it was
Acted without offence, may be Printed, not otherwise, 19 Ianuary,
1635. Henry Herbert;" and before Blount's _Jocular Tenures_, 1679, we
find: "I well knowing the Learning and industry of the Author, do
allow the Printing of this Book. Fra. North." Once more there is Sir
Isaac Newton's _Principia_, 1687, with "Imprimatur. S. Pepys."

CHAPTER XII

Materials on which books are printed--Early popular works printed
on vellum--The _edition de luxe_ again--Binding of
books--Earliest method and style--Printers who were also
binders--Superiority of morocco to russia and calf--Influence of
climate and atmosphere on bindings--Character of old English
bindings--Charm of a Caxton or other precious volume in the
original covers--A first folio Shakespeare in old calf--Our
latter-day literature compared with the old--Splendour of the
liveries of books in the libraries of France under the ancient
regime--Disappointment at the interiors of well-bound volumes
explained--The author plays a subordinate part--The Parisian
book-binding Code--The difference between the French and
ourselves--The original publisher's boards--The Frenchman's
_maroquin rouge_--A suggestion to collectors--Bibliographical
_simulacra_--Do not touch!--Sentiment finds a place in England in
regard to the treatment of old books--Thoughts which a book may
awaken.

IT may be necessary to introduce a few words about the material on
which the Printed Book has at various times been brought before its
readers, or at least its purchasers. The oldest European fabrics
employed for books of this class (not MSS.) were paper and parchment,
the latter very often prepared with very slight care, but the former
of remarkable strength and durability. The cost must have been at
first very onerous; but impressions of ancient volumes were usually
limited. By degrees, fine vellum, alike conspicuous for its delicacy
of quality and beauty of tone, was introduced, and became fashionable
among the patrons of literature in Italy and elsewhere during the
Renaissance. No such luxurious mode of presenting the type and giving
full effect to the work of the illuminator, which so constantly formed
a feature and a charm in the productions of the presses of the
Continent of Europe in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries has ever
since been found possible. It is rather singular that not merely
classi