. Thus, in Raphael's Loggie of the Vatican are to be found, as at Pompeii, elements piled one above the other, without any regard to construction. The same with the works of Julio Romano at Mantua,--painted imitation of bas-reliefs suspended above fountains, temples, &c., the parts often finely drawn and treated, but, taken as a whole, little removed from the absurd, quite unlike the works of the Greeks and Etruscans they sought to rival.

ELIZABETHAN.

The Elizabethan was an English version of the Renaissance, being a special elaboration of the strap and bolt-work, and has been highly useful to the stamp-cutter. Many of its forms can be advantageously employed by the finisher.

LOUIS QUATORZE.

FINISHING.

TASTE AND DESIGN.

It is of the utmost importance to a young workman that he have correct ideas in regard to taste, and be able to distinguish it from caprice or mere fancy. It is in the power of all to acquire a correct taste, for it is governed by laws that can be easily learned, and they are unchangeable. Taste may be said to be a perception and an appreciation of the principles of beauty and harmony as revealed by Nature through Art. Nothing contrary to nature, no violation of any law of proportion or of fitness, can be in good taste. The amateur and book-collector, in commencing the foundation of a library, will do well to pause before they adopt a species of binding that will in after years create a feeling of annoyance, and perhaps lead to pecuniary sacrifice.

A recent writer upon the New York Exhibition of the Industry of all Nations discourses thus:--"We call bookbinding an art; and when we consider all that is necessary to the perfect covering of a fine book, it must be admitted to be an art; less important, it is true, but similar in kind to architecture.

"The first requisition upon the skill of the binder is to put the book into a cover which will effectually protect it, and at the same time permit it to be used with ease. If he do not accomplish this, his most elaborate exhibition of ornamental skill is worth nothing; for he fails in the very end for which his services are required. It was in this regard, too, that most of our binders failed in past years. Who that remembers the hideous, harsh, speckled sheep covers which deformed our booksellers' shelves not long ago, can forget the added torment which they inflicted upon their unhappy purchaser, by curling up palpably before his very eyes, as he passed his first evening over them, and by casting out loose leaves or whole signatures before he had finished his first perusal? In those days, too, there was morocco binding, with a California of gold upon the sides; and such morocco! it felt to the fingers like a flattened nutmeg-grater, seeming to protect the book by making it painful for any one to touch it. This was as useless as the humbler though not more vulgar sheep. It would hardly last through the holiday season on the centre-table which it was made to adorn.

"The binder's next task is to give his work the substantial appearance without which the eye of the connoisseur will remain unsatisfied. The volume must not only be well protected, but seem so. It should be solid, compact, square-edged, and enclosed in firm boards of a stoutness proportionate to its size, and these should be covered with leather at once pliable and strong. Unless it present this appearance, it will be unsatisfactory in spite of the richest colours and the most elaborate ornament. Thus far the mere mechanical skill of the binder goes. In the choice of his style of binding, and in the decoration of his book, if he perform his task with taste and skill, he rises to the rank of an artist.

And it may not be irrelevant here to introduce the opinion of Dr. Dibdin, whose connection with some of the first libraries in England, and whose intimate knowledge of all the great book-collectors of the same, must tend to stamp him as a good authority on the subject:--

"The colour of the binding may often be in harmony with its contents. Books of poetry may be red, or light green, or blue, and have as much ornament as may be desired. And Fine Art books, above all others, ought to rejoice in beautiful coloured moroccos and gorgeous ornaments. In the British Museum, books of divinity are bound in blue, history in red, poetry in yellow, and biography in olive.

The further opinion of the doctor on the style of ornament, &c. in gilding, will be given in its proper place, and which, with that cited above, may be safely acted upon by the binder, blended with such additions as his own taste may dictate.

It is in this state that the defects of forwarding will become more apparent, and which no tact or ingenuity of the finisher can effectually remedy; for, unless the bands are square, the joints free, and the whole book geometrically just, the defect, whatever it may be, will appear throughout, and tend to destroy the beauty of every subsequent operation, from the constraint required to make the general appearance of the work effective.

