plates show their originals at their best.

The books illustrated are selected out of a large number, and I think it
may fairly be considered that the most favourable typical specimens now
left in England are shown. It may well be that a few finer instances
than I have been able to find may still be discovered hidden away in
private collections, but it is now so rarely that a really fine ancient
embroidered book comes into the sale-room, that we may safely conclude
the best of them are already safely housed in one or other of our great
national collections. Where not otherwise stated, the specimens
described are in the British Museum.

In the following detailed descriptions I have used the words 'sides' and
'boards' to mean the same thing, and the measurements refer to the size
of the boards themselves, not including the back. These measurements
must be taken as approximate only, as from wear and other causes the
actual sizes would only be truly given by the use of small fractions of
inches.




CHAPTER II

BOOKS BOUND IN CANVAS


English books bound in embroidered canvas range over a period of about
two hundred and fifty years, the earliest known specimen dating from the
fourteenth century, and instances of the work occurring with some