Lot 511
SCOTTISH HERRING-BONE BINDING
Auction: 1 February 2005 at 11:00 GMT
Description
The Holy Bible ... newly translated out of the original tongues ... [with] The psalms of David in metre ... Engraved titlepage to the Bible, finely bound in a contemporary Scottish binding of brown morocco, with all over gilt tooling, the panels with a central "herring-bone" pattern surrounded by pear or palm-leaf shaped ornaments, floral and pointille tools, the spines decorated gilt in compartments with central saltires, Dutch floral endpapers, a.e.g., lacking the general printed titlepage, joints and raised bands a little rubbed, the lower cover a little scuffed in a couple of spots, 8vo., Dublin: Grierson, 1754 [the Psalms, Edinburgh: Thomas Lumisden, 1755]
Note: Herbert 1104 Our copy with the NT general titlepage dated 1758. The pear or palm-leaf shaped ornaments appear very similar to no 23 in Sommerlad "Scottish 'wheel' and 'herring-bone' bindings in the Bodleian Library, 1967, who notes that the use of these designs seems only to be found on Scottish bindings. Sommerlad also noting the frequency of the occurrence (although not exclusive to Scotland) of some form of saltire or St. Andrew's cross on the spines of Scottish bindings of this style and period.
Provenance: The family of McCunn (or McCann - alternatively McCunn/McCann in Scottish County Directory), Landour, Largs