Before proceeding to a description of the various manipulations required in gilding a book, it will be necessary to direct the attention of the young workman again to what has been advanced relative to care and attention in previous parts of this work, and follow up the remarks there made with others on the taste necessary to be displayed in this most important part of the art of bookbinding. When it is considered that the most celebrated artists have arrived at the eminence awarded to them not only through the elasticity, solidity, and squareness of their bindings, but also from the judicious choice of their ornaments for gilding, and the precision and beauty with which they have been executed, it cannot be too strongly impressed on the workman that this should ever occupy his first attention. Nothing is so disagreeable to the eye as injudicious or badly-executed ornaments; while with chaste and classical embellishments, tastefully applied, an appearance of richness is produced on the volumes that cannot fail to give satisfaction to the most fastidious critic. The sides of the volumes present the field most favourable for the display of ornamental taste, admitting, from their extent, the execution of the most complicated designs. This elaborate style of ornament has been carried to such perfection and splendour as, in many instances, to have occupied several days in the execution of one side alone; but it is only by the most vigorous application, greatest care, and correct taste, that proficiency therein can be attained. With these, success will soon crown the endeavours of the workman; and he will have the satisfaction of finding himself able to imitate any pattern, however difficult, as well as to execute many new designs and compartments, of which, till he applied himself, he had not previously an idea.

As regards the style of ornament, it must be left to taste; but, as before promised, it will now be proper to introduce the remarks of Dr. Dibdin on the general effect of gilding and blind tooling, leaving the detail to be suggested to the mind of the gilder.

It remains to urge that particular attention be paid to the lettering of books being their right titles, as the contrary will present to the judicious an effect the most disagreeable, and may be the cause of producing dissatisfaction with the whole of the binding in the mind of the owner; and also to avoid the contrast which the different shade or colour of new lettering-pieces will give to some bindings.

THE ALDINE STYLE,

Which derives its name from a noted printer named Aldus Manutius, a Roman by birth, who was born in the year 1446 or 1447. His Christian name, Aldus, was a contraction of Theobaldus; and to this surname he sometimes added the appellation of Pius, or Bassianus, or Romanus. The first of these appellatives was assumed by Aldus from his having been the tutor of Albertus Pius, a prince of the noble house of Carpi; and the second was derived from the birthplace of the printer--namely, Bassian, a small town in the Duchy of Lermonetta.

Prior to the time of Aldus, the only points used in punctuation were the comma, colon, and full-point or period; but he invented the semicolon, gave a better shape to the comma, and connected the punctuation by assigning to the various points more proper places. About the period of his marriage, he invented a mode of imposing a work in such a manner that two languages might be interleaved and bound together, or separately, at the option of the purchaser; and, about the same date, he printed the first leaf, in folio, of a proposed edition of the BIBLE in the Hebrew, Greek, and Latin languages; so that he has the honour of having first suggested the plan of a Polyglott Bible. However, the plan failed of being then carried into effect. Printing different languages in opposite columns was not accomplished till 1530.

The mark or device which Aldus--who died in 1515--made use of to distinguish works issued from his press was an anchor, round which a dolphin seemed to twist. It must be familiar to every amateur,--Mr. Pickering, the London publisher, having adopted the Aldine anchor as his device. To attempt any description of the Aldine class of tools would be superfluous after so fair a specimen in the illustration. It will be perceived they are entirely free from shading, and, consequently, much more effective for that description of work for which they are generally used,--viz., blind tooling. Both tools and patterns are much lighter and more ornamental than the old Monastic school, of which the Aldine in some degree partook.

Upon the same plate there is exhibited the arrangement of a back-panel and tools in the

MONTAGUE STYLE,

Which derives its name from Montague, a bookbinder of considerable eminence, who flourished about the year 1780. The chief features of this style are corners and centre, filled up with stops, &c. similar to illustration. The tools are of an open, leafy description, flowing from a stem free from any thing of the scroll or curl. The panel given has been copied from a book supposed to have been done by Montague himself. The bar, or barleycorn, on the head and tail and on the bands, likewise on the insides and edges. Books in volumes, pieced red and green on adjoining panels, frequently a lozenge of red on the second piece, and filled up with corners and stops similar to the other panels; sometimes both pieces green; sides generally plain, or a flowery flowing roll, for which a two-line is now usually substituted; sewed on raised bands; colour, brown calf, sometimes highly sprinkled.

THE HARLEIAN STYLE,

A style not behind Montague in beauty of ornament, and superior in elegance and variety of arrangement. Before entering into a description of the style, we will give what information we have gained respecting its founder, trusting that it will not be unacceptable. We find that "Robert Harley, Esq., of Frampton-Bryan, in the county of Hereford, was in 1700 chosen Speaker of the House of Commons, and in May, 1711, he was created Earl of Oxford and Mortimer, and five days afterwards was promoted to the important station of Lord High-Treasurer of Great Britain."

In the Preface to the Harleian MSS., now in the British Museum, speaking of Mr. Harley, it states that "his innate love of books was such as to determine him in early life to undertake the formation of a new library, regardless of the disadvantages with which he must contend, as great exertions had previously been made in collecting MSS. for the Bodleian, Cottonian, and other valuable though smaller collections, so that the prospect of forming a new library with any considerable number of MSS. was indeed very unpromising. But, urged on by a love of learning, and a strong desire to search into the transactions of former ages, determined Mr. Harley to purchase whatever curious MSS. he could meet with, more especially such as might in any wise tend to explain and illustrate the history, laws, customs, and antiquities, of his native country. The principal point which the founder of the Harleian Library had in view was the establishment of a MS. English Historical Library, and the rescuing from oblivion and destruction of such valuable records of our national antiquities as had escaped the diligence of former collectors.

"At the decease of his son, who had been a powerful auxiliary in enriching the collection, the MS. library consisted of nearly 8000 volumes. At the death of Mr. Harley, his library was bequeathed to the University of Oxford. To such men we owe a debt of gratitude for the improvement of the art and for introducing a style of finishing that still remains the admiration of the connoisseur.

"The books in the Harleian Collection are principally bound in red morocco, well sewed on raised bands, tight backs, Dutch marble end-papers, and gilt edges."

Harleian tools are more wiry and much closer than the Montague, interspersed with fine-line curls, fine pinhead curve-lines, rosettes, acorns, solid stops, single rings, and cross-buns.

The border upon the same plate illustrates the Harleian pane-side. In the Harleian style there are three distinctly different arrangements for sides and backs, There are on the sides,--first, the two or three-line fillet, stopped; second, the Harleian tooled or spikey border,--a style of finishing peculiarly neat and rich, and well adapted for nearly every description of books.

On original Harleys the tooling went right on from corner to corner, as if worked by a very broad roll; but modern finishers prefer a made-up corner,--that is, a tool or tools projecting at right angles with the corner, up to which the border-tools are worked, thus rendering the whole more harmonious and perfect. The spikey border is worked up to a two or three-line fillet, with the cat-tooth roll worked on the outer line towards the edge of the board. Third, the pane or panelled side, similar to the illustration. Sometimes a double pane was formed by throwing in a two-line fillet and working a roll on the inside.

On the backs there is the upright centre, the diamond centre and corner, as in the illustration, and the semi-circle with open centre.

The diamond centre was not much used on books of light reading, such as novels, but rather on works of a graver nature, such as divinity, philosophy, and history. It seems to have been the favourite style of the earl's binders; and we must acknowledge that a book never looks so like a book as when finished with a good diamond centre and corner. In forming the diamond centre, the spikes ought to project beyond the stops, as it is then more graceful and pleasing to the eye than when the stop and spikes are flush one with the other.

THE FONTHILL STYLE.

The following account of Fonthill Abbey will, no doubt, be acceptable, in connection with our description of the "style" which has derived its name therefrom.

'Meditation here may think down hours and moments; Here the heart may give a useful lesson to the head, And learning wiser grow without its books.'

It is but the drawing of a curtain, and not only all the glitter of the adjoining splendour, but all the pomps and vanities of the world seem to the meditative mind to be shut out forever. Perhaps its pensive cast is more deeply experienced from the immediate contrast: dazzled with objects of show, fatigued with the examination of rare and costly commodities, and bewildered with the multitude of precious devices which everywhere surround him, the soul of the visitant retires with tenfold delight to the narrow walls of the oratory."

Our brief description of the Fonthill style cannot fail to strike the reader as being remarkably appropriate to the sombre character of that part of the abbey which contained the library,--the one being in strict keeping with the other.

Share on: WhatsApp @Hash Facebook Tweet